Meritocracy: a social system, society, or organisation in which people get success or power because of their abilities and attitude, not because of their money or social position.
Every leader I know says that when it comes to winning, the system as described above is not just the best but also the most desirable, particularly when it comes to high performance.
When it comes to driving high performance and giving yourself a competitive edge, all the alternatives seem somehow less attractive.
From a performance perspective, meritocracy seems like a really good idea. A place where the best people progress simply because they are the best at doing the things that need to be done: closing sales, leading transformation, putting the ball in a hoop, you know. We want the best people and we want them to thrive because when they do, everybody wins.
That’s the notion of meritocracy and if that notion offends you or challenges your fundamental beliefs, then I’d quit reading this right now and do something else. High performance is not for you and I wish you well.
If you’re still here, then thank you.
From theory to practice
For such a simple principle, the journey from theory and philosophy to the promised land of operational excellence of meritocracies in organisations seems a bit tricky.
If you believe that there is currently a meritocracy in the corporate world then you would also have to believe, for example, that the reason why there is a disproportionate number of white males in leadership positions in the corporate world is because a) we want the best in those key positions and b) the best just happen to be white men, pretty much everywhere, most of the time. You’d have to believe that when it comes to those roles, white blokes are just better at them. I guess you’d also have to believe that if you’re not a white bloke (e.g. you are Black or a woman or both) then the chances are that you’re just not going to be quite as good, however hard you work.
Sit with that for a minute. Think of all the implications for you, your team and your organisation if you believe that. And I don’t mean morally or ethically. That’s between you and any higher person or being you hold dear. I mean from the perspective of your talent attraction, your profits, your growth and your brand.
If you’re still here, then thank you.
Here’s where I think we’ve got to:
If we’re serious about consistently winning, then we’re going to need the best people we can get. If that’s true, then this whole meritocracy thing sounds like a pretty good idea.
If you are nodding in agreement, carry on.
We seem to have people with particular characteristics disproportionately represented in our leadership positions. As we believe those characteristics don’t make them innately better leaders, and if we’re serious about meritocracy, then we’ve got a lot of work to do.
If you are nodding in agreement, carry on.
Given how important winning is, we should understand what’s going on here so we can see if it’s anything we can fix. It might not even cost much and that would be even better. It could be our own version of Moneyball.
If you’re serious about meritocracy, then the high performance thing to do is to face up to the reality of your current position, make sure you understand what changes you need to make and get ready to make them. If you’re winning a game that’s rigged in your favour, then know you can’t put that down to talent or performance. Rigged games diminish the value of ability and attitude and seem to be the opposite of a meritocracy.
Using a word doesn’t mean it’s true
If you call yourself a high performance business but you can’t explain what high performance means and you don’t have the evidence to back up your claim, it doesn’t make it true. You have to understand the concept, acknowledge your reality and start doing the work.
If you call yourself a meritocracy but you can’t explain what meritocracy means and you don’t have the evidence to back up your claim, it doesn’t make it true. You have to understand the concept, acknowledge your reality and start doing the work.
As somebody shared with me a few years ago – if I wake up one morning and decide to punch someone in the name of Leonardo DiCaprio, a) it’s just an excuse for violence and b) it’s not Leonardo’s fault.
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