Engineers, if anything, are focused on getting it right. Getting it right is an integral part of who we are and what we do. It’s an attribute that was instilled in us through our college studies and reinforced as we progressed through our career. For many, the focus on getting it right becomes an obsession with obtaining perfection…getting it absolutely right, absolutely all the time. This presents a number of challenges and shortfalls for both you, as an individual, and for the work team’s in which you participate or lead.
Getting it right is important, no doubt about it. Getting it right to a level of complete flawlessness (i.e. perfection) in every situation, however, isn’t important. Your work? Learning to optimize.
Effective Use of Your Resources
Optimizing is the act of making the most effective use of a situation, opportunity or resource. The majority of us operate in work environments where true perfection is impossible to achieve with the given resources at our disposal. Therefore, we’re operating in a world of optimization, looking to leverage what resources we do have to achieve the best result. For the optimizer, getting it right doesn’t equal being flawless. It equals achieving the intended result – the best possible result – with the resources available. I call this the “situational-perfect solution”.
Devising the situational-perfect solution requires you to read the environment and know what the solution requires. If you’re working on a routine project update to supervisors and stakeholders you may not need to invest as many resources as you would if you were working on a $10 billion, multi-year contract proposal. This doesn’t mean that the update briefing isn’t important. It means that the environment and solution required in each situation requires a different level of perfection. Delivering a situational-perfect solution doesn’t mean you drop standards or succumb to a “good enough” mentality. It means you tailor the high standard to the outcome needed.
High Standards Always
Perfectionists are known for their high standards and penchant for organization. Optimizers are known for their ability to read the environment, define problems clearly, and deliver efficient solutions to those problems. The individual who combines both the characteristics of the perfectionist and the optimizer is someone who will deliver situational-perfect solutions. That person will become a lynchpin and a leader regardless of location in their organization.
If you are a perfectionist, don’t drop your need for high standards. Keep the high standards and begin clearly defining problems to make your solutions more efficient. The world doesn’t need fewer people with high standards. It needs people with high standards that are efficient in the way they do their work, their art.
“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” – Voltaire
Christian Knutson, P.E., PMP is a leader, civil engineer, and author. He’s an accomplished professional specializing in A/E/C work internationally and author of The Engineer Leader, a recognized blog on leadership and life success for engineers and professionals.
