This headline caught my
attention—"Backing-up
Vehicles Killed 221 and Injured 14,000."
After my immediate reaction, I thought about it more.
I'm sure those drivers didn't mean to do
damage—they just did not see what was in
their path. Many
probably thought they were being careful, so if people
just like us try to see ahead and still have horrible
outcomes, what does that say about our ability to
move forward? In the same way, corporate eyesight
has not been too good lately, either.
Why do organizations have poor eyesight?
Blurred
vision is the loss of sharpness and the inability to see
small details. Many times, companies don't look close
enough to see clearly. It has become too easy to look
at data and generalize a conclusion that may hide the
relevant insights.
We see what we expect to see. It is human
nature to
rely on past experiences to interpret new information.
Merit Smith, Nolan Vice President and Health Care
Practice Director, summarized this best when he
said, "People draw the mountains they've seen." So,
we miss finding the new, unexpected information.
We don't look hard enough. Many times
organizations
evaluate a market and then create a strategy that
misses the real opportunity. It takes time and energy
to investigate and interpret findings.
We refuse to believe what we see. Afterward,
it is all
too obvious—for example, everyone could see
that oil
is a limited resource and that the world has a growing
industrial population. But we didn't believe a severe
shortage could strike us.
Some things just can't be seen. Every
vantage point
has its blind spots; find and eliminate them. In your
car, adjust your mirrors or install cameras. In your
organization, gather useful data to fill information
gaps. If we don't look in the right places, we
sometimes can't see the truth—e.g., it is
difficult to
understand medical providers when we look only at
disease data.
Sometimes, we just can't see it at all. We
don't see
gravity, but we know it's there. Many times, the real
finding has to be derived from other observations. And
it may not be simple; it may take several observations
added together to understand a complex situation.
Improve your corporate vision. Look for
information in
new places. If we refer to the same data sources time
after time, it is easy to miss emerging trends not held
within that repository. Expand your search, and gather
new opinions.
There is also the problem of open communications.
After almost every product failure, someone says, "I
could have told them that." That person knew but
didn't (or couldn't) communicate the knowledge.
Organizations have thousands of
eyes—capitalize on
that awareness by creating ways for people to share
their findings to build deeper insights.
Be thorough—sometimes 80% right isn't good
enough despite the 80/20 mantra of many
organizations. You may need to dig deeper to validate
early conclusions and assumptions.
Learn to see in the dark. Three simple rules
may help you:
- Let your eyes adjust to the dark. Many
people rush
in and immediately come to a conclusion, but
sometimes they need to immerse themselves in the
data and let their sight adjust to the environment.
- See by listening. When you cannot see
clearly, let
other senses (including common sense) help
interpret the data.
- Scan—don't stare. Our senses get
dulled
by focusing on just one point. When you look across
and around, you will see more and better.
We know it is difficult to see ahead, but we also don't
want surprises. So, as our mothers taught us, look
both ways before you cross the street.
