Perfectionism is the enemy of good

Dr Jez Rowland, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and member of the Mental Health Best Practice Team at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust reflects on the importance of moving away from perfectionism and towards excellence and learning.

“Many of us have been trained to achieve very highly, aim for perfect scores and to never be wrong. We often demand perfectionism of ourselves as clinicians and expect it of each other, but this becomes impossible to deliver in the real world and leads to feelings of shame when we don’t achieve it. What that can do is stop us taking risks and make us more likely to blame each other and hide mistakes.

“Research in this area demonstrates that perfectionism actually gets in the way of looking after our patients effectively, and its expectation drives us towards burnout.

“Instead of perfectionism, we want to foster a learning community that aims for excellence. Pursuing excellence promotes an urge for success, persistence, and a commitment to doing something exceptionally well. In order to do what is right by patients and take healthy risks, we need to recognise that we will get things wrong sometimes. Accepting our fallibility, we can begin to own our shortcomings and view mistakes as opportunities for learning and development.

“But how can we reduce the habits towards perfectionism that we hold?

• As individuals, we can perhaps begin to notice when we take a perfectionistic view of ourselves and challenge it. The goals we set need to be reasonable and realistic; focussing on the positives of what we’ve achieved; giving ourselves permission to make mistakes and to use them as a springboard to learn.
• As an organisation, we need to practice our commitment to supporting a no-blame, learning and fair culture so that we are safe to be ourselves.
• Research also recommends that we regularly link up with a colleague or group of fellow professionals with whom we can have open conversations when we notice uncomfortable feelings of shame in the workplace, so that we can understand and address them.?

“Finally, as a senior clinical team at a major NHS Trust we’d like to encourage you to think about the spaces where you can have open and safe conversations with colleagues. Are there ways that you can create that safe space for others?

If this blog feels relatable and you would like to learn more about how perfectionism can sometimes hold us back, please take a look at the following reading and references:

The dangerous downsides of perfectionism - BBC Future

Dr Sandy Miles: How Perfectionism and Shame Lead to Stress and Burnout - https://youarenotafrog.com/episode-152/

https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m393

If you are feeling stressed or low, you are not alone, for mental health support you can visit our website at: www.southernhealth.nhs.uk/help-crisis