SAI: The Formula For Exceptional Work
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I’m always extremely flattered when an employee, a friend or someone in my extended network reaches out to me for career advice. Why I feel this way is for two reasons. One, I get the opportunity to help someone in what I hope is an area I’m passionate about, which usually involves project management, execution or leadership. Two, it signals that something about my body of work makes me worthy enough to offer advice on these subjects.
Doing this enough times, I really started focusing in one that second part. What is it about the quality of my work that has helped me grow in my career, lead a few businesses and put me in the privileged position of helping others?
With that question in the back of my mind, I started to pay more and more attention to the type of asks professionals were reaching out to me for. There’s usually a reason I’m approached for advice but for the most part, it’s a call for help. Some examples being:
Person #1 - I just started a new job and I want to make a great first impression. I need help!
Person #2 - I have a major upcoming presentation that I need to nail. I need help!
Person #3 - I keep getting passed over for job promotions. I need help!
Person #4 - I’m having trouble standing out from my peers. I need help!
Person #5 - I’m new to [insert job title] and don’t know where to start. I need help!
And while my advice differs based on each person’s unique situation, it isn’t lost on me that what each of these individuals are asking in there own way is:
“How do I perform at my best, to accomplish the goals I’ve set for myself?”
It's clear to me that the majority of us want to perform at our best and produce exceptional work. We look up to those who inspire us and eagerly try out new methods as they become available. However, it's surprising that only a few of us succeed in creating work that truly makes us proud AND captivates the attention of others.
Why is that?
Having pondered this question for the last few months, I've come to the realization that most working professionals attempting to produce great work lack a few critical ingredients that the best professionals consistently incorporate.
For today’s deep-dive, I’m going to uncover the recipe and full set of ingredients that has taken me from a traditional project manager to where I am today. Specifically, I’m going to walk you through a formula that will hopefully change your perspective on what’s needed to consistently produce exceptional results.
SAI = Standard / Ability / Improvement
Producing excellent work doesn’t come naturally for everyone. It requires cultivating the right mindset, putting in hard work, and consistently evaluating performance to enhance skills through challenges and experiences.
Wash, rinse and repeat.
While the production of quality might appear unpredictable at times, it ultimately follows a plan. At least, that's been my experience. Whenever my work has been praised for being great, it’s because 3 key ingredients have been in play before, during, and after the entire process.
To achieve consistency, I've taken these three key ingredients, restructured them for better organization, and developed a simple yet highly replicable formula. Allow me to introduce SAI - the solution for achieving exceptional work every time.
Each of these 3 ingredients can often be misinterpreted so let’s spend a moment and put a definition for each of them.
Standard - Your baseline level of expectations for your thoughts, actions, and behaviours, and in this case, your work. To put it simply, it’s what you deem acceptable.
Ability - The set of core competencies you have at your disposal to execute on the work and fulfill the standards set for yourself.
Improvement - The process of relentlessly measuring existing standards and abilities and make improvements accordingly.
Having led direct reports for the past decade, I've noticed a common issue among working professionals: they often encounter roadblocks in crafting their best work because their effort is solely focused on that middle layer - their abilities. They understand their strengths and preferences and use them as their sole approach to work production and eventual output. Unfortunately, this approach is a massive mistake that stifles growth.
In my opinion, the most crucial element is often the least considered: your standards for work output.
Raising Your Standards
Everything you put out into the world has the potential to be measured. When it comes to work, your output can be measured by your boss, cross-functional leads, and clients. Over time, the accumulation of work that was crafted by your hand can build a reliable case around what type of manager, leader, and/or worker you are.
Looking for external validation of the quality of your work is essential, but I would argue it’s secondary to the validation you personally have for the work you do.
The first step to consistently creating exceptional work is to meet the following rule:
The standard you set for yourself around work output must exceed the external expectations.
It seems easy in theory, but you would be surprised how many working professionals have very low standards of themselves and the work they do. Here are some of the most common reasons for this:
Lack of Confidence: Have you ever been burned in the past by an assignment, project, or presentation? It only takes 1-2 failures to really knock your confidence levels down to their lowest point. And when confidence is low, it's like adding fuel to the fire of poor work quality.
The “Good Enough” Mindset: It’s painful to hear, but many working professionals aim to meet the minimum quality of work that’s acceptable externally. The problem with this is two fold. One, not every stakeholder will share this minimum acceptable level of quality and will measure you accordingly. And two, as you climb up in your careers, you will be competing with a larger and larger subset of individuals that have exceedingly high standards set for themselves. Making your average work look less than average.
