Six ways to beat complacency

Complacency, and its harmful effects, is all around us.

Think about politics. Democrats held a Senate seat for 47 years and assumed they would win again in 2010, but did not.

Consider sports. 2010 is the first year since 1993, or 17 years, that both number one seeds, presumably the top two teams, meet in the Super Bowl.

Think about business. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a composite of 30 of America’s largest and strongest companies, has had seven new members since 2000, and only five (DuPont, Proctor & Gamble, ExxonMobil, United Technologies, and General Electric) have been in it. ready. for more than 70 years.

Consider your business. Have you lost a Customer who was a surprise because they “had been with you forever” or “loves us”? Have your earnings dropped a year after a great performance?

To be sure, in all these cases there are factors other than complacency at play. However, it is equally true that at least part of the reason for the above results is the insidious factor, sometimes undetected or underestimated, called complacency.

The good news is that complacency often comes after some success. The bad news is that it can spread quickly and significantly reduce future success. The best news is that you can be defeated. Here are six steps to help you.

Acknowledge it. Doctors know that it is difficult to treat a patient until a diagnosis is made. Complacency can start with quiet confidence, which most would view as a positive thing, and gradually become a problem with the early stages going unnoticed. What do you see differently in the habits and approach of the people (or your)? Are you taking the little things for granted? Are you doing less of the things that led to past successes?

Put it in context. Complacency probably won’t happen until you’ve had some success! Complacency comes from success. So acknowledge and celebrate success first, then challenge complacent thoughts and actions. Help people remember the feeling that came with success. When you can connect emotionally with that feeling, you can use it to avoid complacency and focus on the next achievement.

Set new goals. If previous goals have been met and no new ones have been set, you have a problem. Now is the time to involve others in setting new goals. Create them with the same enthusiasm and anticipation that you did when setting past goals that you and your team have met. Make sure the new goals are challenging enough to inspire the energy needed to combat complacency.

Keep the purpose clear. Goals are great, but it’s the underlying purpose or “why” that will really drive discipline and performance and be a natural antibiotic for complacency. Remind people of your purpose. Connect people with the emotions of success and achieving purpose. If the purpose or vision has changed due to past accomplishments, modify that purpose as significantly as possible.

Create healthy competition. Human beings love competition, either with themselves or with others. You can combat complacency with creative competition. Create ways to help people compete against themselves or against the goals they exceeded last year. Allow teams to compete (though not in a destructive or disabling way) with each other in pursuit of common goals. Define an outside competitor as the source of your energy and effort.

Remember history and human nature. Like the examples at the beginning of this piece, history shows that complacency is part of the human condition. Recognizing this helps you deal with it personally and as a team or organization. However, when you feel or see it, don’t resort to guilt or blame; Rather, acknowledge it and use all your mental and emotional energy to focus on getting over it rather than worrying about its presence.

Complacency; avoid at your own risk. When you choose to attack it before it spreads in your mind or the mind of your organization, the steps above will help prevent the spread and, with consistent effort, will eliminate your current outbreak.

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