Lowering Standards Is a Fool’s Errand

If you want everyone to clear the bar, just lower it, right? Folks who embrace this fairy tale strategy won’t have a happy ending. They believe if you want to reduce complaints, don’t ask for feedback. If you want kids to have good self-esteem, offer praise — regardless of whether they do something right or wrong. And, if you want employees to feel good about their performance, don’t hold them accountable. In other words, instead of rewarding them based on performance, pay them for just showing up. They believe if you make everyone a winner, you won’t have losers. The problem is that lowering standards is a fool’s errand.

Taking down the “Out of Order” sign doesn’t fix the problem.

Lowering Your Standards Accomplishes Nothing

What do you gain by lowering your standards? What do you achieve by excusing poor work performance, ignoring bad behavior, or passing students who don’t make the grade? If you don’t hold people accountable for their actions, you’re condoning their behavior. After all, silence is a form of acceptance.

When you lower the bar, poor performers may feel good, but you’re not doing them any favors. There’s no incentive to improve, no impetus for them to change, and when they are rewarded for showing up instead of earning their keep, it reduces their confidence, promotes dependency, and robs them of their personal dignity. When any part of the human body hasn’t exercised properly, it will atrophy. The same is true of the human spirit.

Helping people too much makes them helpless.

Meanwhile, what message are you sending to those who work hard, follow the rules, and do what’s right? They’re the ones who bust their chops while their colleagues “work” on personal matters; they’re the ones who play by the rules while others game the system; and they’re the ones who give back to the community, while others sponge off it.

Instead of showcasing and rewarding excellence, you’re signaling that mediocre behavior is acceptable.

And that’s a problem.

Think about hard-working folks who do everything asked of them. If you think they’ll feel cheated, you’re right. If you think they’ll get discouraged, you’re right again. And, if you think they’ll stop trying…you’re about to find out.

If you reward people for doing nothing, why expect anything?

When leaders tolerate mediocrity, it’s a cancer that spreads like wildfire. If you want excellence, you must recognize and reward it. Period. People stop trying when there’s no benefit for being exceptional and no consequence for being mediocre.

This is a wake-up call.

When you take excellent people for granted, you place their goodwill in jeopardy. As the saying goes, “People say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew exactly what you had…you just never thought you’d lose it.”

It’s Time to Raise the Bar

Are we doing folks a favor by making their life unrealistically easy, or are we making it impossible for them to succeed in the future? What will happen when they’re expected to raise their game, be accountable for their actions, and pull their weight? That’s when reality will hit them right between the eyes.

It doesn’t cost more to strive for excellence,
but if you settle for mediocrity, it’ll cost you dearly.

Some people think that lowering standards is a kind thing to do. I strongly disagree. Sometimes, well-intentioned plans have unintended consequences. Even though our efforts help recipients in the short term, we are making them dependent on our good graces, rather than preparing them to be self-reliant and accept responsibility for their future.

You don’t help people by lowering the bar, excusing bad behavior, or giving them a free pass. You make them weak. While they’ve obtained some trappings of success, they can’t take pride in knowing that it was earned through hard work, determination, and sacrifice. As President John F. Kennedy said, “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.” Lowering standards is a fool’s errand.

Check out Franks NEW book, Leadership by Example: Be a role model who inspires greatness in others