“Good Enough” Is OK During Coronavirus

I was speaking with a client last week, who is a senior executive at a biotech, and he said, “Good enough is ok during coronavirus.” I asked him why, he said, “because everyone is stretched beyond capacity already. As a leader, I have to be more flexible and patient than ever. None of us has ever experienced anything like this before. I have to realize everyone is doing the best they can balancing work and family life in this unprecedented time and that might just look like good enough.”

I think he is correct. As leaders during this pandemic, it is important to remember that your remote teams are juggling more things than during normal times: family needs like homeschooling on top of their day job, pets, higher anxiety to name a few. ”Good Enough” is ok during the coronavirus. It is one way to give your team a little more bandwidth to handle all the additional responsibilities they are dealing with. Accepting that rapid change is difficult during normal circumstances is understandable. Remembering that these are uncharted territories allows you, as a leader, to give your team permission that good enough is ok while they are charting the course forward.

What does “Good Enough” look like? That depends on the organization, leader, or team. We all know that there is no such thing as perfect. Where does “Good Enough” fall on a scale from 1 – 10? It is always a judgment call. It requires the leader to look at the situation, product, or outcome and determine if it is worth pushing your team to do more, or under the circumstances is it “Good Enough.”. It will look different for each situation.

I encourage you as a leader to examine where your judgment is coming from and during coronavirus, accept that “Good Enough” is ok for now. It is more important than ever to meet your direct reports where they are. This allows them to learn how to function in their “new norm” and continue to make adjustments and refine how they are showing up. It is also important to do this for yourself. See where you are pushing yourself harder than necessary and make adjustments.

Please share whether you think “Good Enough” is ok or not during coronavirus in the comments below.

If you would like help figuring out how to re-think your daily life, work, department, or company, please reach out!