You're not great? Can you be effective?

If you are graduating from college or high school, or making any other type of transition in life this coming summer, here is a simple fact to consider: you are not great.

I thought about this a little while back, the day after the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. When asked about the college career of NCAA Champion UNC Forward Tyler Hansbrough, legendary basketball coach Bob Knight said the he did not think that Hansbrough was a "great player."

Instead, he considered Hansbrough "effective," which he thought was better.

Don't get upset. Few of us are truly "great," especially when we enter an unknown environment. We may possess knowledge and experience, and we might even have the ability to claim some cases of achievement, but they do not guarantee our ability to achieve success as we move forward.


Despite our desire as individuals and society to look forward, we are considered for those opportunities based on our past performance. This is true on the individual and organizational level. In my professional surroundings of the public sector, performance measurement and evaluation is a growing in its role and significance in decision making. For the past several years, I have worked with departments, managers, and stakeholders on examining current practices and activities, identifying what works well and attempting to correct or eliminate what does not.


There are many ways, of course, to evaluate performance. All too often, our track record in the beginning focuses on inputs and outputs. How much workload can we handle? What grade or score do we get in a class or on a test? What were our sales numbers? To some degree, we can compare these two classes of metrics and rate our efficiency, or our ability to make more out of less.


However, the only matters that really matter with respect to evaluating talent, ability, or capacity to take advantage of opportunity is effectiveness. It is also known as outcome, the end result of our endeavors and application of resources. If we are in sales, how does our activity impact the bottom line of the company? For project managers, it would be an investigation into how our activities or idea, brought to fruition, improves the business or enables the achievement of an established goal or objective.


Identifying outcomes and effectiveness is not easy across all professional fields. It is easiest in sports. The easiest mark of effectiveness is victory at the championship level, the recognition that you are the best of the given lot. Sometimes, possessing the talent, passion, and character to focus on achieving such a goal is as important, if not more, than simply being "great" in a given field of skill.

In the case of Tyler Hansbrough, his college career is more about effectiveness than greatness. His determination and ability to lead his team to comeback victories, consistent superior performance, and a national championship with a veteran roster all overshadow those elements of personal greatness, or lack thereof. His effectiveness, more so than his skill level, represents the value he can provide a potential team in the NBA, as well as any other environment where he can apply his "soft" and versatile capabilities following graduation.

When thinking about our own potential, we may not always have the capacity to obtain greatness, but with the right focus and commitment, we can dedicate ourselves to always achieving more valuable effectiveness.