I will admit that I am more of a big picture person than a perfectionist. Going through old blog posts would likely lead to the finding of some spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. That does not bother me as long as I am getting my point across. I also have a pretty good sense that I am in the minority of people who are willing to admit that I lack a big attention to detail.
At the same time, I also advise clients to use pre-employment tests that measure attention to detail and conscientiousness for those jobs that require it. So, like other personality traits, it certainly has its place. I’m just not the person you want looking for needles in haystacks.
So, this article definitely caught my attention. Here’s the most important takeaway (at least to me) from the authors, “…the answer to the question ‘is perfect good?’ is that in total, perfectionism is likely not constructive at work.” Given this, what are we really getting when a job candidate tells us that he is a perfectionist?
The data shows that we will get someone who will work long hours, but is not more likely to be engaged in the work. Rather, perfectionists tend to burn out more than those who can let the little things slide. This is particularly true of those whose perfectionism comes from a place of avoiding failure than those striving to be excellent.
Most importantly, when compared to supervisor ratings of job performance, y’know, the people the perfectionist is trying to impress, levels of perfectionism are not related. That’s right—managers feel that the job performance of those who feel that good is good enough is the same as for those who choose to gild the lily.
From a selection perspective, a more subtle approach is called for. There are some jobs (brain surgeon and quality inspector, to name two) where perfectionism is probably important and should be part of your assessment process. However, it should not be considered a good universal predictor of performance. One can easily imagine some jobs where being a perfectionist would be a negative predictor, such as creative jobs like marketing or app design. Also, when interviewing, if a candidate brags about her perfectionism, I would not get too excited. She may be confusing activity for productivity.
The organizational implications here are straightforward: Having a culture of perfectionism will get you more hours, but not better performance, out of your team. While not explicitly tested in the article, it is likely to also get you more turnover. This is a reminder that we should be clear about quality expectations and work-life balance.