Striving for excellence is a characteristic of strong leadership.  There’s nothing wrong with that, or is there?

Striving for excellence involves seeking to achieve high standards and aiming to be above average.  But so does perfectionism.  Why then does one result in healthy positive leadership behaviours and the other, in negative and unhelpful ones?   To answer this question, one needs to understand what is driving the need achieve high standards.  Striving for excellence is driven by a healthy belief in one’s ability to succeed, whereas perfectionism is driven by a fear of failure and self-doubt.

Self-confident leaders set realistic standards, empower others to deliver, welcome challenge and feedback.  They are efficient and action oriented.  They accept mistakes, avoid giving criticism and assigning blame; they create a psychologically safe workplace. 

Leaders who lack self-confidence are often driven by a fear of failure.  To avoid the harsh judgement they fear, they are more likely to seek to outperform others and are often overly concerned about what others think of them.  They may adopt a controlling leadership style and be less efficient as a result.  Their vulnerability makes them intolerant of uncertainty and mistakes and they can be overcritical of both themselves and others.

As a leader, can you relate?  Do you recognise parts of yourself in the infographic?   Which side do you tend to fall on?  Is it mixed?  Does it depend on the situation?  Are there certain situations that trigger you to adopt more perfectionist behaviours, for example when preparing for and presenting to board members?  If so, you are not alone!  At Impact Coaching we have helped many people to improve their self-confidence, so that their leadership behaviour is more consistently driven by self-confidence rather than self-doubt.