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- From Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes by Donald L. Bartlett & James B. Steel How many times have you heard someone (it may have been you) proclaim or complain that he/she is a perfectionist? You may have noticed that going for perfection is a fool's game. You simply cannot win when you set perfection as your standard. There may be rare and unusual situations where perfection is assumed to be an appropriate standard. Frankly, I can't think of one - no, not even life and death situations such as heart surgery demand perfection in the process. Each stitch does not have to be sewn perfectly in order to affect the outcome. Perfection is present in the ultimate result, as evident in the patient's survival or death, not in the process. When 'perfection' is the goal it is usually out of an exaggerated desire to be right, to avoid criticism or risk. The focus is on 'how am I doing?' rather than on producing a specific outcome. Excellence, on the other hand, is a way of life. It is the context in which high achievers and peak performers produce and contribute to the quality of life. High achievers and peak performers get things done by taking action looking for appropriate outcomes and measuring their success based on the quantity and quality of their results. The bad news is that being a human being means we have the abilities and the failings of human beings. We make mistakes. We get tired. We get distracted. We fail to communicate clearly and accurately. When we set perfection as our goal, all of our actions are based on attempts to conquer our natural human limits with little or no intention on the ultimate outcome. The search for perfection limits our ability to act meaningfully. Acting in accordance with standards of excellence allows us to produce superb results and opens the door to experimentation and creativity.
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More Articles:1. "Group Decision Making" : Are the Decisions Really Made by the Group? By Andrew E. Schwartz GROUP DECISION-MAKING: Many managers feel they are well-versed in areas of group effort, such as problem-solving, goal-setting, and action planning. Frequently, however, the implementation of such techniques never seem to get beyond the initial stage. Often, this is because managers can not quite seem to understand that brainstorming or group decision-making requires comprehensive utilization of various processes. Managers may unknowingly find themselves perpetuating problems instead of solvin… 2. Don't Throw Money Away On Training - Planning Well Will Cut Costs and Increase Value We've all done it. The glossy brochure with catchy headlines promoting training courses which seem too good to miss. We either see them ourselves or employees bring them to us with a previously unknown 'need' to have this training. Before we know it a large chunk of the annual training budget has gone on courses we didn't even know existed. This sort of reactive approach to training and development costs far more than systematic training and is usually far less effective. So, how do we do this … 3. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Measure the Right Things. By Jeanne Sawyer Measure the right things. It’s not enough just to measure—you have to measure the right things.A common measurement trap is to measure something because it’s “interesting.” If knowing a measurement won’t change anything (e.g., help you make a decision, verify an assumption or prove the problem is solved), then don’t waste your time measuring it.Another common trap in defining the problem success criteria is to lose the direct connection to the problem. Somehow it’s very easy to unintentionall… 4. How to Make Good Changes Stick! By Donald Bryant Making quality improvement changes in the healthcare field are difficult. Making the changes stick is even harder! Consider, if you would, some change at your site that made a vast improvement in quality. Time was saved, patient care improved, and the bottom line improved. Now, look back, is that change still in place? Sadly, after some time has passed, many positive changes disappear. Why? We slip back into old habits. They are hard to shake. What personal habits have you tried to ch… |
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