Truth 9. “Best” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone

It’s easy—indeed trendy—to throw around words such as best, breakthrough, knockout, and great in business conversations. And, of course, we all know what those words mean generally. But what do they mean specifically to you? And, just as important, what do they mean to the person you’re talking to? If you, your boss, and your employee have even slightly different interpretations of these words, those subtle shifts of meaning can confuse the way you assess the quality of performance and production.

You can’t possibly know whether you have what you want until you know what you want in the first place. On an organizational level, companies find this out very quickly when they take on an engagement initiative and start asking themselves (and, hopefully, their employees) what best looks like in their company. And then they start spitting out engagement surveys. Many find that the famous—and ferociously copyrighted—Gallup Q12 set of questions is a good place to start. But then, as each department starts getting excited about the endeavor, it throws in more specific questions. And soon the survey is an out-of-control behemoth that measures nothing other than how many questions can get shoved into one questionnaire. (One company ended up with over 400 questions!) The result? Even after 400 questions, the company might still not know what best actually means in terms of behaviors and return on effort.

On an individual managerial level, you don’t need 400 questions—or even 12—to help you refine your ideas of what a best employee is or to know when an employee is giving you her best. But you do need to know what best means to you, the boss. Assuming that all the legal and moral issues are buttoned up, the definition of best is not a matter of right or wrong. It’s a matter of fit of your employees’ behaviors and characteristics with your expectations.

It’s a matter of fit of your employees’ behaviors and characteristics with your expectations.

Start making a list of what constitutes best performance from all your employees. Don’t automatically overlook the behaviors that you determine to be meaningless. Just as the white space in a painting is as important to the composition as the vase of pretty flowers is, you can learn as much about your values by what you don’t care so much about as you do about what you do care about.

Are these best characteristics and behaviors in your book?

“My best employee...”

• Is dedicated to perfect attendance, no matter what.

• Is single-mindedly focused on the job at hand.

• Is passionate about understanding how each job in the department serves the company’s larger mission.

• Is always optimistic.

• Is always skeptical.

• Freely offers advice, opinions, and ideas at all meetings.

• Is reliably devoted to process and rules.

• Is always looking for a new and better way of solving old problems.

• Bends over backward to serve the customer.

• Values process efficiencies and scalability.

These are just a few characteristics that have been identified as best behaviors of high-quality employees, and you’ll see that some contradict each other. Each one has benefits but also disadvantages. You may agree with some; you might find others absurd. Remember, there is no right and wrong. It’s only about fit.

Your own list will grow as you learn more about yourself and what works within your department and company. Discern which are your preferred behaviors, and you’ll know when you’re getting what you want in your department. Then you’ll be able to lead your staff with reassuring clarity and consistency.

There is no right and wrong. It’s only about fit.

But you’re not done yet. You have a boss as well, with his or her own ideas of what constitutes best. After you’ve had the chance to develop your list to the point where you decide it is comprehensive enough to cover most expected behaviors and characteristics in your department, review it with your boss to see if you two agree.

The point here isn’t to give your boss the opportunity to tell you how wonderful you are. Your purpose is to make sure you share the same values and expectations as your team. That would be the best thing.