Excellence or Mediocrity

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.

[NOTE - Next month, look for the follow-up article on building cooperation or expecting resistance. It is the perfect tie-in to expecting excellence.]

(1) Jim Collins, Good to Great
(2) MerKergow & Jackson, Solutions Focus

Called the father of modern networking by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the founder and chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization. His latest number one bestseller, Masters of Sales, can be viewed at www.MastersBooks.com. Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company. He can be reached at misner@bni.com.