The Key to Success is Knowing What Details to Attend To
Jim Cucinotta
Innovative and compassionate leader in Strategic Marketing and Business Development. Focused on helping my friends and neighbors live better.
I tend to snicker when people tell me that they have great attention to detail or that they are big picture strategists so details aren’t their thing. Both kinds of people raise red flags to me when assembling my team.
People who are self-proclaimed detail oriented tend to look only at what is in front of them and fixate on the current issue. Big picture people often overlook their day to day responsibilities as they try to “take the long view”.
When assembling your team, you need to identify people who know what details they need to perform their tasks while keeping their focus on both short term and long term results. This is especially important as most companies can slice and dice data on every piece of minutiae regarding their business. Start asking yourself:
1. What is the goal of this piece of information? Does it help me perform my job better? Help a corporate or customer issue? Solve a problem? If the answer is no, look for better data points. Sales reports that just show units and sales are a good example of this. You need to understand so much more before you decide what the best-selling items are like average price, gross margin, net margin, availability, etc.
2. Is this information “repeatable”? Meaning, is this something that I need to share with my team to help them perform their job better? A report that shows customer payment terms and trends can be a great report, especially if a customer who is complaining about their margins does not take their discount terms. That type of report is good for anyone who touches your customers, including finance.
3. What if I don’t know this data? Or more likely, what if I forget the data? How will the lack of knowledge affect my team? If it is something that is easy to look up, like a list price, then don’t commit it to memory. If it is something that you need for a presentation like a deadline or project milestone, you better remember it.
Use the 80/20 rule when going through the details. Remembering the 20% that drives progress is the key. Good luck.