Having a perfectionist’s personality must not be easy. A lack of perfectionism can be seen by some as a flaw, but it’s a huge advantage in at least one way: I, for one, rarely say, “It’s not going to work,” when a new idea or a new way of doing things—or nearly anything—is proposed.
I have experienced workplace personalities who are the opposite. If a situation or colleague doesn’t meet their specifications and fit into exactly what they are used to, they are quick to say, “Nope, it’s not going to work.”
This can be a dangerous tendency that can literally rob others of their jobs (as in “Nope, it’s not going to work—I can’t work with him”) and make improvements harder to enact. That is, of course, unless the improvements are their own ideas, and they are the ones creating the new systems according to their own vision.
Digging into Why It’s Not Going to Work
When a valued employee is upset and takes their case to an executive, the executive often wants to say whatever will make the person go away and get back to their work.
It may be easier for the executive, for example, to agree to lay off a colleague the employee is complaining about, especially if that colleague is their direct report. It’s also often easier to tear up plans to accommodate an inflexible employee.
But is that quick giving in to “It’s not going to work” the right thing to do from an ethical perspective or the smart thing to do from a business perspective? It usually is not.
When the employee complains about a direct report, who up until that time also had been a valued employee, an in-depth conversation is called for rather than simply giving the employee what they want as quickly as you would give a toy to a child throwing a temper tantrum.
“Well, Shirley, this is the first I’ve heard of there being a problem with Bob. He’s been one of our ‘rock star’ employees, you might say. Nothing but rave reviews for the past decade. Now, I realize his work style may be different from yours. His approach to doing his work may be different, but I’m going to push back and ask you to find a solution. We also can help mediate. I or another executive, or someone from our HR team, can facilitate a conversation between the two of you.”
Shirley may then persist. “Nope, it’s not going to work.” The executive then should stand their ground and insist. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist that we bring Bob into the conversation and try to find a solution. I don’t accept that it’s simply not going to work.”
Leadership development training should include at least one module on handling recalcitrant employees who take an all-or-nothing/my way-or-no way view of challenges.
Creating Openness to Bringing on a New Team Member
Perfectionists also tend to want to be in total control. I once had a colleague who said she would take on the role of project manager for the department in addition to her own position just to prevent a project manager from being hired.
The idea of ceding even the smallest slice of control to an outside party must have been frightening to her. What if the new project manager didn’t do things exactly as she did?
Fortunately, the manager she had to answer to at the time ignored her and pushed forward with his plan to hire the project manager, who ended up being valuable to the department.
I think the gist of what her manager said was: “Lucy, I have no doubt that you’re capable of being a great project manager, but you already have a lot on your plate, and I would be more comfortable with someone who was ‘project agnostic,’ you might say, meaning a project manager who can manage the whole department’s projects and who isn’t tied personally to certain projects on top of trying to manage them.”
Thankfully, those words resonated, and we got our overarching, objective project manager.
Do you train managers and executives to seek solutions beyond an inflexible employee’s reflexive “No”?