Leadership Tip of the Week: Strive for Excellence

Do you know a leader who demands perfection? Are you that leader who demands it from your team?

Perfection implies there is no room for improvement; things can’t get any better or there is nothing more to be learned. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen many things that don’t have room for improvement. Another issue with perfection is that we all have individual differences that shape the way we define what is perfect. What is perfect to one person is flawed to another. Perfection rarely exists, and demanding it can do more harm than good.

With that being said, leaders need to set high standards and hold people accountable for meeting those standards (that includes their own performance). So how do you do that?

I encourage my teams to strive for excellence — not perfection. I define excellence as getting better each given opportunity. This builds a culture of learning and constant improvement. I believe this is more powerful than a pursuit of perfection. Take the time to discuss with your team areas where they can improve. Acknowledge the imperfections and learn from them. This will allow you to build a culture of excellence.

Take the time to acknowledge mistakes this week and identify ways your team can improve; this will help build that culture of excellence.