Leaders should work hard to elicit the best from their team—but good leaders stop short of demanding perfection. Why? Because perfection is a myth, a unicorn—the ideal that drives and motivates, but can never truly be achieved. There’s no such thing as perfection—there’s only the genuine desire to keep improving, growing, and achieving more. In order to keep striving towards a new level of WOW, it’s vital to formulate new ideas, try new things, and take calculated risks. WOW leaders don’t expect perfection because they do encourage growth—and that means accepting the potential for failure.

DUD leaders who are perfectionists are driven by a desire to be the richest, smartest, most successful person in the room. They want to appear flawless, blameless, and almost god-like, and therefore, mistakes simply won’t do. Perfectionist DUD leaders don’t just set high expectations for themselves, they pass the burden of perfection on to those they lead. There’s no room for error when you work for a DUD leader, and therefore, you’re always guarded, fearful, and afraid to take action. Here are a few characteristics of perfectionist bosses:

• They resist change. Since failure isn’t an option, perfectionists resist change of any kind. Change means entering into the unknown, where the potential for missteps is not only possible, but probable. When suggestions or ideas are presented, DUD perfectionists often deflect, re-direct, or ignore them, keeping everyone contained in a box of non-growth.
• They punish, but don’t praise. Harsh reprimands and public humiliation are the norm for DUD leaders that demand perfection. If results are anything less than perfect, you’ll be called out or even outright punished for it. However, a job well done is rarely rewarded or praised—because there’s no pleasing a perfectionist boss.
• They create a culture of fear. Since there’s no room for error when you work for a DUD perfectionist, a culture of fear becomes standard. People become guarded, unmotivated, and afraid to make a move. Therefore—they remain stagnant.
• They set unreasonable expectations. It’s vital for leaders to set the bar high and expect the best from their team. But perfectionists set unreasonable, unachievable expectations—setting their people up for failure by demanding utopic results without exception.
• They don’t listen. Perfectionist leaders aren’t open to constructive advice, criticism, or suggestions. They’re closed off to any ideas that point away from their own perfection. After all, if they’re the perfect boss they believe themselves to be, they shouldn’t be challenged. DUD leaders make demands and expect to be heard—they don’t listen to those who aren’t deemed as perfect as they are.

When you’re working for a DUD leader who’s a perfectionist, you’ll run yourself ragged trying to please them. As hard as you might try, you’ll always come up short when your boss demands nothing but perfection. That’s why working for this kind of DUD can be exhausting, frustrating, and counterproductive. It’s hard to move forward, grow, and build up your skillset when your hands are constantly tied. In an upcoming blog, I’ll provide some tips on how to work for a DUD perfectionist. In the meantime, keep your mind centered on becoming the WOW leader you strive to be, and remember, no one is—or should be—perfect!

–Sheri Staak