(Too) High Standards in the workplace.
When you are doing something, you decide how you want to do it. You decide how the final result should look. What should be its quality? Maybe even quantity? You set an expectation that you commit to reaching consistently. And this is how you set a standard.
This is how you set a typical level of service, outcome, result, behaviour that you aspire to reach every single time. Standard you set to yourself (and to others around you) determines the level of “anything” you compare “everything” to.
In practice, that, for example, means, that you have a specific idea of how you want to look like when you leave the house in the morning. So when you wake up, and you need to leave home you will do some things to reach that idea — that standard. You might shower. You might eat. You might read. You might clean your teeth. All those behaviours and if you will do them depend on your standards.
Most of those things you will try to do in some way or the other, even if you do not have enough time because you slept over. Simply because you know you will not feel right not doing it. If your standards are strong, you might even say to yourself: “Well, I will be a few minutes late. But I NEED to do those things before I leave the house”.
Where you have the expectation, to which you hold yourself, or others accountable majority of the time, this is where you can see your standards.
Some of us have higher or lower standards for specific topics, behaviours and actions — depending on what is important to us. And this is where sometimes then the tension arises, also at work.
One colleguage wants to complete the task up to her standard, but to other colleguage, the task is not so important, so her standard for completing the task is lower. One will not understand why the other does not care more, and the other will not understand why the first cares so much. And if the tension might get high, there is a chance you will hear: “This (colleguage) is impossible. Her standards are way too high. They are impossible/irrelevant/meaningless.”
Low standard, high standard. Why does it even matter?
With setting a standard for yourself, you determine what do you aspire to, what do you want out of life. With setting a standard, you also set the level, where you will stop and say: “That is good enough.”
Having low standards for something means that you will tolerate more and expected less. Having high standards will mean that you will tolerate less and expected more.
Those with lower standards might get satisfied with what they are doing and how they are performing much quicker. This consequently leads to average and/or inconsistent results — as a result, relies on the current luck of judgement of that person. When difficulties arise, people with lower standards are more prone to give up and be satisfied with whatever they reached.
On the other side, at work, people with high standards often reach better quality and quantity results, simply because they aspire to be better than others who have lower standards. As such, they are frequently recognised as higher performers. Those with higher standards, also often know better what they want out of what they are doing, and with that, they are also often more motivated to reach their goals.
To ensure best results, in your private life, and also in your professional life is vital to have high standards. But when can standards become too high?
When is the standard too high?
The standard you set becomes too high, once you can not manage to reach it anymore. The standard becomes too high when it stretches you so thin that you fill stressed, and you stop enjoying what you are doing. The standard becomes too high when it becomes perfectionism.
As such, the too high standard will become a source of conflict. You will not feel good, because you will consistently NOT reach it. And the too high standard may also cause the dispute between you are people around.
Briefly said, we could say that if the standard you set makes you miserable — then it is a time to rethink the standard and maybe lower it.
But before that, ask yourself another question:
(Too) high standard for whom?
If you are in the environment, where your standards are not aligned with people around you, and this is the reason for your misery, maybe instead of changing the standard, you might change the environment. Find another job where you will be recognised for doing a great job. Go and find a manager who will see your potential and will support you in your growth and your aim at doing the work you do excellent and potentially bring the whole team to another level.
Setting a standard is something that we do so often in life and at the workplace, that we usually do not even recognise it. With setting the standards intentionally, and thinking about them, we can impact the way we live our professional life and increase the chance for success.
Think about your standards now. What do you tolerate? And what you do not tolerate? Are your standards (too) high?
Weaving Life’s Web: Work is aspiring you to live an intentional life while working. You have the power to weave your life, to fulfil your potential and be the best version of yourself!
This post is 6/90 in 2020 Expand Your Reach 90 Day Content Challenge, run by Patrick Farrell.
