Creativity blossoms out of individual and innovative thinking, a variety of viewpoints, and personal and professional confidence. And no leader in their right mind would minimize the need for their team members to be thinking independently in order to pursue the company’s goals and objectives.
On the other side of that same coin is often the belief of individuals that they are entitled to act on their opinions, should be able to do things their own way, and do not need to be burdened with unnecessary rules and restrictions. The incredible rise of pervasive relativism, defined by dictionary.com as “any theory holding that criteria of judgment are relative, varying with individuals and their environments,” has made it significantly more difficult to lead a group of people to achieve the company’s goals and adhere to company values and mission.
Relativism, as it rears its head in the workplace, does not recognize right or wrong, and believes more in the value of the individual’s preferences and style.
The problem is that when you, as the leader, have a powerful vision of how you want your company to operate, how you want to do business and how you will treat your customers – there is a right and wrong way to do things. Your powerful vision is not only your passion in business terms, but also enables you to define a niche which is what provides competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Is it the only right way? Not necessarily. But it is the way you have decided your company or department will operate. And within that, creativity can blossom. (Check out blog post on Processes are Strong Basis for Creative Thinking)
There is a right way and a wrong way to take care of a customer. At times, an employee will do it the wrong way. Excuses such as, “That is just my approach; the customer took it the wrong way,” or “They should not have approached me with that attitude,” are not okay. The employee may have tried their best, but the fact is, it was not good enough. It doesn’t mean they have to be fired, but they do need to realize that they did not act in a way that the company deems acceptable.
For example, Chick-fil-A believes it is right to smile and say, “My pleasure,” when a customer says, “Thank you.” An employee could do the same thing at McDonald’s if they wanted to. However, at Chick-fil-A, it is expected and the only right way to take care of the customer.
If you have an employee who demands to be able to do things their way, and it is directly in contrast to the behavior that you as the leader have communicated as acceptable, then their behavior is unacceptable and they must change. This seems so simple. Yet, over and over, I see situations where the pervasive cultural focus on relativism is brutally pushing companies to mediocrity.
What do you see?
