If you are like most people, then you may have failed an exam because you just didn’t check your work one last time before submitting your paper, or maybe you lost that interview because you misspelt the name of the company you were applying to. Or an accountant who now owes a company an unbelievable sum of money because she mistakenly added a tiny little 0 where it ought not to be. Or perhaps, as a doctor, you gave the wrong medication to the wrong patient (God forbid!). Truth is, most times, some mistakes no matter how tiny they are, have the possibility of causing huge losses of money, time or even lives. That is why paying attention to detail, is an extremely crucial skill everyone must learn, regardless of what field you are in.
So, what really is paying “attention to detail”? It is the ability to achieve thoroughness and accuracy when accomplishing a task. Simply put, it is what separates a standard work from excellent work. It may mean noticing one spelling error in a sea of words or remembering a customer’s mention of an upcoming birthday. Whatever form it takes, attention to detail requires active listening, keen observation, and patience.
“The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail” - Charles Swindoll
Why is Paying Attention to Detail Important?
One Error Can Ruin Your Credibility and that of Others: Think about it, if you work in a team, or company, you’d understand that once a service is delivered to a client, its no longer the work done by any one member of the team, or a single department. It’s the whole company that has done that job, and if the job wasn’t well done, the company’s name and brand, as well as everyone associated to the brand suffers the poor image.
It’s always easier to do it right the first time: Is it better to do a task, check for errors, and submit at once, or to do a hasty job, and then start getting tons of corrections you need to do on the said project from every direction? I’d choose the first option. The emotional stress associated with someone pointing out your errors (and sometimes not very nicely) isn’t worth it. So why not focus and get it right the first time? Makes sense, doesn’t it?
**Remember the E in EPIC?: **At Y’ems Group, we try as much as we can to be EPIC. We hold four values very dearly: Excellence, Professionalism, Ingenuity and Collaboration – EPIC (get it now?) This is why attention to detail is key for us, every single project is meticulously done and rechecked to ensure that our clients have the very best experience with our services, be it a Website, a corporate development process, skill development sessions or any other service. This we believe, is a major ingredient in the Excellence soup.
Because if You Don’t Care, Why Should Other People?: So here is the deal, you became a designer, or makeup artist, or accountant, or lawyer, or whatever it is you decided to dedicate huge amounts of time an money learning, and pursuing as a career, because you wanted to be so good at it, that people actually pay you to do it for them. That makes you the professional. Now, if you, with all the experience you have in your particular field, don’t pay enough attention to the work you do, then why in the world would anyone care to pay you? People expect excellent value for their money, and they certainly will not take a service or product below par, because guess what? There are always better options out there.
So, now you know why it’s so crucial to pay attention to detail. Need a reminder? Here’s one: your job, reputation or even life might depend on it. So, check your work one last time before submitting, will you? In our next blog article, we will look at some practical ways of improving attention to detail skills. Stay tuned for that, and until next time, STAY AWESOME!