Four Ways Leaders Can Promote Excellence — Not Perfection

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I almost wasn’t an award-winning piano player.

When I was 10 years old, I wanted to quit. I was tired of sitting on the bench for hours. I was going crazy trying to play perfectly. I thought, “What’s the point? I’m spending all my time practicing, trying to perfect a piece.”

My mother, a fantastic musician, told me something I’ve never forgotten: “It isn’t about making things perfect. Practicing is about getting better at something.”

Aha! I’d been so focused on perfection that I’d lost the joy in becoming the best classical pianist I could be. As soon as I started playing for myself and to the best of my ability, I had more fun – and won a major competition.

On Tuesday’s livestream , I shared how leaders can make the same shift – and why pursuing excellence allows you to take more risks, create disruption, and drive innovation.

The first thing you have to do is understand:

The emotions hiding underneath perfectionism

Why was I so intent on playing every note perfectly? Why have so many leaders adopted the “failure is not an option” motto?

Researcher Brené Brown describes perfectionism as a defense mechanism. It’s a way for us to remove shame, blame, criticism, and judgment. If we’re perfect, we don’t have to deal with the negative emotions that making a mistake can bring up. We gain acceptance.

Aiming for perfection usually comes from outside motivations. It’s not something internal driving us – it’s someone else’s ideas or expectations propelling us.?

Excellence is the opposite of perfection. Where perfection allows no room for error, no opportunity to learn or grow, excellence encourages reflection and curiosity. It’s the difference between beating yourself up when things go wrong and asking yourself, “How can I make this better?”

As a leader, you have to be aware of these emotions and tackle your mindset issues, so you can:

Actively promote excellence

Leaders often have perfectionist tendencies. Often, we’re setting bad examples, creating unrealistic expectations, and unconsciously signaling that being perfect removes shame, blame, criticism, and judgment.

To shift toward the pursuit of excellence, you have to accept reality: Perfect doesn’t exist! Then, you can start taking actions that promote a culture of excellence within yourself and your organization. Here are four powerful shifts you can make:

1. Talk openly about failure – and your learnings. As leaders, we must create a safe space to talk about failure. Let your team know it’s okay to make mistakes and encourage them to learn from their mistakes. But know that if you aren’t being vulnerable and sharing what you’ve learned, everyone will continue walking around thinking everyone else is perfect.?
2. Model excellence. This isn’t about proclaiming you’ll do everything perfectly and precisely all the time – it’s about paying attention to detail. What little things can you do excellently? Show up to meetings on time? Prioritize the agenda? When you model excellence, you raise the bar for everyone. (Bonus: You also build trust and accountability! Win-win!)
3. Revisit your decision-making process. Does your decision-making process allow for mistakes? Is it safe to say, “Well, that didn’t work out, but I wonder what will happen if I try this instead?” Instead of making decisions from a place of always being right or simply checking a box, pursue things from a place of wanting to create an excellent experience for your customers, organizations, communities, and societies. Remember: 99% of decisions can be reversed! ?
4. Know when you’re done. Is there always more you can do? Yes! But will “more” help you be better? Will it make a difference? Chances are, “more” is about making you feel better and isn’t serving your customers. As a leader, you need to recognize when your team is done and give them permission to stop working toward an unattainable standard.

Taking intentional actions like these will help you create a culture of excellence. But, if you get stuck and perfection starts to creep in, try focusing on:

Doing the next best thing

One of the most helpful ways to counter a mean perfectionist streak is to take what my friend,? Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, the author of FitCEO , calls immediate imperfect action.?

Instead of defaulting to an insecure overachiever reaction, pause. Invite your inner perfectionist to step aside. Ask yourself, “What immediate imperfect action will move me closer to where I want to be?”

Do your best to let go of the overthinking, overplanning, and overdoing. You’ll find that the more you take imperfect action, the more confidence you gain and the quicker you’ll shift from perfectionism to excellence.

Perfectionism can stop leaders from making the hard decisions necessary to succeed and drive disruption. Join me next week for a discussion about making better decisions, especially in a complex and uncertain world. See you here on Tuesday Feb. 1st at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET .?

Your Turn

How do you pursue excellence? As a leader, how do you encourage yourself and your team to be excellent? How do you focus on the pursuit of excellence and doing the best you can, rather than perfection? I’d love to hear your thoughts, best practices, and processes!

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