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Subject:Re: Can someone learn to be detail-oriented? From:Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 18 Aug 1999 15:20:49 -0400
Jill Burgchardt wrote
>1. Can someone who hasn't shown the aptitude learn to (take your pick of
>descriptive phrases):
> be detail-oriented
> switch hit
> do the necessary editing
> be focused
> learn to check their work
> do the unnatural
> catch things so that they don't slip through
You seem to be identifying "detail-oriented" with the ability to catch or
avoid mistakes. I think this is unrealistic. Big picture people find
mistakes that detail-oriented people miss, precisely because they know the
big picture. They spot the kind of mistake that occurs when the details
don't fit together properly, or a detail is missing that is essential to
complete the big picture. Detail-oriented people make mistakes that
big-picture people don't make. The do things that are right in detail but
wrong in the big picture.
Of course, detail oriented people also spot mistakes that big-picture people
don't spot, and big picture people make mistakes that detail oriented people
don't make.
If accuracy is critical, you need both kinds of people working on the
project. It may be possible to train or cajole someone to work against their
nature, but I would prefer to find people of each kind and have them work
together as a team.
I think one of the worst mistakes you can make in hiring is to hire people
that mirror your own virtues. You will be much better off finding people who
complement your skills and those of your existing staff.
As for checking your own work, that may be a virtue in a school child, but
in a professional workplace, you should be checking each other's work. The
sign of an employee who cares about the quality of their work is that they
seek out their diametric opposite to check what they have done.
---
Mark Baker
Senior Technical Communicator
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
