You are a leader. There could be multiple scenarios for your job performance. One scenario is where you’re making progress. You are driving change; you are driving transformation. That is the high-performance scenario. There could be another scenario where you’re not participating; you’re not engaging; you’re not contributing. Maybe you’re not interested, or perhaps you’re not incentivized for that role. Regardless, that is a low-performance scenario.
There is another scenario. It’s right in the middle. And, this is the scenario where you are doing just the minimum required for the job. You know, you’re just getting the checkmarks, you’re just doing the bare minimum thing needed for that job, and that is coasting or cruising. Unfortunately for some people, this becomes sort of the primary mode of operation. Let’s just do the minimum and just coast along.
Modern, transparent workplace will eradicate coasting
And I’ve got some bad news. The bad news is it only lasts for a little bit, for the short term. And that’s because, in the modern workplace, the coasting part is disappearing because of transparency. And so everything is transparent. The tools that you’re using for messaging, for communication, for collaboration, everything is in front of everybody in terms of the work you’re doing, the results you’re producing.
In a highly transparent environment, you owe it to yourself to perform to the best of your ability, to create value, to exceed expectations, and that’s how you stay on the high curve. And going on the coasting curve, it’s very risky. I would not recommend it. As a leader, you should be pushing the envelope.
Challenging yourself and challenging others. Don’t fall into this trap of coasting because a leader’s work is never done. You have to keep going, and you have to create value.