One of the things I have noticed, as we work from home all the time these days, is that small things seem to matter more as our daily lives are mostly constrained to our houses and gardens (if we are lucky enough to have one). For example, I have discovered that tea definitely does taste better out of a china teacup as opposed to a mug. And making some toast and jam in the afternoon I recently used a teaspoon to take the strawberry jam out of the jar instead of the butter coated knife – definitely what you would do having afternoon tea at the Ritz!
You are probably thinking that he’s really suffering from his working confinement to be even thinking about such minutiae! In fact, I just want to illustrate the point that attention to detail and the small things in our professional lives really matters. It is this that indicates we have properly taken the time to examine a task or project and given it our full attention.
What do you think of the sender if you receive an email in which your name is misspelt - or maybe if you have a name like John Peters you are addressed as Peter not John? (If we are honest, we have probably all done this at one time or another.) Or if you are sent a draft agreement and it has spelling mistakes or the numbering is incorrect or the font keeps changing from paragraph to paragraph? (There is really no excuse for this with spell checkers, automatic numbering and format painter.) When you see the casual way in which you are addressed, or the agreement has been prepared, it must make you wonder about the quality of the underlying work and the attention the sender or author has actually given to the task at hand.
This is a lesson the military knows well – see this blog Do Details Matter? Veterans Know The Answer which comments Squad leaders check their soldiers for important things (weapons, ammunition, water) to seemingly minor things (pen, paper, extra socks, gloves)and, rather unexpectedly, cites an example from the music world In the early 1980s rock band Van Halen had in their contract with each concert venue that they must have M&M candy in the dressing room, but it stipulated no brown M&Ms. Sounds like a bunch of rock star BS right? Actually it is a pretty ingenious way to check the Attention to Detail for the concert venue.
The same is true in sport. See this article about Sir Clive Woodward who led the England rugby team to World Cup victory back in 2003. He also helped Team GB bring home 65 medals and finish third in the Olympic Medal Table in his role as Team GB Director of Sport for London 2012.He was very well known for attention to every detail, from where his team stayed to having plans for every eventuality on the rugby field. He comments about paying attention to detail in “winning cultures”:
Mercedes Formula One is one of those places. Their attention to detail is astonishing and that detail goes across the whole organisation.
For example, when you walk into their offices the lights change during the day to give people best optimum working conditions.
Every detail is geared towards driving performance which is their fundamental goal.
All these little things add up to a winning culture – it’s about doing 100 things 1% better. This is something that is so important for all companies to think about.
This article 7 Simple Habits to Improve Your Attention to Detail comments on how detail matters across different areas of a business and observes that this is an attribute of “emotionally intelligent” people
Similarly, detail-oriented people are good at picking up on others’ emotions. They spot cues that go unnoticed by others, and they connect the dots to understand that person’s true thoughts and feelings.
That ability is particularly important at work: Research published in Harvard Business Review suggests emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 90% of high performers’ success.
This definitely applies also applies to leadership – see this CNBC article which comments:
The most successful companies are run by CEOs who have one “critically important” trait in common: They pay attention to detail.
“They’re unbelievably detail-oriented,” says Stanford economics professor Nicholas Bloom in a WNYC “Freakonomics Radio” podcast. “That’s one of the big ingredients of their success.”
Bloom points to companies like General Electric, McDonald’s and Walmart. These companies are so successful, he says, because they focus on having competent managers who pay meticulous attention to detail.
And in my profession as a lawyer this is definitely a characteristic that law firms rightly look for in new recruits – see this article What Skills Do Law Firms Look For When Recruiting Graduates For Trainee Solicitor Jobs?:
Trainee solicitors need a good eye for detail to be able to communicate effectively on paper with both colleagues and clients, advises the graduate recruitment officer at DLA Piper. ‘Attention to detail is part of providing a good quality service. Clients will form opinions about lawyers and the firms they work for based on the quality of work and communication. Errors in documents, emails, etc, create a negative impression. In addition, a good eye for detail is important within the sector, as what may appear to be minor mistakes can affect the meaning of contracts and clauses.’
So, whether new to the professions or thinking of joining or an experienced practitioner managing a team it is worth remembering as John Wooden the American basketball player and coach said “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”
Or from the top of the business world as Steve Jobs observed “Details matter, it’s worth waiting to get it right.”
