The Imperfections of Perfection

This will shock you - it's not a perfect world.

Every day and every moment the reality of our imperfections is evidenced.   Why then, are we surprised, shocked and chagrined when the imperfections  evident themselves at work?   Why do we think that work is supposed to be perfect when the rest of the world is marked with imperfections?

The mistake happens.   The miscommunication occurs.    At some workplaces, it seems as if the world is going to stop  because (gasp!) "How can we possibly be a great team or company when we were wrong?"   Where is the art of learning from what went wrong and moving forward?

Let's not confuse the pursuit of perfection (which may be folly because perfection is really not attainable) with the building  of excellence.

The building of excellence starts with the foundational  reality that we work in a world full of bumps and flaws and mishaps;    our teams are comprised of humans who, however good they may be, are going to make mistakes and wrongs will occur.  

Excellence occurs when we learn from those mistakes, when we have teams resilient enough to quickly bounce back, when we ourselves embrace our reality and through that embrace become fuller, more understanding and wiser individuals.

I have  seen both teams  and leaders trip all over themselves when a simple mistake occurs.   Hours are spent on the modern day equivalent of gnashing of teeth.     Isn't it a wiser path to quickly understand the error and move on with the absolute certainty that yes, another error will occur, and you and your team will learn from that as well?

I'm not even sure how to categorize and rationalize perfection.   I do believe, however, that great leaders know the realities of imperfections and through that knowledge build excellent teams.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available for e-readers, tablets and PCs on Amazon Kindle.