I am not the world’s greatest at folding towels, and we won’t even mention my sheet folding abilities. This weekend I was catching up on the laundry and folding the mountain of towels that had built up over the week, and a thought occurred to me as I looked at my haphazardly folded pile of towels. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. So I went back and refolded all the towels until they were all neatly stacked. I felt a sense of accomplishment. Folding towels may not be my favorite thing to do, but since I do it more often than any other member of my family (hint, hint); I might as well do it right.
This past week I spoke with one of our team about their performance. It was supposed to be a pep talk to encourage them and to let them where improvements could be made. I discussed what I saw and asked how they felt about their performance. They told me that they felt that I was too much of a perfectionist, and they were not perfect. Therefore, I was given notice that they were not going to be staying with our clinic. Hmmm, how does one respond to that?
If I am completely honest, it was not really a shock. I knew that things were not going as well as they should be after four months, and all the experts agree that it is best to cut your losses early. However, because this team member has excellent people skills, I really wanted to keep them on our team. I did ask if they were sure that this was what they wanted because that was not the goal of my discussion, but they assured me that it was.
As for being a perfectionist, I will admit that there is truth in that statement. I demand the best from myself and those who work with me. Not because I want everything done perfectly, but because when we do our best it shows that we care enough to pay attention to all the details that need to be done. Does that mean we have to be perfect? No, it simply means that we have to push through adversity and keep working to improve ourselves and our abilities.
There are lessons here for me to learn too. I am sorry that they did not feel that they pleased me. I always thank my team and let them know when they have done a good job, but perhaps I need to focus more on the little details that I take for granted as well as the bigger tasks that are accomplished. I will not, however, let go of my belief that you should always take pride and have confidence that you can do the job. Even if it doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you gave it your best effort. In short, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.
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Image credit: serezniy / 123RF Stock Photo
