Tags
Administration
Benefits
Communication
Communication Programs
Compensation
Conflict & Dispute Resolution
Developing & Coaching Others
Employee Satisfaction/Engagement
Executive Coaching
HR Metrics & Measurement
HR Outsourcing
HRIS/ERP
Human Resources Management
Internal Corporate Communications
Labor Relations
Labor Trends
Leadership
Leadership Training & Development
Leading Others
Legal
Management
Motivating
Motivation
Organizational Development
Pay Strategies
Performance Management
Present Trends
Recognition
Retention
Staffing
Staffing and Recruitment
Structure & Organization
Talent
The HR Practitioner
Training
Training and Development
Trends
U.S. Based Legal Issues
Vision, Values & Mission
Work-Life Programs & Employee Assistance Programs - EAP
Workforce Acquisition
Workforce Management
Workforce Planning
Workplace Regulations
corporate learning
employee engagement
interpersonal communications
leadership competencies
leadership development
legislation
News
Onboarding Best Practices
Good Guy = Bad Manager :: Bad Guy = Good Manager. Is it a Myth?
Five Interview Tips for Winning Your First $100K+ Job
Base Pay Increases Remain Steady in 2007, Mercer Survey Finds
Online Overload: The Perfect Candidates Are Out There - If You Can Find Them
Cartus Global Survey Shows Trend to Shorter-Term International Relocation Assignments
New Survey Indicates Majority Plan to Postpone Retirement
What do You Mean My Company’s A Stepping Stone?
Rewards, Vacation and Perks Are Passé; Canadians Care Most About Cash
Do’s and Don’ts of Offshoring
Error: No such template "/hrDesign/network_profileHeader"!
Blogs / Send feedback
Help us to understand what's happening?
Reason
It's a fake news story
It's misleading, offensive or inappropriate
It should not be published here
It is spam
Your comment
More information
Security Code
Joan Lloyd's HR Words of Advice: Mastery doesn’t mean perfect
Created by
Joan Lloyd
Content
Mastery doesn’t mean perfect<br />
<br />
I run across a lot of high performing leaders in my work. And some of them have a trait in common—the intense drive to be perfect. It’s what propels them to master their specialty, but it can also be their Achilles heel.<br />
<br />
Consider the young professional I was talking with recently. He told me he was under intense pressure to “make it” in his field. His work had been noticed by a supplier in his industry and he has been asked to represent their products, and train other users in businesses like his own, in addition to his regular job. This is a coveted position in this industry and he is on the fast track to more notoriety and a bigger career. “I’m under so much stress,” he confided. I feel I have to know everything and I dread not being able to answer a question,” he explained. “I get so nervous, I’m over-preparing and a wreck. I’m afraid of screwing up…so then I screw up.”<br />
<br />
I asked, “Do you feel a little like an imposter? Like perhaps they might find out you really don’t know as much as you think you should to be in this position? Because the “imposter complex” is pretty common among high achievers,” I said. “It’s a little like those dreams a lot of people have about not being prepared for a test.” He seemed surprised that I had read his thoughts.<br />
<br />
I went on to tell him about how I used to feel like an imposter myself, when I started writing my column 27 years ago (can it possibly be that long?). I kept thinking of all the reasons why I wasn’t qualified—I didn’t know enough, hadn’t been in business long enough, hadn’t been a leader long enough, didn’t have a PhD, and on and on. I kept thinking someone would tap me on the shoulder and say, “What gives you the right to have an advice column?”<br />
<br />
As the years passed, I began to relax about it and found my confidence. I began to loosen up and admit when I didn’t know something. I started having more fun when I gave presentations—laughed at myself, engaged the audience more, admitted when I didn’t know something.<br />
<br />
I suggested he was probably going through the normal growing pains that come along with high expectations, a strong need to succeed and a drive to become a master.<br />
<br />
I saw him recently and he told me he had carefully thought about what I had said. He said the burden of fear of failing began to slough off. He was thrilled with a recent training session he had conducted, where he caught himself doing something during the presentation, and he poked fun at himself. The audience loved it. Then he was asked a question and he turned it around and asked the audience what their experiences had been. They jumped in and later told him “Only a true pro has the confidence to engage the audience that way.” He had discovered that by shedding the need to be perfect, his credibility had actually risen.<br />
<br />
What a joy to hear his story. I told him to enjoy the ride, because he had already demonstrated his technical proficiency, or the supplier never would have asked him to represent them to their customers, in the first place. Now it was a matter of focusing on helping his audiences, instead of focusing on himself.<br />
<br />
Down the road he will likely come to a place where he will be on the top of his field. Then the problem shifts from worrying about not being good enough, to thinking you are better than you really are. Ironic isn’t it? Then the challenge is to keep an open and eager mind, to keep learning from other people, rather than believing you already know it all.<br />
<br />
Ah, life. It’s always a challenge, isn’t it?<br />
<br />
Joan Lloyd is an executive coach, management consultant, facilitator and professional trainer. Email your question to Joan at info@joanlloyd.com . <br />
Visit www.JoanLloyd.com to search an archive of more than 1300 of Joan’s articles. <br />
Copyright © 1999-2025 by
HR.com - Maximizing Human Potential
. All rights reserved.