Leadership - Is Perfection Attainable?

In business, we all strive to be the best in what we do and offer. Is aiming for perfection an achievable goal, or does it exist only in the dictionary? 

Many of you will be aware of the Pareto Principle. Known as the 80/20 rule in business – ‘roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes’ - this is most commonly related to sales where 80% of revenue comes from 20% of customers.  

But this rule can be applied to leadership, your personal life, and many other aspects of business.

As a leader, maintaining the belief that everyone else thinks or acts in the same way as you can lead to great disappointment. Unless ‘Dolly the Sheep’  is reincarnated, no one will ever be cloned and people will continue to do their own thing.

So, ponder this. Rather than feel constantly disappointed and, therefore, unable to grow or scale your business due to your inability to let go of control, imagine if you could find a way to achieve a positive result four out of five times. 

Nobody is you and, therefore, they will either do things differently or not get the exact result you might have achieved. In fact, sometimes they may actually get better results!   

What would happen if you mentally negotiated with yourself and accepted that this was OK? 

 

If you work on the Pareto Principle, then you only have to concentrate on 20% rather than your normal 100%. This will not only increase your peace of mind, focus and efficiency, it will also allow those around you to grow and develop at a greater rate. You will create a cultural standard of education and performance, not one of blame and finger pointing.

 

Letting go is the key to the growth and scaling of your business and, in turn, to being a great leader. 

 

But it can also be one of the hardest things to do. Have you ever said to yourself:

• ‘Oh, this is too hard, I’ll just do it myself’
• ‘They never get this right’ or ‘They always stuff it up’
• ‘It’s easier if I do it’

Think about it - what you could actually be saying is ‘I am not a great leader and, as a result, I am responsible for stifling our growth and development’. 

Remember when you were learning your business, did you get everything right? Even now, do you do everything perfectly? 

 

Leadership is about helping people reach their full potential.

 

Leadership is education. Giving your people the strategies and tools to reach their full potential which will, in turn, help achieve the business goals of your organisation. 

As a leader, assume that people are awesome and recognise that it is your responsibility to help them reach their awesomeness. By letting go of the need to be the centre of the universe, you will be free to do the essential work which will make your organisation great. You will no longer be tied down in endlessly frustrating, tedious tasks that cost your business money and have little or no impact on growth or profitability.

So, who are you?

Will you choose to strive for unattainable perfection? Or are you a great leader?