Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Strive for Excellence – For Your Own Sake, and For Those Around You

When we do our work well, we elevate ourselves, our coworkers, and everyone around us.

By Nathan Koslowsky, Representative

Have you ever had a day when you weren’t feeling it, but showed up to work anyway, and then phoned it in? I have.

How do you feel at the end of a day like that? Not great would be my answer.

On those days, I usually justify it with arguments like, what’s the harm—I’m usually a high performer. Or, I’ve earned the right to slack off once in a while.

So how do I square that approach with CLAC’s encouragement that members perform their work to the highest standard? At first glance, that might sound like an expectation designed to benefit the employer. After all, wouldn’t it be better for the worker to do just enough to get by?

But consider the kind of workplace that a “just enough” approach creates. Safety is probably just okay. Quality is mediocre. The schedule may slip. Work may need to be redone. Procedures become boxes to check rather than standards that matter. And we all know what it’s like to work alongside someone who approaches their job that way all the time.

It’s not great.

Now picture the alternative—a workplace where people take safety seriously, produce accurate work, are dedicated and productive, follow procedures, and conduct themselves professionally. Work is safe, accurate, on time, and done right the first time.

Which team would you rather work with? And which company would you rather be part of?

Excellence certainly benefits an employer. A company whose employees consistently produce excellent work is more likely to earn trust, retain and gain customers, and succeed over the long term, which also benefits the workers.

But excellence also benefits workers in other ways. There is satisfaction in looking at something you helped build, repair, operate, or deliver knowing it was done well. There is dignity in becoming the coworker others can rely on. And there is a different atmosphere in a workplace when everyone takes responsibility for doing their part well.

This can be seen no matter what type of workplace you are in—from construction to retail to healthcare. Arguably, in customer or patient-facing environments, it’s even more important. Because your attitude toward your work not only impacts the company and coworkers, but customers and patients as well.

Consider five areas where commitment to excellence shows up.

Safety: not merely avoiding an incident today but doing the work safely throughout.
Quality: not “close enough,” but accurately and diligently.
Productivity: getting the necessary work done in a reasonable timeframe.
Compliance: following the procedures that govern the work, rather than looking for shortcuts.
Conduct: treating coworkers, supervisors, and the public professionally.

The contrast isn’t between working yourself into the ground and being lazy.

Excellence doesn’t mean sacrificing your health, accepting unsafe or unreasonable demands, or working unpaid hours. Workers have legitimate interests, rights, and limits that deserve to be respected.

Rather, excellence asks a more personal question: What kind of worker and colleague do you want to be?

While your work affects your employer, you don’t perform only for your employer. You perform alongside your colleagues, whose jobs can become easier or harder depending on your contribution. And you perform for yourself, because your work becomes part of your reputation and part of how you see yourself.

There will always be an easier standard of good enough to get by. But good enough isn’t what we hope for from the person working beside us, and it’s probably not what most of us want to be known for either.

If phoning it in is baked into the culture of your team, setting a new standard can be challenging, but it isn’t impossible. Set the example, for your own sake and for the sake of those you work alongside. Your example can elevate the quality and contribution of the team you are a part of. And even if it doesn’t, you get to leave at the end of the day knowing that you have done your best, and can take pride in that.

Strive for Excellence – For Your Own Sake, and For Those Around You

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