Tweet

Attention to Detail - A Manager's Secret Weapon

Guest post by: Martin Haworth

Article Overview: An eye for detail is critical in you want the best performances from your team. Your awareness skills need to be sharpened fully and noticing when there is something out of line, however minor, will serve you very well indeed...

Attention to Detail - A Manager's Secret Weapon

When you create a sensitivity to the unexplained; unclear; silent and seemingly innocuous in your workplace, you find out more. This works especially well when you get to know people, because you sense an off-day and become aware. You are not necessarily doing anything to start with. It's just something you notice, log and perhaps raise later where it needs it. Having this innate sensitivity is very useful as you become and evolve as a manager.

When it comes to 'things' your sensitivity can be very valuable too. That unlabelled, seemingly empty box can be valuable product that goes out of date soon. It could be a time-sensitive audit that's been sitting on someone's desk for a while. It might be a wall that looks a little out of line or a machine that sounds a little unusual.

There are many, many opportunities to sharpen this awareness of yours, in all shapes and forms, depending on what industry you are in. It's a talent that can be practiced by review after events as well as listening to the comments of your people and following through.

Sensitivity and attention to detail are skills that take little time and yet can be very valuable in the returns they provide, in efficient and effective uses of your time. Often any time invested here can be easily shown to be some of the most value-creating time you ever spent.

This is all about noticing and then gently investigating, through questioning and listening (those so valuable coaching skills that you learn), to focus in many situations where you need to know more - as well as raise the awareness of your team about the issue - and that you know!

'How's that audit coming along?'

'What's this here?'

'What's in that box?'

'Who is dealing with this right now?'

'When is product 'x' due in next'?

Being curious about things is almost as valuable as being curious about your people, important though that is. because 'things' give clues about the attention to detail of others, who have responsibilities that might not be as sharp as yours - in fact, they might not be as sharp as they need to be.

Not only will you learn much, your people will know that you are sharp too and through that, their awareness and attention to detail will get much better.

Funny, over a short period of time, not only will the number of empty, unlabelled boxes drop dramatically, but those that linger, you can bet your people will know all about them!

Related Articles
  How to Breakthrough Your Glass Ceiling
  A Truly Unusual Sales Tip You Can Learn From Hitchcock Movies
  Is Your Weapon of Choice an Elephant Gun or a Fly Swatter to Increase Sales?
  What a Leader needs to understand about the strength of water
  The Secret
  Email Marketing Made Easy #15 - Writing Effective, Sales-Generating Emails
  Car Sales 101: A Case Study
  Why Asking For Help Works For Managers
  Presentations, 3 Killer Tools for Managing the Fear Factor
  Use This Joint Venture Secret Weapon
  Smart Management To Avoid Losing Your Best People
  Entrepreneurs – What Should Be In Your Business Plan?
  Are You a Great Manager?
  Increasing Sales and Productivity: Action and Fundamentals
  4 Secrets to Setting Goals (Goals You'd Really Love to Achieve!)
  Stress-Free Selling® - How to Talk About Increasing Prices
  Lesson #4: What Stage Entrepreneur Are You?
  The secret to success
  Are you ready for the Self Managing Salesman?
  Zero Based Budgeting in Managerial Accounting

Article Tags: attention to detail, awareness, awareness skills, management development



Related Forum Posts
Victoria's Secret - Too Sexy? - This will be upsetting for some men. I just heard a report about Victoria's Secret and it was interesting. Their sales were down drastically in the 4th quarter of 2007 and the report was about how they are thinking the company has gotten too far away from the heritage that made it the blockbuster company it is. They are thinking the ads etc have become too sexy and the plan (at the moment) is to make the ads more sophisticated. That would be like the Super Bowl commercial which was very tasteful, but very different from any Victoria's Secret I've seen lately. Who do you all think the current sexy ads are targeting? I think its the men that they hope will buy these items for their female significant others. I hate to give Omarosa any kudos - but most women aren't "sold" on an item by an ad of a near naked sexy woman. Shri
Re: Attention Age Doctrine - Hi Andy, So how did you find of "The Attention Age Doctrine" Part 1? And has following its guidelines yielded any positive results yet?
Advertisement that sales - Plan your marketing programme. It should include commitment to capital resources. If you run a small business, you aren't likely to have a generous enough advertising budget that will allow you to run costly branding or campaign ads. Every advertisement you run must convey to your prospect a solid offer and attractive reasons to act quickly, and result in increased sales and an enhanced image of your company. Good advertising always pays its own way through increased sales and profits, improved cost-effectiveness, reduced selling costs and shortened selling cycles. A useful formula that will help you increase the effectiveness of your advertising efforts is A-I-D-A, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. When creating an advertisement, always remind yourself that it should: (1) capture your prospects' Attention, (2) arouse their Interest in your offer, (3) create their Desire for your product or service, and (4) provide a powerful spur to Action, that is, turn your prospect into buyers. Remember, bad advertising is an unproductive expense, and good advertising is an investment in future profits!
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!
The Secret - Hi Binary Guy - The Secret certainly has been getting a lot of attention and promotion by the likes of Oprah. What have your experiences been with the program?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Steps For Starting A Small Business

9 tips to increase ROI in PPC Campaigns

In the Year 2020 . . . Process

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.