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Perfectionism: An Opportunity for Organisational Well Being
In a constantly changing environment, you can have aggressive competitors, IT changes, sophisticated consumers, market share fluctuations, the information super highway, consumer protection groups… This list is by no means exhaustive. Consequently, as you get ready for work in the morning your mind is relentlessly going over and over your never ending "To Do" list. There is not enough time in the day to get everything done the way you would like to have it all done. The changes in the environment drive business leaders like you to consistently deliver at higher and higher levels of quality and efficiency and seek ways to differentiate.
Your Team
You work with a team of people who have diverse skill sets. One employee is great with creating and analyzing statistical data, another member of your team is great with people but doesn't consistently perform to your satisfaction. Yet another member of your team is constantly nervous because she wants to perform at the level you expect but she constantly falls short.
From your perspective, you have to deliver the goals outlined on your scorecard and your team is experiencing challenges. They are working late, they seem tired and you sense a change in morale. Unfortunately you have to keep going, no time to stop and use your "touchy feely" skills with a team of employees who should be self motivated. After all, you never had to in the past…
You - The Leader
What about you? Your morale can be impacted by the frustration caused by unmet goals. Frustrated leaders can manifest various behaviours - one behaviour commonly displayed is low patience levels. Frustration plus low patience can evolve into leaders demonstrating confrontational, combative behaviour like blunt e-mails or derisive comments during meetings. How can you inspire your team?
Training: The magic pill?
You think to yourself, perhaps you need to take a course, or perhaps you should have the team trained so that their skill sets can be enhanced. Sometimes this works. Sometimes this just exacerbates the problem because you overlooked one small detail. You are projecting your unique personal cocktail of abilities onto a team of employees with diverse competencies.
As a leader, it is sometime easy to be lured into thinking that if something is easy for you, it is easy for your team members. If you are prone to projecting, you may go further and assume that something may be wrong with them if they can't get it done the way you expect.
Employee Impact
Some loyal employees sincerely want to provide strong support to their perfectionist manager so they are stretched but they often fall short. Others become discouraged, or worse, embittered against the organization for not having fair or achievable expectations. Still others may procrastinate because they don't understand the assignment and they are afraid to ask for fear of appearing stupid. Or you can have good ole' passive aggressive behaviour. On the other hand, persons who grasp the tasks easily run the risk of being labeled by others as "brown-nosers" and can be ostracized…
As a perfectionist leader, you can impact morale by projecting difficult expectations onto your team impeding productivity, and impacting the quality of the product or service so that bottom line objectives are constrained. In some cases, employees respond well to this type of pressure and deliver in the short run, but tough perfectionist expectations can erode morale in the long run.
What you can do as a Leader to Hold
Yourself Accountable to new Behaviours
Self Contemplation
One place to start seeking a solution is by introspection. Really looking at yourself, leaving your ego behind. Some do it by journaling, others use other tracking tools designed to help develop self-awareness. As a leader when you become more self aware, you can read the signs of discontentment or happiness within your team more accurately.
Deepening Working Relationships
If you have difficulty reading the signs of low morale within your team you can try another tactic. If you have employees who are willing to be open with you, you can solicit feedback about your leadership. I was able to avoid the potential negative results caused by perfectionist traits because members of my team felt safe enough to approach me when I started to set unrealistic standards.
Honouring Diversity
We are often very tough on our teams, seeing their weaknesses very clearly and overlooking their achievements. As a conscious leader, you can aim to respect diversity within your team by reframing the perceived incompetence of each member and taking pro-active steps to align assignments with employees' strengths.
Leadership Coaching
A leadership coach can facilitate the integration of the new behaviours by helping you to become aware of how you view yourself and ultimately, how you impact your team. In addition to helping you to evolve as a leader, a coach can also help you to develop strategies for harnessing employees' diverse strengths. Appreciation of your employees' strengths can lead to heightened levels of trust and openness among team members and ultimately, improved results.
Yvette Bethel
President
Organizational Soul
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