We have to be perfect – right? Wrong. Maybe if you’re dealing with life and death situations, but how many of us really do that? Not many. And some professions do require a high degree of accuracy. But in the overall scope of things, there aren’t many of these either.

The World War II General, George Patton, had an interesting observation. He said: A good plan initiated immediately and with vigor is better than the perfect plan initiated after a two week wait. How many reading this wait for the perfect plan, the perfect proposal, the perfect client pitch. If you do, you are wasting your time and other’s time. Good is often good enough.

We found that the pursuit of perfection was a useful crutch. It serves multiple purposes. It prevents rejection; it provides a reason for working long hours; it provides an opportunity to avoid other less comfortable interactions. Yes, what we are saying here is that perfection can be avoidance behavior wrapped in the veil of the presumed sacred. After all, who isn’t for perfection?

Alan Weiss, the Million Dollar Consultant^®, talks about the 80% factor – 80% ready and go. Think about it. How often is the extra 20% you put into a proposal, a product, a service, recognized, appreciated or even needed. What happens, however, is that costs go up: the cost of time, dollars and lost opportunities.

Perfection has a more insidious impact on organizations when it manifests in leaders who believe by virtue of their position that they must have all the answers. They are reluctant to ask for help for fear of appearing not to be the “perfect” leader to their employees. Opportunities are forgone; decisions are delayed or poorly made.

Here are some thoughts on what you can do if the need for perfection haunts you:

ü      Review and edit three times, max, or use a professional editor

ü      Develop and use standard templates so you don’t have to recreate each time – just tweak

ü      Avoid “creep” – that is, doing more and going beyond scope. Ask yourself – does it meet the key objectives?

ü      Say no to things you don’t like and aren’t good at to avoid procrastination and obligation to over-do

ü      Know the industry standard (minimum to get an “A” / accomplish the task or goal

ü      Adopt the 80% and go rule

Copyright 2009 Kubica and LaForest

This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 3:45 am and is filed under Leadership, Professional Growth & Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.