跳出低期望值陷阱，自我成就职场英雄

    这个数据表明，这些公司承认自己在打造一支称职、胜任的管理者队伍这个基础性的工作上面吃了败仗。如果有40%的中层管理者（不是高管）充其量只是达到了一般水平，他们为什么意识不到，公司正面临危机，应该立即采取大动作来谋求改善。

    我们并没看到有哪家公司宣布自身处于这种紧急状态。这同样也印证了我们的经验和观察告诉我们的另一个结论：尽管很多公司可能明确声称或暗示他们对管理者高标准严要求，但实际上他们对未达标的管理方法和行为一直持宽容态度。

    这一话题值得我们进行更深入的研究和探讨，但对于个别管理者来说，它也清晰地传递了一点：假如你立志成为卓越的管理者，只是尽力达到公司的实际水准而非个人的真实水准还远远不够。即使业绩苹果结果为“达到预期”，甚至更好，也并不意味着这种评价准确地衡量了你的技术或发展。

    管理者需要不断成长，要明确自己的机会缺口，确认自己能做到什么程度，而不是接受公司管理者的实际业绩缺口。这是对自身发展负责所要采取的第一步。

    注：本文中“机会缺口”和“业绩缺口”两个名词源自迈克尔•塔什曼和查尔斯•奥莱利二世合著的《创新取胜：领导组织变革复兴实用指南》（Winning Through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal）一书。

    译者：李玫晓/汪皓

    This figure is an admission by companies that they are failing in their fundamental task of creating a corps of competent, capable managers. If 40% of their mid-level -- not first-level -- managers are mediocre at best, why don't they recognize that they face a corporate crisis and take dramatic steps to improve?

    We're not aware of any companies that have declared such a state of emergency, which seems to confirm something our experience and observations have also told us: even though companies may claim, implicitly or explicitly, that they set high standards for their managers, they in fact condone managerial practices and behavior that persistently fall short of those standards.

    This whole topic deserves more study and discussion, but for individual managers, it seems to convey one clear point: if you aspire to become a great manager, simply striving to meet your organization's actual, versus espoused, standards probably won't get you there. Being rated "meets expectations" or even better isn't necessarily a good measure of your skill or progress.

    To grow as a manager, you will need to define your own opportunity gap – identify what youcanbecome -- rather than accept the actual performance gap for managers in your firm. This is the first step in taking responsibility for your own development.

    Note: We adapted the terms "Opportunity Gap" and "Performance Gap" fromWinning Through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewalby Michael L. Tushman and Charles A. O'Reilly II.