And it has ever been thus – Francis Atterbury, the English man of letters, politician and bishop in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, commented It's attention to detail that makes the difference between average and stunning.
You are probably thinking that he’s really suffering from his working confinement to be even thinking about such minutiae! In fact, I just want to illustrate the point that attention to detail and the small things in our professional lives really matters. It is this that indicates we have properly taken the time to examine a task or project and given it our full attention.
What do you think of the sender if you receive an email in which your name is misspelt - or maybe if you have a name like John Peters you are addressed as Peter not John? (If we are honest, we have probably all done this at one time or another.) Or if you are sent a draft agreement and it has spelling mistakes or the numbering is incorrect or the font keeps changing from paragraph to paragraph? (There is really no excuse for this with spell checkers, automatic numbering and format painter.) When you see the casual way in which you are addressed, or the agreement has been prepared, it must make you wonder about the quality of the underlying work and the attention the sender or author has actually given to the task at hand.
This is a lesson the military knows well – see this blog Do Details Matter? Veterans Know The Answer which comments Squad leaders check their soldiers for important things (weapons, ammunition, water) to seemingly minor things (pen, paper, extra socks, gloves)and, rather unexpectedly, cites an example from the music world In the early 1980s rock band Van Halen had in their contract with each concert venue that they must have M&M candy in the dressing room, but it stipulated no brown M&Ms. Sounds like a bunch of rock star BS right? Actually it is a pretty ingenious way to check the Attention to Detail for the concert venue.
The same is true in sport. See this article about Sir Clive Woodward who led the England rugby team to World Cup victory back in 2003. He also helped Team GB bring home 65 medals and finish third in the Olympic Medal Table in his role as Team GB Director of Sport for London 2012.He was very well known for attention to every detail, from where his team stayed to having plans for every eventuality on the rugby field. He comments about paying attention to detail in “winning cultures”:
Mercedes Formula One is one of those places. Their attention to detail is astonishing and that detail goes across the whole organisation.
For example, when you walk into their offices the lights change during the day to give people best optimum working conditions.
Every detail is geared towards driving performance which is their fundamental goal.
All these little things add up to a winning culture – it’s about doing 100 things 1% better. This is something that is so important for all companies to think about.
This article 7 Simple Habits to Improve Your Attention to Detail comments on how detail matters across different areas of a business and observes that this is an attribute of “emotionally intelligent” people
Similarly, detail-oriented people are good at picking up on others’ emotions. They spot cues that go unnoticed by others, and they connect the dots to understand that person’s true thoughts and feelings.
That ability is particularly important at work: Research published in Harvard Business Review suggests emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 90% of high performers’ success.
This definitely applies also applies to leadership – see this CNBC article which comments:
The most successful companies are run by CEOs who have one “critically important” trait in common: They pay attention to detail.
“They’re unbelievably detail-oriented,” says Stanford economics professor Nicholas Bloom in a WNYC “Freakonomics Radio” podcast. “That’s one of the big ingredients of their success.”
Bloom points to companies like General Electric, McDonald’s and Walmart. These companies are so successful, he says, because they focus on having competent managers who pay meticulous attention to detail.
And in my profession as a lawyer this is definitely a characteristic that law firms rightly look for in new recruits – see this article What Skills Do Law Firms Look For When Recruiting Graduates For Trainee Solicitor Jobs?:
Trainee solicitors need a good eye for detail to be able to communicate effectively on paper with both colleagues and clients, advises the graduate recruitment officer at DLA Piper. ‘Attention to detail is part of providing a good quality service. Clients will form opinions about lawyers and the firms they work for based on the quality of work and communication. Errors in documents, emails, etc, create a negative impression. In addition, a good eye for detail is important within the sector, as what may appear to be minor mistakes can affect the meaning of contracts and clauses.’
So, whether new to the professions or thinking of joining or an experienced practitioner managing a team it is worth remembering as John Wooden the American basketball player and coach said “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”
Or from the top of the business world as Steve Jobs observed “Details matter, it’s worth waiting to get it right.”
And it has ever been thus – Francis Atterbury, the English man of letters, politician and bishop in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, commented It's attention to detail that makes the difference between average and stunning.
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