Have you ever spent hours or days on a PowerPoint presentation, only for it to get a cursory glance in one meeting? Have you found yourself working late nights drafting a report that ends up with only a handful of downloads? Do you have an overflowing folder of projects that weren’t quite good enough, so they were never subjected to external scrutiny and languish in your bottom drawer?
You are a perfectionist.
You may even hold pride in your perfectionism. But the upshot is that this condition is one of the biggest time suckers and causes of inefficiencies in the workplace. Perfectionists spend too much time on tasks that do not add a lot of value.
In interviews, admitting to be a perfectionist is often viewed as the perfect answer to the question: “what do you see as your greatest weakness?” However, we argue that being a perfectionist, and not curtailing the tendency is bad for business and bad for the employee personally.
Related: The cost of perfectionism.
The desire to achieve perfection is detrimental to an employee’s productivity at work. It causes employees to spend time on tasks that do not need to be prioritized. The pressure to be perfect develops from fear of failure and the desire to perform at a very high and often unrealistic standard. The rise of perfectionism is influenced by the so-called meritocracy. The belief in a meritocratic organization exacerbates perfectionism because it can make it challenging for people to disentangle personal achievements from their self-worth. Failure to achieve perfection can lead people to have increased feelings of guilt or shame, in addition to poorer levels of well-being, and an increased risk of burnout compared to other colleagues.
Similar to traits of tardiness, goofing off and low performance, we argue that perfectionism is a trait that is not desirable for maximizing productivity in the workplace. To intervene, leaders should:
Get clear on when ‘good is good enough’
Get clear on the things that are high stakes for the business and need perfectionism: this is likely a maximum of 5% of what is done on a daily basis. For the remaining 95% of day-to-day activities, make it clear that ‘good’ is good enough. Be clear that perfectionism is never an option. As a leader, nudge employees away from perfectionism.
For example, you ask a colleague to organize a social team event, and you realize that they are polling everyone in the team for opinions, and calling numerous suppliers. Let them know—kindly of course—that this is a one-person task and should not take more than 2 hours. If they choose the wrong supplier, it is still a reversible door decision.
Or, if you want a colleague to present something in a team meeting, make it clear that they do not need a polished power-point deck. Instead, it is fine that they come with only bullet points that will allow discussion. Let them know this is a 30-minute and not a 3-hour task. If they put in too much effort anyway, let them know afterward that you don’t want them wasting their time next time on a deck that will have only a small showing. Remind them that they should “Live 20:80.” The 20:80 rule, also known as the Pareto principle, means that 20% of what your employees do at work will result in 80% of the output.
Change the narrative on mistakes
The desire to achieve perfection makes employees hesitant to share when they have made mistakes. Leaders can change norms in their team by sharing with subordinates their mistakes and what they learned from them. In doing so, leaders shift the focus from perfection to progress. When leaders show that it is okay to make mistakes, it can relieve some of the pressure to appear infallible and may help employees to feel less alone.
Make sure people aren’t overloaded
Perfectionism intensifies with an increased workload. Before assigning a task, leaders should ask them themselves the following questions:
- Does this really need to be done? Leaders should consider whether certain tasks should even be assigned. Some time-consuming tasks add zero value. For example, nearly 1/3 of World Bank reports are not read, and 87% of policy reports are not cited, yet take an extraordinarily long time to create and polish to perfection.
- Does this need to be done now? If the task is deemed to be necessary, leaders should give a reasonable deadline for completion. Unnecessary time limitations cause burnout and can negatively affect employees’ trust . Unrealistic demands and increased workloads also cause undue stress on employees.
Encourage employees to ask for help
The desire to achieve perfection can make it challenging for employees to prioritize their work and increase procrastination. To intervene, leaders can encourage employees to ask if they need clarification on what work should be prioritized.
Check in with your employees
Perfectionism can cause people to isolate themselves, and they may hesitate to share if they are struggling. Therefore, leaders should not only encourage employees to ask for help, but they should also check in with employees individually when possible to see how they are managing their workload. Leaders can also check in with employees anonymously to get a sense of how their team is feeling. This may encourage people who are reluctant to express if they are experiencing burnout to communicate their needs.
As leaders aim to combat perfectionism in the workplace, they should remember that having high standards does not equate to perfectionism. Cultivating an inclusive environment in which employees feel safe enough to learn and make mistakes and ask for guidance when they need it is critical to supporting employee well-being and productivity. Overall, leaders should recognize when perfectionism is a threat to productivity and focus on helping employees to discern which tasks are worthwhile and how long they should spend on them.
Dr. Grace Lordan is the founding director of The Inclusion Initiative (TII) and an associate professor in behavioral science, at the London School of Economics. Yolanda Blavo is a TII research assistant.
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