Best Advice: Don't Be Such a Perfectionist
Most of us are trained to believe that practice makes perfect; but the best advice I've ever received preaches the exact opposite: Don’t be a perfectionist. Today I embrace this, but when I first heard this 7 years ago, I refused to accept it.
As it turns out, I needed that advice more than anything, and I now apply it in professional and personal settings alike. Nik, my partner at Ciplex, was the one who changed my life with this advice. He recognized the need for it, and for that I am forever grateful. I started Ciplex when I was 17, so my lack of formal management training and experience meant I learned along with my employees. I expected them to work as hard as I did, do as good a job as I did, and deliver the same quality results. While this approach reached a few employees, it drove the rest crazy, and rightfully so.
Nik’s experiences were highly educational (Harvard) and professional (IBM, idealab), but he, like me, did not come from a background in management; so when he advised me to stop micromanaging and to start accepting that 80% is good enough, I dismissed it. Disbelieved it. Disregarded it. When situations and people started fitting together like puzzle pieces, it started to click back to the advice Nik gave me. I gave his advice a shot because I knew I was headed towards an entrepreneurial path and my (micro) management style was simply not working and could not scale. It took time, but once this theory was proven, I saw the importance in allowing for imperfections.
My old ways of micromanaging forced employees to not feel autonomous and prevented them from thinking creatively on how to solve problems on their own. Employees would feel stress instead of feeling empowered to make their own decisions. They constantly felt demotivated and incompetent. There would be feelings of resentment and an overall hostile work environment.
Not being a perfectionist is a lesson that I look at as not just a piece of advice, but a worldview and a core value. It applies to a wide variety of different situations, regardless of scope or scale. Striving for perfection in every area all the time, wastes time, harms egos unnecessarily, and proves detrimental to any business. This piece of advice has stuck with me for so many years and through countless situations. The outcome? Productivity is through the roof, the culture is amazing, my employees are happier, I have full trust in my team, and I am happier than ever - both personally and professionally.
Interested in finding out more? Check out my article on delegating using the '80% is good enough' rule.
About Ilya Pozin: Founder of Ciplex. Columnist for Inc, Forbes & LinkedIn. Gadget lover, investor, mentor, husband, father, and '30 Under 30' entrepreneur. Follow me below!
Functional Reporting Lead & Business Analyst Lead - Finance Transformation
8 年Ilya, thank you so much for your post, it is happening now days that micromanaging doesn't let your people grow professionally instead it affects your work relations rapidly. Many think a manager should not permit errors which is true but sometimes is necessary to let your people develop, mature and find a solution.
Dispatcher at Modern City Taxi
8 年I enjoy your articles and this one did not disappoint. Thank you
Dynamic Internal Audit Leader ? I protect and enhance organizational value ? Continuous learner ? Certified in audit and risk disciplines
11 年Good article. There are times where the 'good is good enough' rule kicks in. And there are certainly differences between trying for perfection and taking pride in what you do (or what your deliverable is). Turning out a product/deliverable that is 'most of the way there', or 80% there, while not being perfect, may sink your business or give you a quick way to the unemployment line. Each situation is different. But there is a mantra that will not let you down, regardless if your industry/job strives for that 'perfection', or if the 80% is good enough. Take pride in what you do to have a quality deliverable/product, whatever it may be. It will always serve you well. When you lack pride in your work, or you have unrealistic expectations, that is what gets you into trouble and sets you up for disappointment or failure. Always take pride in what you do, do it to the best of your abilities, and you'll be successful, and most likely happier too.
Many people involved with engineering know that a job will never end when attempting to make it perfect. There is a need to know when it is at a point to function. Attention to fine detail will often place competitors in the winner’s circle. Installing four out of five lug nuts on each of the wheels of a race car will save time when pitting. If one of the wheels fails in the race, the car may not finish the race.
Salesforce - Data Migration and Implementation Specialist
11 年Perhaps I am missing something here.. since when does expecting greater than 80% accuracy equate to micromanaging? Settling for less usually gets you exactly that.. less. But I do agree that micromanaging is the worst management style there is, especially in the creative world. Micro-managers choke the life force out of their teams.