In our last Research Management Mastery group coaching, as always, we discussed many interesting topics and had lively conversations, but this time a big chunk of this discussion was centered on quality. Today, I, Robert, want to highlight two points that directly affect the quality of our results and that can make your work life easier.
1) Action over perfection: Quality where it matters
I stole the “B– analogy” in the title from a marketing training, and it stuck with me ever since. B– is still good. Just not perfect. But in reality, we rarely need perfection as often as our inner standards tell us we do.
We juggle countless things every day that don’t require top performance and simply don’t justify the effort.
An example from my own career: As an auditor, I had to complete the same 12-hour online training on ethics, compliance, anti-bribery, and anti-corruption every single year. The first time was interesting, the second was a good refresher — by the third, it was just tedious. So (without revealing how exactly), I found a way to “hack” the system and pass the final test with minimal effort. Not with 100%, but the necessary 80%. B–, good enough.
Our everyday life is full of such situations:
Team meetings: Who cares about a poorly formatted slide if the content is great? Why waste two hours fixing fonts and spacing?
Safety or process protocols no one reads: Why hunt down the last typo? What matters is that the safety rules are known and followed.
Perfection is often an elegant form of procrastination. It feels important but doesn’t move results forward. Quality where it matters. For everything else: Action over perfection. And B– is often the sweet spot between diligence and progress.
A quick practical check helps, ask yourself: Who will use this? For what? And for how long? If the answers are short, one-off, or internal, B– could be a strategy. Save your “A+” ambition for the cases where visibility, risk, or strategic importance are truly high.
2) Quality can look different
To find inner peace, you must accept that team members deliver different results than you — if (and that’s the big if) the quality is fit for purpose.
In this job from above, I had to write reports based on templates and submit them to my supervisor for review. What came back was completely red. Not a single word untouched. Sure, at the beginning part of that was inexperience. But I live by the principle: Make every possible mistake — but only once. So I improved. Yet the red marks didn’t lessen.
Eventually, I realized that my writing style was simply different from my supervisor’s. Not better, not worse — just different. He adjusted what I wrote to his writing style. Finally, when I got a new supervisor, the red disappeared.
What did I learn? To evaluate others’ work as objectively as possible (which is never fully objective, but we can try) and to depersonalize criticism:
“Do I dislike it because I would have done it differently?” or “Is there truly a quality issue — factual errors, missing evidence, unclear logic?”
This mindset gave me much more peace of mind.
That doesn’t mean lowering standards. On the contrary, point out errors, highlight improvements, keep the bar high. But resist the reflex of “I could do this better or differently.” You’ll achieve much more that way and your team will grow faster.
Here’s a framework that helps:
Define standards: What does “fit for purpose” mean for this deliverable? Clear quality criteria per deliverable. Review against standards, not personal taste.
Separate “must-haves” from “nice-to-haves”: Must-haves aren’t negotiable. Nice-to-haves are polish — the 1.0 details.
Live a learning culture: Once is learning, twice is a pattern. The second time, it becomes a process or capability issue.
Use B– intentionally: Not cynically, but strategically. Ask: Is B– enough for this output’s purpose and risk level? Results beat perfection when they enable decisions.
Want more ease and impact?
We’re launching Research Leadership Mastery in mid-November. In our group sessions, we’ll explore exactly these questions: What can you reasonably expect from yourself and others? How do you set meaningful quality standards? How do you balance quality and speed without burning yourself or your team out?
If you’d like to be guided in your leadership journey over several months — with less stress, more clarity, and a team that becomes a multiplier for your work — send me an email at robert@glia-leadership.com. We’ll see together how we can help.
B– isn’t a downgrade. It’s an upgrade to your own and your team’s work. B– is strategic prioritization. It gives you the time and energy for the real A+ moments, where quality truly matters and creates impact.
– Robert
