A few weeks ago we had a bad experience with our tracks system. Like, a REALLY bad experience. We were already very short-staffed (1 acoustic guitar, 1 electric guitar, and 3 vocalists), when we began a song that went perfectly well in sound check. The issue began when the song leader came in on the first verse a measure early. No big deal; I can just wait for the verse that follows immediately after when the actual tracks come in and get us lined up there with my foot controller. Well, when we got to that verse, I missed the cue. This normally wouldn’t be a struggle but this song has multiple half-measures in each verse and I didn’t hit it right in my stressing. This created a crash and burn that continued through the chorus when we finally stopped and said “we need to start over”. We then picked it up at the chorus and it happened AGAIN! Finally, after a second stop, we got everything lined up well and continued on with the set. This was a nightmare, and there’s many ways this could be prevented in the future, but that’s not why I’m bringing it up.

After service, there were no negative discussions about what went wrong, only healthy conversations about how we can remedy it in the future. There was no fear felt in any of it, only love and grace. That’s because we’ve been careful to develop a culture of excellence, not a culture of perfectionism.

Perfectionism and excellence are often used interchangeably, but these two mindsets have specific characteristics. Perfectionism is driven by a fear of failure and a need for control, whereas excellence is driven by a love of learning and growth. This difference is important for us as leaders to distinguish so that we can create healthy serving environments.

Perfectionist culture is characterized by an excessive attention to detail, a fear of making mistakes, and a reluctance to take risks. When we develop a perfection culture, we create an environment where volunteers feel that everything they do must be flawless, and that there are impossibly high standards for anything that’s done. This quickly leads to burnout.

In contrast, an excellence culture is focused on growth and development. When we develop a culture of excellence within our teams, those serving under us value learning and improvement, and they are comfortable taking risks and making mistakes. They understand that failure is a necessary part of the learning process, and they embrace it as an opportunity to grow and improve.

Perfectionism can lead to high levels of stress, anxiety, and procrastination, while excellence can foster creativity and support personal growth. For the benefit of your team and congregation, it is important to embrace an excellence culture and reject perfectionism at every level of leadership. Three keys to developing a culture of excellence and not perfectionism are:

Set realistic standards

Cast vision to your team regularly, remind them why we serve, and openly share expectations that you and your leadership have as well as expectations they can have for you and the other leadership.

Value learning and improvement

Encourage your team members to try new things and grow in their craft. Celebrate attempts as successes and offer assistance when something doesn’t work out as intended.

Embrace failure as a natural part of the growth process

Let team members know that it’s ok when we have a crash and burn moment. Help alleviate any embarrassment they may feel from it and take responsibility as a team in developing systems to prevent it from happening again. And when it inevitably does, be just as gracious.