8 Tactics to Help Manage Perfectionists at Work - Alexandria Hewko, Fellow Blog

This resource first appeared in issue #110 on 19 Feb 2022 and has tags Becoming A Manager: Managing Individuals

Our community, at the intersection of research and tech, tilts towards perfectionism. Being committed to doing things well is great! And, like all good things, it can be taken to an extreme which becomes dysfunctional.

I think we all can recognize the signs of perfectionism; Hewko suggests an approach to leading a perfectionist on your team. First is (as with all team members) to acknowledge, to yourself and to them, their positive traits, and lean into those strengths where possible. Then, Hewko tells us, it’s necessary to set a bit of direction. Coach them to delegate (and help them avoid micromanaging the delegated task), and gently take control of their priority lists so they’re not rabbit holing down unnecessarily. Build and use lines of communication by making sure to build trust in your one-on-ones so they can share what’s going on, give constructive feedback, and let them know that coming up short is ok. Finally, make sure they’re in the right role and working on the right things for their skills and tendencies.