Lack of Awareness: This is a big one, and I'm really hoping this deep-dive will set things right. You'd be surprised by how many of today’s managers, leaders, and professionals simply don't think this way. They overlook the importance of measuring themselves, which is actually a foundational step in creating amazing things. It puts them at a big disadvantage in their positions.
If any of this resonates with you, there's room for improvement. Holding yourself to high standards is not just a skill; it's a mindset. Your next challenge will be to shift your thinking.
Let me share some common traits I've observed in employees who consistently deliver exceptional products, services, and processes. Here are some of the most notable ones:
Pursuit of Greatness: What drives you? For professionals committed to creating greatness, an insatiable internal desire to excel in their craft is what propels them forward. They fearlessly discard drafts that don't meet their exacting standards, willing to start anew. They firmly believe their work reflects who they are and reject anything short of excellence.
The 10% Threshold: When an exceptional worker receives accolades or positive feedback for the great work they've done, they don't just stop there and pat themselves on the back. Instead, they take this achievement as a new standard of quality, raising it to become their new baseline. Moreover, they set their sights on maintaining a lead of at least 10% above this threshold and continuously strive to push their limits even further.
Relentless Towards Learning: The very best individuals have a keen eye for observing others, not only to appreciate great moves but also to learn from their mistakes. They grasp that people's standards are dynamic and ever-changing, so they adjust their own expectations accordingly.
The Power of Passion: Exceptional talent understands that they can only do great work when their focus is on things that engage, excite, and encourage them. When passion reaches its highest levels, nailing the other three traits mentioned above creates a powerful flywheel of greatness that's hard to match.
Now that you have the tools to remove the anchors that have been holding your standards back and the traits to elevate them to new heights, your next step is to put in the work and build a plan for yourself.
Once you feel you've reached a good spot, it's time to shift your focus to the second aspect of the equation. The cultivation of abilities.
Cultivating Abilities
Having high standards for yourself will only take you so far. True exceptional output comes from having the ability to act on those high standards.
If you possess high standards but lack the necessary skills to act on them, you'll find yourself stuck in an endless loop of frustration, never truly satisfied with your work—and rightfully so.
Accumulating and growing abilities is pretty straightforward. All you need is the right set of challenges, earned experience through overcoming and failing those challenges, and then building on them to create your own personal suite of skills that work together seamlessly.
However, the cultivation of skills phase can also be somewhat of a trap if you're not careful. Building skills shouldn't happen at random in the majority of situations. Instead, being laser-focused on excelling in your particular field will require a bit more of a roadmap. Specifically:
Macro Alignment: Looking at the data, where can you predict the world is heading? Disruption is the new constant so prepping for the reality will make all the difference. More specifically, what direction do you see your industry heading? Answering these questions first will give you a solid shortlist of abilities to prioritize.
Company Alignment: What are the 1,3,5 year strategies of the company you work for or run? What are the major opportunities and threats that stand in its way in meeting their objectives. Looking at your company this way will offer you a new lens at which to prioritize abilities.
Current Abilities: Having a clearer understanding of how macro data and company information fit into the big picture, how does this translate to your current abilities? Do you possess a collection of skills that are geared towards the future and can directly add value to your organization? In most cases, you should already possess more than half of the necessary capabilities. The crucial part is uncovering what you might be lacking.
Ability Gap: The final step in your pursuit of obtaining the right skills to enable exceptional work is uncovering the missing pieces. By now, this should be pretty clear. If not, dig in further by observing other high performers within your organization. What are they doing, and which components are they being praised for? If all else fails, don't hesitate to ask your colleagues, bosses, and team members for their unbiased feedback. Gathering their insights can provide you with a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.
Remember, deciding and prioritizing the right skills to ensure the greatest positive impact as early as possible is the hard part—one that most professionals fail to do correctly. Everything else simply comes down to taking on the right challenges and allowing time to do its work.
(Continuous) Improvement
If you want to consistently produce great work that matches your high standards, having the right set of abilities can certainly make you above average. However, to truly stand out among other leaders, you need a secret weapon – continuous improvement.
This is why I've emphasized improvement as a force multiplier in the SAI equation. It acts as the gas pedal, propelling you on an upward trajectory of skill accumulation and ever-increasing expectations of yourself.
Let's take a moment to consider an example—a dedicated working professional named Sarah, who is committed to elevating her standards using the SAI formula.
