The Colonel continually reminded me, “You aren’t ever going to be perfect, kid. There is no such thing as a ‘perfect leader.’ Just be a better leader today than you were yesterday, and better tomorrow than you were today.”
I tend to lean toward perfectionism. While there are many benefits to having obsessive attention to detail, perfectionism can be counterproductive in leadership for a couple of reasons. First, expecting perfection from your team is setting a standard that they can never achieve, which is demoralizing. This eventually leads to poor morale, poor production, and attrition. Expecting excellence is a much better measure to use as a guide for your team’s efforts.
The second challenge that comes with perfectionism is much subtler. Most perfectionists (myself included) understand at an intellectual level that no one is perfect. This allows us to give our team the slack they need to seek excellence instead. The insidious part comes from a gut or emotional level, which prevents us from giving ourselves that same slack. While not expecting perfection from our team, we somehow still expect it from ourselves. Your team sees this in you. They see you expecting more from yourself than you expect from them. If they respect and have affection for you, they will often push themselves to reach the standard you are setting for yourself, which can lead to mass burnout.
To avoid this trap, the message I tell myself is that I am “on target.” You see, as a perfectionist, with every effort you put in, you improve and get better. A perfectionist never makes the same mistake twice. So, if you improve with every effort, then each improvement, small or large, means you are on target for the perfection you desire. As long as you are on target for perfection, that gives you a framework wherein you can accept excellence for the time being and still feel good about yourself. Allow yourself to have that framework.
Significant leaders strive for excellence from our team and accept excellence in ourselves.
Read Lauren’s Whitepaper on The Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership.
Pick up the Colonels of Wisdom Series Vol 1 and Vol 2 here.
