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Excellence or Mediocrity: Which Will You Choose?
Two different phrases have been rattling around in my mind for sometime now. The first is: "Good is the enemy of great." (1) And the second is: "Build cooperation or expect resistance." (2) In this article, I'm going to tackle the first idea, and next month I'll tie the two together.
In many ways, these two ideas sum up the complex formula of what it takes to operate successful BNI groups.
In an organization where friendships are critical in order to network effectively, it is sometimes difficult to hold fellow members (aka friends) accountable for their performance in the group. (See the May/June, 2006 SuccessNet Article on Friendships & Membership for more on this topic.)
I recently ran into a 22-year member of BNI. She was one of the first people to join the organization in 1985! It was good to see her again. She shared with me that her historically successful group was going through a slow phase. I asked her why she thought that was. Her answer was the same that I hear almost every time in every group around the world that is having a challenge.
It was a variation of one of the following themes: "The group is becoming too lax; we're not following the system very well." or, "We're letting people get away with things we shouldn't accept."
Accepting mediocrity within the network is often at the core of a group facing challenges.
Thousands of chapters in dozens of countries—and the core issues tend to be the same all around the world. When groups accept mediocrity, growth and performance stagnate.
Excellence within a chapter includes more than I possibly can list here; however, the items below are a few key steps for achieving chapter excellence:
1. Education, education, education. There is so much material available through BNI it is staggering. (www.BNIPodcast.com, SuccessNet archives, networking articles at Entrepreneur.com, networking books, Audio CDs, etc. etc.) Make sure you have your fellow members, especially Education Coordinators, see these and use them (what a thought)!
2. Choose quality
business professionals to
join your chapter of BNI.
Don't take the first person
with a pulse and a check.
3. Follow the system!
BNI has a two-decade track
record working in dozens of
countries with thousands of
members. Don't reinvent the
wheel.
4. Pass quality
referrals. The only
thing more important than
passing a lot of referrals
is passing quality
referrals. Both are
important, but quality must
lead the way. Effective use
of the Reality Check portion
of the meeting can help with
quality of referrals.
5. Attendance is key to a
group's success.
Chapters that have poor
attendance always end up
having problems down the
road. Have you ever got a
haircut over the phone? Of
course not. We've learned
that you cannot get or give
referrals if you don't show
up. Make sure your members
attend regularly (and don't
let people abuse the
substitute policy).
6. Pick a great
Leadership Team! Don't
settle for who's willing,
but select who's best!
Leadership Teams can make or
break a group. It happens
all the time. Pick a
President (in some countries
they are called a Chapter
Director) who will pick good
people to support them in
running a great group. And
make sure they go to
Leadership Team Training!
You wouldn't want un-trained
pilots flying your plane, so
don't accept Leadership
Teams who don't want to go
to training. They are flying
your group.
7. Keep positive people
with a solutions-focus
attitude in your group.
OK, here's another way to
say it—move out the constant
whiners! Some people
complain as though there
were an award for it.
Replace them. Find people
who focus on building
something great rather than
complaining as though it
were an Olympic event.
Seriously, why accept
mediocrity when excellence
is an option? People, just
like water, tend to seek the
path of least resistance.
The problem is that the path
with least resistance may
not be the best. If you
expect the best from your
fellow members, you will get
it. If you expect less than
the best from your members …
you will get it. Expect the
best. You'll get better
results, really.
