“I want quality! Why aren’t we delivering quality consistently?” I was talking with a client recently about his operation, and he mentioned a few challenges his business has been having with quality issues. His business has been dealing with growth issues for many years, unable to grow because they don’t have the size and competence to deliver at a larger scale.

One of the main issues is maintaining quality at their current scale. His business has around 100 people and does 20 – 3o million a year; and has grown 50% in the last 3 years; it’s going through some growing pains.

I take from our conversation that he wants to celebrate quality but tolerates mediocrity. How do I know that? I talked to people across the organizations, including employees, to get their perspectives. And I told him that he’s preaching quality but tolerates mediocrity; from attitude to training and low morale.

This is a leadership and cultural issue. One that wasn’t designed from the beginning, and no one practices what they preach. People just show up to do the work with no clear understanding of why their work matters in the big picture. There was a common theme that came up from my conversations with people in the organization: no accountability. Some people do as they wish and there is no response from management.

That tells you everything!

My message to him was: Somebody somewhere has to start thinking and acting differently for things to change, and it has to start with you.

You rise and fall to the level of the people you hire and develop, the culture you shape, the systems you design and implement, and the leadership you embody. So, if you want things to change, work to change them. Don’t wait on others to do it, don’t say it’s somebody else’s job, don’t make excuses.

Show up, where you are, on purpose. Be the change.

Bottom line: Leadership is hard because it’s all on you. Great leaders don’t do it all, but they own it all. Practice what you preach. Set clear expectations. Show them what success looks like and hold yourself accountable first and then others. Ask yourself: How am I modeling the way? Remember, there are no bad teams only bad leaders.