13 Sep Perfectionism in Business
Perfectionism in Business
I recently introduced the idea that the behaviours that helped grow our business success can at some point turn around and start sabotaging it (you can read that intro here). We are going to start off with one of the biggies – perfectionism.
Okay, so perfectionism has the ability to slow down a business’ growth at the beginning too. I’ve seen plenty of companies who have spent so long getting their website ready that it needs a whole new rewrite by the time it’s ready to publish. Meanwhile, if you spend too long on crafting each social media post it slows things down, impacting the time you have to do other things.
However, most of us learn to curb that, or at least speed up. That need for everything to perfect may make us pause before pressing go, but we understand that at some point it needs to happen. And it can be useful. You care about the quality of your work. There is no doubt that you have high standards. You notice details other people miss. People understand that you don’t like putting something out into the world unless you are confident it is good enough. You emphasis quality and that’s good.
And then the business grows. Perhaps it’s the sheer amount of connections and followers that is the trigger, but we might start obsessing about how everything has to be absolutely perfect. When I say obsessing, this is beyond simply checking, this is when the social media infrastructure starts creeping under the weight of everyone having to wait for one person, you, to be absolutely satisfied and ready to sign off.
You become the bottleneck
I’ve seen this with staff who have to run every email via their boss, or even had to put up with them hanging around while they make an important call. Perfectionism becomes the destroyer of delegation.
Apart from slowing everything down, people don’t feel trusted. Every time you insist on triple checking, you’re saying I don’t trust you to do a good enough job (If you don’t actually think their work is good enough that’s another conversation). Each time you micromanage someone you take away their feelings of achievement, status and control. In short, you damage other people’s self-esteem and you know that’s not good for your business.
What type of perfectionism?
Psychologists sometimes distinguish between different aspects of perfectionism. One involves setting high standards and striving for achievement. Another involves what researchers call perfectionistic concerns. These are worries about making mistakes, failing to meet expectations, being judged negatively, or falling short of an ideal.
That distinction matters. The first is about the quality of the work. The second is about what people think of you.
Being driven to do things exceptionally well isn’t necessarily the problem. The problem is when the need to get things right becomes so strong that it affects your judgement, behaviour, relationships, or ability to move forward. Processes slow, people around you become annoyed or worse, feel untrusted. An anxiety stops you putting things out there, making decisions, or perhaps you make them and then second guess your own decision. Perhaps when the business was at an early stage making mistakes didn’t matter. Now, with a team, an audience and maybe even investors, making mistakes feels too daunting.
The damage it can do
Let’s have a look at some the ways it can negatively impact you and your business:
- Opportunities missed because you were still preoccupied with getting something else polished
- Decisions that take far longer than they need to
- Projects that never quite get launched, and maybe even fall off the table
- Difficulty with delegating
- Excessive working hours – you can’t keep up these high standards in normal working hours
- Procrastination disguised as preparation
- A reluctance to experiment because that runs the risk of making a mistakes
- Avoiding visibility and therefore putting off scrutiny
- Exhaustion from maintaining impossibly high standards
- Difficulty actually enjoying your success because you are always wondering if that last pitch/meeting/item could have been better.
Perfectionism in business
Perfectionism often stems back to our childhood. Over zealous parents or caregivers who insist that everything is perfect, in its right place, can result in us feeling unsafe when we haven’t double checked and triple checked that all is acceptable. Expectations of high grades or ridicule for work that is considered below par also have their part to play.
I remember my art teacher ridiculing my work in front of the whole class for its lack of depth and perception. This was my first term of secondary school. I now look back and think well, wasn’t his job to teach me that? However, as an eleven year old I didn’t have that insight and I was humiliated. This could easily have spun me into thinking that everything needs to be perfect to avoid that happening again. When you get to that stage you often get its sibling, procrastination – if you don’t start you don’t have to worry about never measuring up.
It didn’t, I am pleased to say, although it’s only 30 years later that I can really enjoy art without thinking of that moment. Nevertheless, I still feel a slight churning of the stomach when I press schedule on a LinkedIn newsletter or Substack essay. Objectively, I know nothing can be perfect, but that doesn’t stop us wanting it!
Burnout
No surprises here, but perfectionism is often a factor in burnout. One of the ways I work with my burned out clients is to shine a light on their perfectionism that may be playing a part in all this.
That said, you’d have a lifetime to get used to these standards and high level of expectations. Other people haven’t. Your perfectionism may also lead to the burnout of others.
How to step out of the perfectionist mindset
For a start, recognise the benefits it brings you. You’re conscientious and that’s good. However, it’s a hard expectation to carry and even heavier if you’re putting your own expectations on other people’s shoulders. A vital step is untangling the need to do a good job from the stress response of “this has to be perfect.”
There’s something around finding an alternative that you are happy with. Some people talk about “good enough” but for a life long perfectionist I think even that’s a bit anxiety inducing, so I like to suggest “more than good enough.” This means so polished, unique or just so well put together that it will be noticed, but not to the extent that it has a major impact on you or your team.
I know, if you’re a carpenter or a cosmetic surgeon, you might well be aiming for perfection. For most professions, there are many times when “more than good enough” is enough. That instagram post can go out without needing you to check it; maybe a colleague can provide a second pair of eyes. The website can always be tweaked even after you’ve pressed go live. That pitch or proposal may never be absolutely perfect, but knowing everyone has done their best is a good measure. Every email doesn’t need to go through Claude.
Ultimately, it can help to remind yourself that the business is more than good enough. Hell, you’re much more than good enough!
I regularly work with founders who struggle with perfectionism. You can read more about my founder therapy here, or get on and book a chat to see if I could help you.
No Comments