Earlier we talked about why project managers don’t need to be—and in fact should not be—perfect (“Perfection Not Needed”). Some of you probably have a sneaking hunch we were talking directly to you, but how can you tell for sure? Take a look at these 3 signs and see if they sound familiar. If so, you just might be the unreformed perfectionist other members of your project management team dread.
1 – You often say something similar to, “You know what would be really great?” Most of the time, this leads to enhancing the requirements needed to meet existing objectives and sometimes even adds new goals mid-stream. Either way, it’s scope creep, and it’s sure to undermine your team’s ability to successfully execute the project. Yes, you probably have some great ideas for making every project even better, but remember that you still have a budget and a deadline to meet.
2 – After delegating a task, you frequently take it back. It doesn’t matter if you justify it by saying that team members aren’t completing things just the way you like or you feel they’re taking too long/not devoting enough attention to it/not giving it a high enough priority, these are all warning flags that your perfectionist tendencies are taking over.
3 – Competent and able professionals in your Project Team regularly ask for direction or approval on everyday tasks, or seek your input on things you know they’re perfectly capable of handling on their own. If it’s just one person looking for help, you may have a training or performance issue on your hands. But if it’s endemic to the team, chances are good they’re tired of your perfectionism interfering with their duties after they’ve invested the effort to complete a task, and are instead trying to proactively figure out what will make you happy.