"I can’t promise perfection, but I can promise that failures will be few, far between, and met with extreme ownership if one does happen."
There was a point in my career when I had the opportunity to help a struggling team come together and make a complete 180º. During this time, I made the above promise to many of our clients. Some of them I was meeting for the first time. That was a tough chapter, but it taught me a lot about the meaning of the word service – as it relates to both clients and internal teammates.
I'm sure the Unity Behavioral Services crew finds this article ironic as we often talk about the pursuit of perfection.
No matter how we look at it, an interesting question forms: What is perfection?
I’m not convinced that the answer is as obvious or objective as it seems. For example, creating a “perfect” process is often thought to be one that is well-documented, easily understood, and so consistent that it feels formulaic. BUT…
Clients have different desires, crew members have different ways of learning, and humanity hasn’t yet managed to agree on something as simple as a common language, so documentation becomes difficult.
I have thought a lot about perfection in the month of June, and I think I’m changing my mind. Instead of a formula, perfection is more like a flow. After a lot of meditation and even more trial and error, I think I've gotten closer to what the characteristics of perfection are:
