I have a colleague who strongly believes that “good is good enough”. He thinks most people procrastinate while fretting about perfection. He stresses the importance of accelerating rather than delaying action.
This works for him, and that’s great. Certainly, there are many situations where “good” is perfectly acceptable and leaders need to determine when the incremental difference between good and excellent doesn’t merit the additional time.
You need to be careful, though. Some people, for example, don’t think twice about making typos or grammatical errors in their emails, but how does that impress a client or prospect?
I used to coach a partner in an architectural firm who frequently sent such emails. When I asked about it, he said that “everyone does it” in his firm. And what about the impression it makes on the company’s clients? He admitted that he never thought about it.
Really?
My purpose isn’t to focus on email, rather to use it as an easily relatable example to make the point. This partner bills more than $700/hour and sends sloppy emails that looked like teenagers’ texts. And even worse, this incongruence never occurred to him.
Your decision about when good is good enough relates to both your organizational and personal image. Of course, no one functions at the highest level of excellence all the time, but you need to decide where you stand on the continuum.
If your product or service represents the highest standards in your industry good won’t be good enough. If you’re a “little fish” in a big pond, good won’t be good enough. If you’re trying to get the edge that will make you stand out, good won’t be good enough.
Give it some thought and do what is congruent for your business.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
– Aristotle
Header image by Lina Kivaka/Pexels.com.
