On Forests
While it can be incredibly gratifying and satisfying to immerse oneself in details, keeping an eye on the bigger picture is also incredibly important to success. Not only does understanding how your contributions fit into the grand scale help you understand your work, it also helps you identify and correct potential problems. The challenge is remembering to look up every once in a while and seeing what the spread looks like.
Zooming out
One pitfall many folks fall into is assuming that your manager/director/leadership will be the ones to handle the big picture. They do, after all, sit behind a Bigger Desk. In many ways this is not a bad thought or approach; it’s literally their jobs to concern themselves with the big(ger) picture. This, however, doesn’t excuse those of us working on the details from also understanding, at least to a small degree, that larger picture as well. This expectation also goes both ways; those leaders are also expected to understanding, at least to some degree, how the details work.
Ensuring everyone involved is at least aware of the greater picture has a number of benefits -
Seeing how your contribution fits in - Knowing that the really boring and tedious spreadsheet work you do will help drive down cost, or make someone else’s life better makes it MUCH easier to accept that work. Not having this knowledge can result in you internalizing negative feelings around it.
Avoiding potential problems - Knowing where a project should be headed ,or what it is intended to do, can help you sniff out potential problems before they show up. This can take the form of helping you rule out specific approaches, altering leadership to specific things and more.
Broaden skillsets - Most of our time is spent in our specific areas of focus (which is good, it’s why we’re there!). Getting exposure, and awareness, to the greater picture helps us expand our skillsets, understandings and connections. This, in turn, rounds us out and helps us be better at our specific area of focus.
Finding ways to keep an eye on the bigger picture can seem daunting… after all, most of the we’re just focused on our small area of the project. There are some easy ways to see what else is going on at other levels:
Just ask - The simplest way I’ve found to learn about the higher levels is just to ask. Ask around your team and see what you can learn about your project.
Get involved - Similar to asking, get involved with other aspects of your project. If you’re a sales specialist maybe get time with the operations team to see what they’re doing. If you’re on the tech side, talk to Finance. Something as simple as attending one of their status meetings, or asking them to show you their system can give you a great idea of how they operate.
Annnd a bit further
While learning about the greater forest does take some time and energy, the return is more than worth it. Not only will you get to expand your own skillsets and knowledge, you’ll also help keep the project moving in the right direction. So go ahead, take a moment to stop looking at the trees and see the forest.
