The study revealed the pros and cons of makeovers

"What is your main weakness?"

One of the most popular answers to such an interview question: “I am a perfectionist.” But is perfectionism a weakness? Do not many interviewers consider it an advantage?
')
As a result of extensive research, it was discovered that the psychology of perfectionism is an extremely complex thing. Yes, perfectionists are trying to achieve an impeccable result, their level of motivation and integrity is higher than that of others. However, such people are also more likely to set rigid and excessively high standards, to overly critical assessment of their behavior, to thinking in the “all or nothing” style (“my work will be either perfect, or a complete failure”), and to believe in that their value is related to the perfect fulfillment of duties. Studies have also found that perfectionists have higher levels of stress , burnout, and anxiety .

So, if certain aspects of perfectionism can carry advantages for work, perfectionist tendencies can also obviously decrease the capabilities of an employee. Does this mean that perfectionism is a flaw?

We have processed perfectionist research over the past forty years to find the answer to a simpler question: do perfectionists do a better job than others? We conducted a meta-analysis of 95 papers, carried out from the 1980s to the present day, and studying the relationship between perfectionism and factors affecting employee performance. Under the analysis got almost 25,000 people of working age. In short, perfectionism is a much more serious disadvantage than people who get jobs and people who interview them usually consider it.

Our results confirm that perfectionism constantly and meaningfully leads to the appearance of some “advantages” in the workplace. For example, perfectionists are more motivated at work, spend more hours there every day and are more involved in work.

However, the results also suggest that perfectionism is inextricably linked with various detrimental properties both in and out of the workplace, including an increase in the likelihood of burnout, stress, workaholism , anxiety, and depression.

And although, in general, these effects are manifested more or less constantly in perfectionists, more careful study allows us to distinguish between their more or less extreme manifestations. The study identified two different, but related levels of perfectionism. The first, called perfectionism by us, the search for perfection, includes a tendency to commit and demand excessively high standards. Such perfectionists not only strictly evaluate their work, but also expect similar results from other people from their environment. The second, which we have called perfectionism to avoid failures, includes an obsession with the fear of not reaching high standards. Such perfectionists are constantly worried about the fact that the results of their work are not good enough or not enough true, and they believe that they can lose the respect of their colleagues without reaching perfection.

Our results demonstrate that perfectionist trends can focus on one or both of these levels, and that the choice of level leads to slightly different results. The advantages of perfectionism were stronger for people interested in the search for perfection. On the other hand, the drawbacks of perfectionism were stronger for people trying to avoid failure, but they also had an effect on people who were looking for perfection.

It is important that our results show that work efficiency and perfectionism do not correlate with each other - perfectionists do not work better or worse than others. Even employees who strive for excellence work no better than others. However, we could not establish the reason for the absence of such a relationship. Perhaps perfectionists spend too much time bringing the project or work to perfection while ignoring other tasks. Or, perhaps, all the advantages of striving for perfectionism are leveled by its consequences. Further research will be required to determine the exact causes.

In general, our results suggest that perfectionism does not bring constructive work. We found a clear relationship between perfectionism and qualities that are considered positive for employees and organizations (motivation and fairness). However, importantly, we did not find a connection between perfectionism and work efficiency. Considering also the fact that perfectionism provokes burnout and affects psychological health, in general, we can say that the overall effect of perfectionism for employees and organizations is negative. In other words, if perfectionism is expected to have an impact on employee performance through increased motivation and involvement in work, then this effect can be expected to be leveled by the opposing forces - an increase in depression and anxiety, the consequences of which extend beyond the workplace.

However, we do not argue that managers must demotivate employees or reject candidates who have a tendency toward perfectionism. Managers need to find ways to take advantage of, while recognizing and reducing the impact of weaknesses. For example, instead of constantly reminding perfectionists of the need for effective work (since they themselves drive themselves into the framework of the highest standards), managers can concentrate on the perfectionists aiming at non-work restoring activities — such as can help overcome stress and burnout. Managers can also try to articulate their expectations from employees and be tolerant of mistakes.

Taking measures to improve perfectionist management will receive greater priority from managers. One study of 42,000 young people around the world found that perfectionism had grown in the last 27 years. Attempts to be perfect do not have benefits for employees and cost them dearly and organizations. Instead of encouraging employees to be “ideal”, it would be more profitable to stay on a “reasonably good” result.