How to Avoid Complacency – 4 Warning Signs

Do You Have Complacency on Your Team?
Being a leader is not easy.  Getting the most from people is even harder. Resting on your laurels can be a big leadership mistake that can keep you from meeting your goals.  How do you avoid complacency?

Your Job as a Leader
As a leader, your number one job is to stimulate greater performance of your team. One of your most important tasks is to identify clear, transparent, and fair standards of job performance. This clarity will help you lead the fight against complacency that can take over average and low performing teams.

It All Starts with Just Possible Goals
Setting smart goals creates the foundation for higher performance.  It stands to reason — if the gap between who you are and who you want to be is “just possible,” you are stimulated to reach higher and encouraged to make greater effort.  This concept of “just possible” goals is a foundational concepts behind creating a high performance team.

Four Warning Signs of Complacency on Your Team
Be on the lookout for the four key signs of complacency:

1. Satisfaction
   Satisfaction with what is — rather than what can be
2. Peaked
   The sense that no more can be done — versus always striving for more
3. Status Quo
   Lackadaisical acceptance of the traditional ways of behaving — versus excitement for new ways of getting things done
4. Regression
   Lack of interest in innovation and continuous improvement — versus energy toward advancing and improving

The Bottom Line
Once you introduce a new and higher standard of expectations for your team, you will need to offer the support required to be successful in their journey toward improved performance.

To learn more about how to avoid complacency and improve team performance as a leader, download The Science Behind How Much a Leader Should Push for Greater Performance?