Dialing Mediocrity

Common sense, if there is such a thing, tells us that mediocrity is to be avoided at all cost and we shall pursue excellence in order to achieve our goals. This binary view of the world is obviously too simple and we need to understand the subtle shades of grey that define the world in which we live. To be able to understand those minor but important differences is key to a mature management style, one that does not condemn mediocrity per se.

We are humans and – whether we like or not – we sometimes achieve mediocre results despite our best intentions. How we manage mediocrity is up to us, and here what separates leaders from the rest of the pack.

French painter Monet once asked his sales agent to sit on a stool so that he could do a portrait of him. After a while, Monet would rip the canvas, unsatisfied with what he had accomplished. He would start again, handling the paintbrush in a different way perhaps, and then again after some time he would explode in rage, shredding the canvas to pieces. He could go on and on like until the end of the day, much to the discomfort of his sales agent. It was dark and then Monet would call it a day, with no paintings to be shown. He would strive for perfection, and anything less was meant to be destroyed.

Could Monet get a job at CGI? Of course not, the poor bastard would be filtered out by our HR minions. Psychological tests would clearly show that this guy could not last a single day at a typical government site. Monet might try to shred the imperfect client, something that is clearly verboten in our CPMF (Client Partnership Management Framework).

Mediocrity is everywhere, and once you accept it and understand it, the world suddenly becomes manageable. Mediocrity flourishes at our clients sites, it is also present within CGI and yet the world continues its course and we manage to post profits every quarter. Is it worth it to fight mediocrity? If mediocrity generates generous sales and revenues, what’s not to love about it?

I’m not saying mediocrity is the new mantra upon which we should build out future. What I’m saying is that mediocrity is so present that we should learn to benefit from it, rather that rejecting it at the cost of decreased sales. We do not have the luxury of ignoring mediocrity.

It takes a while to get used to this philosophy, but anyone who’ve worked long enough for a government client understands this pretty well. Coming to terms with mediocrity is an evolutionary process. You learn to enjoy mediocrity, it no longer gets on your nerves and drives you crazy. You laugh at mediocrity, which makes your day worthwhile and you have some great stories to tell to your wife / husband / parole agent. Mediocrity will clearly outlive you, so why worry then?

If the client wants you to create a 45-page PowerPoint deck full of irrelevant details, just do it. If the client wants you to host dozens of working sessions where everyone acts in childish manners with no objectives in sight, just do it and put on your best smile. It’s easy to do, the client will be happy, and CGI will be happy.

At the end of the day, that’s what counts.