Tom Lemanski's

Your Bridge to Discovery

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It seems that detail orientation is a requirement for nearly EVERY job.  And, nearly every job candidate claims or believes that they qualify as a detail orientated person.  I believe that both of these assumptions are more often FALSE than they’re true.

Good News and Bad News about Your Detail Orientation

You’re likely not as detail orientated as you believe. Sorry.  But that’s probably OK. It might actually be a good thing. Except when it’s not.  Let me explain. No one wants to be someone who allows important things to fall through the cracks. Who would want to hire or promote that person?  In reality, different jobs and roles require different levels of attention to detail.

Detail OrientationJobs that require extremely high levels of attention to detail:

  • Bomb Squad Technicians
  • Attorneys who either examine or create long, detailed contracts and legal documents.
  • Aircraft Mechanics
  • Surgeons who perform intricate procedures
  • Actuaries
  • Safety Inspectors
  • Auditors
You’re probably thinking of your own examples. These jobs require people who are meticulous and rigorous with their approach to the most minute details.  Does that describe you?

Are You REALLY the Detail Orientated Person You Claim to Be?

If you’re doing a job similar to those above, you probably are highly detail orientated. If not, allow me to ask: Can you admit that you’re not someone who enjoys unending hours of working on long, complicated procedures or written documents? I hereby grant you permission to admit:

That’s not me!

Liberation is at Hand!

If you can genuinely make that admission, you are liberated and even blessed to get more done without the constraints of:
  • Endless pursuit of unattainable perfection
  • Analysis paralysis
  • Fear of making a mistake
  • Constantly scrutinizing
  • Getting all ducks in a row before getting started
The higher your level of detail orientation, the more likely you will have these constraints to getting things done.  If you can sign up for “That’s not me”, imagine how much more you can accomplish than those who are!  You can now admit that don’t want their job and they don’t want yours.

A Blessing and a Curse

While I advise that you admit your lower level of detail orientation to yourself, be careful about publicizing it to others who are less enlightened about the related virtues. That liberation gained by doing more comes with also admitting:
  • You tend to skim over complexities
  • You’re prone to allow seemingly minor details to fall through the cracks.
  • And, you tend to take things at face value with little scrutiny.
How might you leverage this self awareness to help you recognize critical warning signs along the way?

Complexity Caution SignResponding to Warning Signs

When you’re aware of these potentially hazardous conditions where errors and oversights are not an option, you’re free to choose from these three options:
  • Muster up the patience, energy and extra attention to detail needed to address the finer points of the situation. Pump the brakes on your normal tendencies, grit your teeth and dive in.
  • Seek Professional Help: find someone with the needed high level of expertise and detail orientation to get the job done right the first time.
  • Ignore all warning signs and throw caution to the winds.

How are you most inclined to act? It’s OK to say “that’s not me”.  As long as you recognize that some situations demand that you either notch things up and temporarily become the persnickety person that the task requires or engage an expert who loves using their fine tooth comb. These are times when ignoring a complexity warning is really risky. To minimize the risk, remember there are experts available who actually ENJOY taking a deep dive for a closer look. If that’s not you, who is it?

This is NOT a Test

It is an awareness exercise. Allow me to share a completely inappropriate test question.

I am a detail orientated person: True or False

It’s not a matter of being true or false. It’s not black or white but different shades of gray.  We’re all at different levels at different levels at different times. Whether or not you can say “that’s not me“…

High levels of detail orientation should be situational.

You should all be aware of your personal inclinations and the  degree of detail difficulty that a situation demands.  That awareness enables you to recognize your warning signs and respond with an appropriate level.

To grind or not to grind? That is the question.

My Personal Confession and Case Study

I hope this helps you. I hereby admit: “That’s not me”. Don’t ask me to audit your books or make contract recommendations. Not that I can’t. I have with some success. But I don’t like that stuff.  If you read my posts regularly, you’ve likely discovered an assortment of typos or grammatical errors.  There are a here.  Did you catch them?  If so, feel free to let me know. I admit I love to create and hate to proof read.  I do like to tinker with words. I often go back and tweak my sentences.  This generates more errors as eagerness to move on and get done saps my patience to go back and proof read and scrutinize.  To address this discipline lapse, I have utilized my recommended choices: either self-regulate or delegate.  Sometimes I muster up the patience to be persnickety enough to carefully read my creations from top to bottom.  That doesn’t always happen. As I attempt to meet my self imposed publishing goals and deadlines, I get sloppy. This just in:

Haste Makes Waste.

I have asked for the help of several detail orientated friends.  But you get what you pay for.  Since I have this thing about paying others for things I believe I can do myself, those efforts have failed. Stay tuned as I work on all of this.  Feel free to join me. Perfectionist

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One Response

  1. This is not me!
    That said, my work requires lots of detail so I surround myself with those who can accumulate and gather it, who can produce it when needed, it the format needed. Then I can make decisions, give direction and tell the story I want to tell.

    Thanks, Tom!

    JSJ

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