I think it’s common that people see things but don’t observe them. We live in a world of soundbites and snippets, often hearing and seeing only what someone wants us to see. Who watches an entire sports game anymore when the highlights reel shows us the biggest plays of all the games in less than a minute. What’s missed is the strategy behind scoring, the drama of missed opportunities, the nuance of a play, and the emotion of the moment. We may see customers and their transactions - those are the snapshots that record any discrete moment. But observations over time capture the personalities, preferences, behaviors, and expectations that put context to each frame. Teach your employees to see things while coaching them to observe all the colors and sounds that explain what they see. Poker players do this extremely well – watching the players and not the cards. The best customer service people hang back and let things play out, for better understanding and results. The pace of life and work is too damn fast, but the best results often come when we slow things down. That part is in our control. Practice the art of observation today.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930): British writer and physician who created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887.
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