Embrace your imperfection

The fear of imperfection may be the biggest obstacle in your way as you contemplate using new media tools to communicate your organization's message. But that fear grows out of a "brochure" mindset. When you're printing 5,000 slick handouts, it makes sense to write, and share with colleagues, and rewrite, and proofread, and rewrite again, until you've eliminated all potential mistakes. The trouble is that every rewrite by a different person in your organization sucks a little bit of the human voice out of the message. And eventually you're left with something slick and shiny and pretty -- but impersonal. New media tools don't have to be this way.

Anna at The Engaging Brand lays out the case for imperfection.

• Be willing to try new ideas...test them, try them, see if they work - if not, you can always change it.
• People love to be part of a company, a team that are willing to embrace new ideas, encourage new thinking....they can forgive imperfection, they rarely forgive slowness or apathy.
• People who work with you want to work for a human being, part of being human being is making a few mistakes. As long as you own up, as long as you are honest...people will stay with you. Imperfection can be engaging!
• When you are wanting to move forward, you will need to take risks. If you spend too much time looking for the perfect answer...then in the meantime, the question will probably have changed! (Go read the whole thing!)

Anna draws lessons from the software industry, where beta testing is a normal part of doing business now. People don't mind imperfection, as long as that imperfection is offset by a willingness to listen and improve. So be willing to listen, and be willing to improve, but don't worry about being perfect.

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