Are You a Perfectionist? Is That Always a Bad Thing?

Source: https://www.verywellmind.com/signs-you-may-be-a-perfectionist-3145233

In Fast Company this week, University of Texas Professor Art Markman describes some of the pitfalls of being a perfectionist. He writes, "It’s wonderful to have high standards. But, at some point, those high standards cross the line from a benefit to a hindrance." Throughout the article, he describes some symptoms that might suggest you have crossed that line. He concludes the article as follows:

"Success in life is less about mistake elimination than about mistake recovery. Do enough work on projects to know that you have covered the major bases. Focus on detecting problems that come up after the work you do. Fix problems as they arise. And if you discover that a problem reflects an error on your part, apologize for the error, take steps to repair the problem, and make a note of it so that you don’t make that mistake again."

London School of Economics Professor Thomas Curran has studied perfectionism for years.  In article for the LSE website, Peter Carrol describes Curran's comments about the downsides of crossing the line from high standards to perfectionism:

"Each form of perfectionism comes with 'negative baggage' Dr Curran says, but this is particularly acute with those that suffer from socially prescribed perfectionism. 'Socially prescribed perfectionists don’t feel valued in social situations and have a chronic need for other people’s approval, while being extremely down on their implicit value,' he says.

While some may view perfectionism as a 'necessary evil' that helps people become become highly successful, Dr Curran argues that this is a myth, and that in fact perfectionism can be detrimental to performance and health. 'There is a lot of evidence to say you are not going to get any real performance benefit from perfectionism, and that it’s actually really damaging for lots of people,' he adds."

I think Markman and Curran offer some important insights about the downsides of perfectionism.  I believe, however, that we have to distinguish between easily preventable errors and other types of mistakes that might occur.  Submitting a memo that has multiple spelling and grammatical errors is inexcusable.  Proofing the memo carefully is essential.    Moreover, the stakes will differ across a variety of situations.  Our level of perfectionism should vary by situation. If the downsides of failure are quite low, then we don't want obsess over every detail to the point of creating undue anxiety or stress of ourselves and our team.  On the other hand, if the stakes are quite high, we might want to change our standards.  Finally, we all have to get better at setting priorities.  What really matters in a piece of work that we are doing?  The substance probably matters much more than the wordsmithing, or the formatting of the slide deck.  I believe that we sometimes obsess over things such as formatting because we are trying to distract ourselves from the tougher issues or choices that need to be confronted in a particular situation.  

Rise in Perfectionism Will Damage Our Ability to Innovate

Source: Skill Collective

London School of Economics Professor Thomas Curran and York St. John Univesrity Professor Andrew Hill have published an important new study about perfectionism.  They find that perfectionism is on the rise among young people in the UK, USA, and Canada.  They attribute some of this rise in perfectionims to "anxious, overly involved, and/or overly controlling forms of parenting."  In short, "increases in parental expectations and parental criticism offer the most plausible explanation for rising perfectionism to date."  The scholars stress that they are not blaming parents.  They believe larger systemic and structural forces are creating this pressure. 

The rise in perfectionism creates a host of concerns, including about young people's well-being in the face of such pressures.  However, I'd like to also stress the implications for innovation in our organizations.  Innovation requires the ability to test out new ideas, experiment and prototype, and iterate quickly based on feedback.  Naturally, such experimentation comes with a fair dose of failure.  My concern with the rise in perfectionism is that young people will be afraid to expose their ideas to others and open themselves up to constructive feedback. They will wait to refine their ideas, in hopes of making them perfect, before testing them out with others.  This reticence to put ideas out there before they are "complete" may lead to lost opportunities to improve those ideas, and it may slow down the process of innovation substantially.  We need young people to be willing to share their incomplete, "minimally viable" concepts with others, and then to build upon and improve those concepts based on the input from others...without constant fear of failure.