Perfectionism in the workplace
The Pareto principle is only 80% of the solution to avoiding burnout
Product Management
Perfectionism in the workplace
It is good to know when to stop. Here are more ways to understand the drivers for perfectionism and strategies to help shift your mindset.
It is good to know when to stop. The 80/20 rule applies most of the time as an answer to perfection in the workplace. This instills the best practice of getting the job done just enough that you are accomplishing your goal with a decent level of quality. For most of us, this is the quick and easy solution to relieve the urge to run a project or task to perfection.
What drives perfection in the workplace?
Fear of failure usually comes down to your personal reasons for not being seen as someone who can fail. The fallacy is that in most workplaces, asking for help to overcome your weaknesses is seen as a strength and can lead to the necessary coaching or mentoring that will help you to increase your skills and outputs.
A culture of micromanagement Leadership looks for transparency, accountability, and feedback when instead, their attempt translates to your feeling nagged or hounded. To avoid micromanagement, you ‘live under the radar,’ and the way to do this is through perfection in outcomes.
High expectations and misaligned objectives This has more to do with a misunderstanding of what you are working on versus what your managers think you should be working on. If you are working from your core integrity and SME, you know what is right and needs to be done, but that may be in conflict with the needs of leadership. How to overcome this is with better means of communication and resetting expectations. Sometimes it's easier to strive for perfection and stretch yourself thin than to have difficult and confrontational conversations that will shine a light on misunderstanding or a need to change your course. We are all pigheaded and righteous in our beliefs, and we want to think we’re in the right.
What are personal reasons for pursuing perfection in the workplace?
Detail-oriented personality type has a penchant for falling prey to perfectionism. Understanding the 80:20 rule makes you uncomfortable but can give you that permission to step away and let it go. Reframe and refocus your detail-oriented superpower to task prioritization. The productivity of getting more done in a shorter period of time will contribute to long-term success.
Childhood conditioning is usually the result of having parents or adult role models with high expectations. Shadow work, the study of limiting beliefs, and taking yourself down the path of asking what your ‘why’ can go a long way in deconditioning. Further, recognizing the normality of imperfection. Convince yourself to come back to being human and surrounded by similarly imperfect humans.
Self-worth tied to project or task success. In the world of product and project management, all-out success is daunting. There are factors you can control and those that you can not. Success should be a measure of the factors you can control. A project going over in scope, timeline, or budget might be in your control or might be a result of decision-making by stakeholders or a lack of resources due to illness. Recognizing what you can control and what you can’t contributes to understanding what constitutes success.
Comparisons and competition contribute to perfectionism when you are trying to ‘Keep up with the Jones’s. Recognize your superpower strengths and recognize your weaknesses. The truth of the matter is that the other project that is perceived as ‘successful’ had its own trials and tribulations. Explore case studies, talk to your colleagues about their experiences, and collect a network of product managers. Call out your assumptions and limiting beliefs with facts.
Victim mindset: If only I can do this right, I will be recognized. Ultimate success (beauty) is in the eyes of the beholder. When you are the driver of your life, you need to be the one to recognize and own your courageous acts and awesome achievements. Dependence on what other people think translates to dependence on external recognition for your successes. This is a hard one as many of us are trained from childhood to accept grades from teachers, reviews by peers or supervisors, and feedback that tells us we are not good enough. True, this feedback can help us to identify where we need to grow and learn. At the same time, we are held back when we focus on achieving an A+ report card. Instead, focus on changing your mindset to confront internal dialogue and demons.
What are the consequences of being a perfectionist?
You overwork. You quietly lose motivation as the quality of your outputs starts to suffer. You feel like you are forever bailing water out of a leaky boat. Your performance starts to suffer as you can’t keep all the balls your juggling in the air. You slow down, but you can not prioritize. You become a cynic. Overwhelm sets in. You dread going to work in the morning. Your unhappiness feeds into your personal and private life. One day, you realize you just don’t care anymore. You’re burned out. You don’t know how you got here.
Failure happens. Choosing to reframe failure as an opportunity is a challenge but can be done with the right mindset.
Seek out career coaching or personal counseling if any of the above feels like an impossible task. For Product and Tech Leaders, I recommend Lynne Levy’s Inspired Product Leader coaching program.