Let's meet Sarah, someone determined to elevate her presentation capabilities as a project manager. After her last presentation (the output), she invested ample time in evaluating the outcome. This involved gathering external feedback, reviewing engagement data, following up with attendees, and conducting a self-evaluation. From this process, Sarah gained valuable insights into her strengths and areas needing improvement.
For the aspects where she excelled during that presentation, she needs to understand why and embrace them as her new baseline for all future presentations. These successes become her new standard of measurement. On the other hand, Sarah must actively address any shortcomings and work diligently to fill those gaps.
Going through this cycle for her next presentation, she will be starting from a new elevated position. Over time, as her standards build off of each other, her growth will far outpace not only her peers, but also her ability to meet her lofty expectations. This is her cue to transition her focus and upgrade her abilities.
Just like Sarah, you will need to be strategic by being evenly balanced so you never find yourself outpacing one ingredient too far over another.
With all three pieces in place, you now have a workable blueprint that you can use to ensure you are always measuring yourself higher than the external benchmark. You also have the skills to meet those expectations and an improvement mindset that will put you on the fast lane.
Navigating Your Way To The Exceptional
The SAI formula is, as you can expect, a strategy you can implement to transform good work into exceptional output. Like all strategies, the magic lies in execution. As you assess where you currently stand and begin implementing the formula, you'll want to monitor progress and check your position from time to time.
In other words, determine where you currently fit on the Standard/Ability Matrix and identify what you can do to push ahead.
Let’s go through each in a bit of detail starting from the most bleak.
The Poor Performer:
This persona can be identified by having low standards for work and feeling helpless about improving it. If you find yourself in this situation, it's crucial to take action promptly. The first step is a mental one. You need to be honest with yourself and acknowledge that your current work output is unacceptable. Don't wait for your boss or peers to point this out; it should come from your own expectations.
Start by identifying an area of strength within your work and use it as the initial benchmark for the quality of all your skills. Once you are in the right frame of mind, prioritize upgrading your foundational skills. Avoid falling back into the patterns of mediocrity you might have had in the past. Set a higher bar for yourself and begin with a small goal to achieve.
If necessary, seek inspiration and study material from high performers in your field. Learn from those who excel and strive to apply their methods to your own work. Remember, improvement starts with your mindset and dedication.
The Wasted Talent: Here's where the majority of working professionals find themselves: armed with education, experience, and immense talent, they have all the makings of a true trailblazer. Unfortunately, those stuck at this stage set a low bar for themselves, and this shows in their work.
The tricky part at this stage, especially for those not actively seeking improvement, is that they don't realize what's holding them back. They find their work output to be completely acceptable, not realizing the areas that need growth. Recognizing this is crucial, and it's helpful if you have great peers or a supportive boss who can point out those gaps.
For those fortunate enough to acknowledge being in this stage, it's time to once again raise the bar and elevate your standards for work output. Your mindset is the key to making this happen. Embrace a competitor's mindset and refuse to settle for anything less than greatness.
The Imperfect Perfectionist: Having high standards for your work output without the skills to meet those standards can be a frustrating experience. At this stage, you might find yourself constantly scrapping your work due to your dissatisfaction with the results. You don’t need other to tell you to pick up the pace. You are already your toughest critic. The good news is that your standards are in the right place; you just need to upgrade your skills.
It’s very hard for a professional with high standards of work effort to be lagging too far behind on abilities So, your first step is to review what you're doing well. Then, seek out complementary skills that not only expand your toolbox but also enhance your existing abilities as a byproduct.
Embrace continuous improvement to relentlessly upgrade your abilities, and only then will you be able to focus back on taking your high standards even higher. Remember, skill enhancement at this stage is the key to closing the gap between your current output and the level you desire.
The Peak Performer: This is where we all want to be, but only a few actually achieve it, especially consistently. When you have high standards and the skills to meet them, you'll definitely set yourself up for success.
Combine this with a key focus on continuous improvement, and there's honestly no stopping you. You've created a flywheel that will keep accelerating the quality of your work output.
Conclusion
Like most things, creating exceptional work takes time, and the path to greatness is anything but linear. By applying the SAI formula, you gain that slight edge by analyzing your weak points and aligning your mindset with effort. Treat this journey to excellence as an iterative process, and you'll find that the sky is the limit.
Fantastic post, really insightful and helpful!
I can use this SAI framework to become the best version of myself, so thank you for sharing.