I gave this question to our AI coach, ALEX, to see what it understood.
It gave a great answer that is right in line with our content.
"perfectionism is an interesting topic, and it's one we've thought about a lot at Admired Leadership. We don't see perfectionism itself as the problem. It's how you respond to perfectionism that can create challenges.
Think about it this way: if you're a perfectionist, you're going to react and respond a lot more often than everybody else because you're holding this high standard that other people aren't meeting and that you aren't meeting all the time. That's where the trouble starts.
But we believe you can redirect perfectionism in more positive ways without changing the perfectionism itself. It's about reframing how you think about those standards and how you communicate about them.
For example, if you're frustrated with yourself, you can learn to stop the negative self-talk and instead focus on what you can do to get better. If it's about other people, you can reframe their lack of performance in your mind, tell people why your standards are so high, and stay focused on "What do we do about it? How do we get even better? How do we prepare?"
When you approach it that way, people will kind of meet you along the journey. They won't lose their attention or focus on performance. So it's not about changing who you are as a perfectionist. It's about changing what you do in response to those perfectionist tendencies. That's where the real opportunity is."
One of the most rewarding experiences I've had as a leader is to promote a perfectionistic individual contributor and teach them how to be a 'good enough' leader. It took two years to do it.
Perfectionism, seems to create neurotic/tyrannical folks. I have learned that even if we hold ourselves to a high standard, that is where it should end. Everyone is their own person. It's not our place to enforce our values on them. That being said, I would suggest hiring team members with the soft skills you and the organization are seeking. The hard skills can, usually, be taught.
What is the AL definition of perfectionism?
I gave this question to our AI coach, ALEX, to see what it understood.
It gave a great answer that is right in line with our content.
"perfectionism is an interesting topic, and it's one we've thought about a lot at Admired Leadership. We don't see perfectionism itself as the problem. It's how you respond to perfectionism that can create challenges.
Think about it this way: if you're a perfectionist, you're going to react and respond a lot more often than everybody else because you're holding this high standard that other people aren't meeting and that you aren't meeting all the time. That's where the trouble starts.
But we believe you can redirect perfectionism in more positive ways without changing the perfectionism itself. It's about reframing how you think about those standards and how you communicate about them.
For example, if you're frustrated with yourself, you can learn to stop the negative self-talk and instead focus on what you can do to get better. If it's about other people, you can reframe their lack of performance in your mind, tell people why your standards are so high, and stay focused on "What do we do about it? How do we get even better? How do we prepare?"
When you approach it that way, people will kind of meet you along the journey. They won't lose their attention or focus on performance. So it's not about changing who you are as a perfectionist. It's about changing what you do in response to those perfectionist tendencies. That's where the real opportunity is."
One of the most rewarding experiences I've had as a leader is to promote a perfectionistic individual contributor and teach them how to be a 'good enough' leader. It took two years to do it.
Good morning,
What a good point!
Perfectionism, seems to create neurotic/tyrannical folks. I have learned that even if we hold ourselves to a high standard, that is where it should end. Everyone is their own person. It's not our place to enforce our values on them. That being said, I would suggest hiring team members with the soft skills you and the organization are seeking. The hard skills can, usually, be taught.
Thank you for your time.