What are you?
Are you a detail oriented person, or a big picture person? I once participated in a week long Center For Creative Leadership program which found me taking every psychological test ever invented (so it seemed). After a full week of this, we felt like guinea pigs for researchers, but the individual four hour summary session with a psychiatrist at the end was revealing.
One particular result drove home that I am naturally a big picture person. Perfect for a CEO. Not so great for a CFO. Since I was a finance leader, being in the big picture bucket was not ideal. But not necessarily a bad thing. Knowing yourself is valuable. Knowing who you are allows you to take positive actions.
Like making sure your team complements you versus magnifying your weaknesses . In my case, making sure my team tilts more towards detail oriented people. And pushing myself to focus on details that matter. When I came into a new role, I would perform the key account reconciliations by myself… to be certain I knew those details.
Why it matters now
This came to mind last night when we toured our builder’s Home Creation Studio. As the guide began by discussed quartz and granite upgrades one of the new home buyers asked…
“Wait a minute. Is all this included in the price of the sales contract I signed?”
I choked back a laugh… now there is definitely a big picture person exposed. You signed a contract for hundreds of thousands of dollars and you don’t realize what is (and isn’t yet) in it?
Channeling my detailed side
Armed with a provided 114 page list of popular options (with 10-ish options per page), road tripping to various showcase models and searching the internet, I had spent the last couple weeks exploring thousands of options. Created a detailed spreadsheet, reviewing hundreds of possibilities with my wife. Options moved on and off our board. Back and forth we went. While concurrently narrowing down styles and colors for our home.
At our first upcoming four hour session with a designer, I expect we’ll be focused on a redesign proposal… expanding a lower level bathroom to include a garden tub and fireplace. Everything else will just be confirmations. I’m predicting one single two hour meeting for us.
Big picture thinking helped us envision the possibilities of our new home, while the detailed oriented part of my brain has been coaxed to make the dream a reality.