Are You Trying to be Perfect?

I was recently asked to contribute to the career section on LinkedIn, and thought it would provide a good opportunity to interact with new people.

Here's my first post...

Many of us can share stories about colleagues who submit sloppy or incorrect work so that others are forced to step in and salvage it. Annoying, right?

But often just as damaging is the colleague who insists everything be perfect.

While it may seem odd to gripe about someone who wants things to be perfect, there is a difference between perfectionism and excellence.

Perfectionism on the job is anything but. It's disruptive and unproductive. For the perfectionist, it can lead to physical illness and depression. For those who must work with a perfectionist, it's annoying as hell.

The problem is that the perfectionist gets so caught up in minor details that she can't attain excellence. Instead,she becomes a bottleneck as she fusses, for example, with the binding of a project report instead of getting the report completed by deadline. The perfectionist boss hovers and nitpicks and agonizes over the smallest detail, preventing the staff from getting their work done.

And, perfectionists can be dangerous: Putting them (read the rest here, and dozens of interesting comments)