Day 10 - Perfection?
I was always uncomfortable with the maxim, ‘Done is better than perfect’. Maybe because I was a perfectionist.
Don’t get me wrong, having high standards is essential, however being a perfectionist can be off-putting. No one likes someone who can’t show their humanity and admit/show mistakes. And insisting on ‘perfection’ can lead to inaction, lack of engagement and an overall dropping in performance, as team members do not want to ‘risk’ getting it wrong.
Perfection is an elusive characteristic anyway in education, when so match practice is subject to nuance (e.g. what is a perfect lesson, a perfect assessment, a perfect report card?).
Feedback is fundamentally about protecting high standards, but aiming for perfection can be counterproductive. Like so much of leadership it boils down to judgement, and judgement gets better through action and reflection.
Now that my 10-day quarantine is over, I just wished I would have prioritised more time in the past on reflection, to go alongside action.
