Perfectionism and rigidity are characteristics that, when pushed to the extreme, can harm the project as well as the well-being of the project manager and their team.
The impact of perfectionism on deadlines and costs:
The project manager, often associated with a Type 1 profile on the enneagram scale (the perfectionist), is frequently caught in a psychological struggle with time. For this personality type, a task is never truly finished until it reaches a subjective level of perfection.
This demand for quality, pushed to the extreme, often leads the manager to miss deadlines and, consequently, budgets, including those they established themselves.
Such a project manager may interrupt themselves in the middle of a crucial activity to correct a detail whose quality does not give them full satisfaction.
While the pursuit of the highest possible quality is inherently a strength, it becomes a trap when this tendency turns into a perfectionist focus on details. This shift then comes at the expense of decision-making speed and overall performance.
Emotional and psychological consequences:
Anger and self-flagellation:
The passion of Type 1 is anger, often turned against oneself. Faced with the imperfection of their work, they bitterly reproach themselves for their mistakes and engage in self-flagellation, never reaching the targeted absolute. This mechanism generates intense psychological stress.
Anxiety and physical tension:
The quest for the perfect and unique decision at every stage is a source of great anxiety, especially when under pressure. This stress often manifests as muscular tension (back, shoulders), transforming perfectionism into a painful limiting belief.
Unconscious anger and repression:
Type 1 individuals strive to repress their anger (their impulse) by resorting to learned reactions (for example, criticism or advice). This repression is perceived by those around them, which sometimes leads to unexpected aggressive reactions, leaving the project manager surprised and feeling unfairly attacked.
Lack of forgiveness:
They find it difficult to perceive themselves as an imperfect person. In the event of failure, they may lock themselves in a spiral of remorse or excessive punishment, which hinders their ability to manage the situation in a positive way.
Rigidity as a brake on innovation and autonomy:
The project management method serves as a framework and a guide, but must never become a straitjacket that prevents all adaptation, innovation, and creativity.
Experience and common sense are essential.
Leadership focused exclusively on the strict application of rules and principles can lead to excessive rigidity and creative stagnation within the team.
The project manager may manifest this rigidity:
- By multiplying controls, paying excessive attention to compliance with rules, schedules, and appearances;
- By having difficulty delegating, for fear of mistakes.
These constraints can generate frustration among collaborators, which hinders the expression of their creativity and the realization of their aspirations.
In the long term, rigidity, whether imposed by management or anchored in the culture, can prove detrimental to the company. Flexible and evolving cultures, capable of questioning themselves and adapting to change, promote long-term evolution and success.
Personal development strategies for greater flexibility
To counter this tendency, the project manager can implement concrete measures to strengthen their adaptability and pragmatism:
Setting realistic goals and taking measured risks:
- To be less perfectionistic, one must ensure that the goals set are achievable. You can ask for the opinion of a trusted person.
- New methods should be used in a way that allows for taking small risks of making mistakes.
- It is essential to realize that perfection does not exist. We can only do our best at a given time, depending on the circumstances. For Type 1, perfection is a higher idea, but it should be understood as the best compromise between an absolute ideal and reality.
- The manager should seek to show themselves as less perfectionistic and accept making small mistakes (according to the elements proposed in the conversation history).
Accepting and valuing mistakes (The right to make mistakes):
- The project manager must allow themselves and others to make mistakes, which will prevent deceptive and secretive behaviors.
- It is crucial to view an error as a learning opportunity or feedback, rather than a failure. When an error occurs, it is essential to identify the root causes to improve future actions.
- Acknowledging one's own mistakes strengthens the project manager's credibility and increases their standing and the trust of their team.
- In case of an error, it is better to seek corrective solutions than to engage in disciplinary measures.
Adopting a more flexible and adaptive posture:
- The most flexible person in a given situation is the one who succeeds. Being flexible means being able to consider viewpoints that others do not want to or cannot consider.
- The person responsible for the project must adapt to situations, as every project is unique. Flexibility does not mean laxity, but the rule must include a certain degree of adaptation.
- Adaptation proves necessary to manage opposing constraints (scope, schedule, cost, resources, quality, and risk), as the importance of each constraint varies by project.
- The use of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) encourages staying flexible and constantly adapting one's method to respond to what is happening.
By actively developing the acceptance of imperfection and flexibility, the project manager can transform a stress factor into a factor for success and growth, both for themselves and for their team. In this way, they can preserve the pleasure of a job well done while increasing their efficiency and agility.
To demonstrate the importance of flexibility:
Seeking perfection in a project is like trying to follow a straight line drawn on a map while navigating the open sea. Rigor is commendable, but if you do not continually readjust your course according to the waves and winds (the project's hazards), you risk not only failing to reach your destination but also exhausting your entire crew in a useless struggle against the uncontrollable. Flexibility is the listening that allows you to convert, even against the wind, the breath into movement.