Having high expectations for your team isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can have unintended demoralizing consequences if nothing is ever good enough. According to a study of 300 executives in 10 different countries, 35 percent of leadership fails because of their relentless drive for perfection. The study demonstrated that achievement-oriented leaders tend to be chronically dissatisfied; and while it might seem that setting the bar impossibly high for employees would drive them to do their best work, what it’s really doing is demoralizing and embittering them. One way to avoid this is to examine how and when standards are set. Leaders who tend to be perfectionists often communicate their expectations only after someone has failed to meet them. When there’s a disparity between what you wanted and what you received, ask yourself when the employee or employees understood exactly what you were looking for, or if they ever understood it at all. Then ask if what you wanted was realistic given the circumstances, time frame, tools available, and abilities of the team involved. Molding your expectations to fit the reality of the situation and communicating those expectations up front can prevent a lot of hardship in the long run.