Peak performers ‘see’ things quickly in their area of brilliance. They have what is called ‘personal radar’. Going into a situation, they quickly scan it to see patterns and then extrapolate those patterns. They seem to know ‘what will happen before it happens.’ Each person has good radar in specific areas but bad radar in others. So is it possible to help somebody to see things more quickly, more deeply and improve their radar? Providing they have some ‘feeling’ for the activity, the answer is ‘Yes’. Let’s explore how to make this happen.

1) You can educate people to see things more clearly & quickly in a professional situation.

People with good radar quickly get to the heart of a matter. They ‘see’ and ‘sense’ things more deeply and quickly than others. The superb sales person senses how to close a deal; the great footballer spots the opportunity for a defence splitting pass; the wise mediator recognises the opportunity to find a ‘win-win’ solution. Some radar is given - it is a gift with which we are born. But it can be developed through education and experience. How to make this happen? One approach is to ‘physically take people through the journey’ and clarify what they actually see in a professional situation.

Let me illustrate this approach by describing an exercise involving the staff from a high tech company. (You can apply the same principles to any kind of professional situation.) A key customer had recently complained that the company’s building looked shoddy, saying: “I hope the staff members take more care of their software than they do of the building.” This sparked some debate. But the outcome was that the leader asked me to ‘educate’ the staff about improving the experience for visiting customers. We agreed to start with a task force of volunteers who were committed to making improvements.

I asked the people in the task force to meet me at 8.30 in the morning. Not in the office, but half a mile further away, on the main road that led to the company headquarters. Gathering the group together, I gave the instructions.

“We are going to walk towards the office. The customers would be coming in their cars - so I want you to see the journey through their eyes. You each have 3 different coloured bundles of Post-it Notes. As we approach and then go into the office, I want you to write on the Post-It Notes.

* On the Green Post-its, write every positive impression you get about the company or good thing you see as a customer.

* On the Red Post-its, write every negative impression you get or thing that needs to be fixed.

* On the Blue Post-its, write every idea you have for what could be done to improve the customer’s experience.

“Write one idea per Post-it. We will theme these at the end, consider the ideas and then implement the actions. Fine, let’s begin walking towards the building.”

How can you apply this approach in your own way? Begin by describing a situation where you would like to make it happen. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific situation where I want to educate
people to see things more clearly and quickly is:

*

2) You can educate people to see what is going well and what can be improved in the professional situation.

The team set-off at speed. Within 20 metres I said, “Stop. Wait a minute. Remember you are a customer travelling in a car towards the company. What do you see? Can you see the sign directing you to the company? What are your first impressions?”

“There is a sign when you get near the gate,” said one person, “but not one here. Sometimes we get complaints about people over-shooting the drive. But we do send them a map.”

People started scribbling on the Post-its. We continued the walk. On our left were railings and a hedge - through which we could see the building. So I asked people to stop again and describe what they saw. They mentioned the railings - but not the beer cans that lay at the bottom of the hedge. “But we can’t do anything about that,” said one person. “It’s the problem of being on a main road.” More scribbling on the Post-its.

Passing the unsmiling security guard, we approached the main building. Standing on the steps were 3 staff members smoking their last cigarettes before going into work. Not the best first impression to give a visiting customer planning to give a cheque to the company. So we went on. The journey took us into the shabby reception area, to the toilet, onto the coffee area and so on. Sixty minutes later the task force had compiled masses of Post-it Notes. The majority were red and blue.

This is a simple but powerful exercise. I have used it in many situations - with hotel staff, footballers, therapists and other professionals. The aim is to get people to take time to, identify what they ‘see’ - then focus on what can be improved. It is to increase their awareness and expand their radar. How can you apply this approach in your own way? Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to educate people to see what is going
well and what can be improved in the professional situation are:

*

*

*

3) You can educate people to build on what they have seen & implement the improvements in the professional situation.

“Some things we had simply stopped seeing,” said one person. “Other things we would never have thought of until today - such as the idea of putting fruit in the reception for customers.”

The task force arranged the Post-its in their respective colours - then sorted these into themes. Within two hours they had produced a comprehensive action plan - complete with getting some early successes, such as clearing of hedges each day. One person remarked: “We can improve things straight away - and most of the improvements cost very little money.” The big challenge would be for them to keep ‘seeing’ what could be improved.

You can use this approach in your own way, but bear in mind the concept of ‘personal radar’. Some people will see things more quickly and more deeply than others in particular activities – but they may not ‘see’ anything in other places. Providing people do have some feeling for an activity, however, you can educate them to keep improving their vision. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to educate people to build-on what they have
seen and implement improvements in the professional situation are:

*

*

*

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