Are You "Detail Oriented"?

I was reading the other day about a company that does decorating and party planning for casinos, hotels, and weddings and was struck by the myriad of thought and preparation that goes into lavish arrangements such as those. The person who runs one of these companies explained that every event is planned with the five senses in mind - colors, textures, sights, aromas and taste. She went on to say, "The success of anything we undertake lies in the details."

A few days later, I passed a local car clean-up, paint-up, fix-up place, which had a sign outside boasting, "We are a detail oriented car salon."

One of the most common interview questions is "are you detail oriented?" If you're looking to fill positions at a financial institution, the applicant being detail oriented is almost a must. Just about every position in the banking industry is overloaded with details. We run classes and schools to try to communicate them - and keep up with the changes to them. And we have people in our banks who are masters at detail. For example, your Compliance Officer and your Auditor!

There is nothing wrong with being detail oriented, but it can, and often does, interfere with seeing the big picture. We used to call that "losing sight of the forest for the trees." On the other hand, Congress is often good at seeing the 'big picture' - the forest. The unfortunate part of having only that ability is that seeing and understanding the 'big picture' and making changes to accommodate it does not necessarily mean grasping what the execution of those changes will mean in the details. Even great ideas can cause people to be blinded to the details.

Leaders need more of the big picture, staff more of the detail (in general) with middle management needing a mix of the two to be maximally effective. Obviously, middle management is where the heat is, and where the most communication is necessary. If the leaders have the ideas, and they are not "sold" to middle management, then the details are not going to work. Middle management, in banking, is very often where the least communication, direction and information is aimed. Someone once said you just have to have the idea at the top, and the information would just "trickle down". Anyone who serves in middle management knows better.

There has been a great upheaval in the financial industry of late, due to risk management, anti-money laundering, suspicious activity reporting, investigations, Department of Justice charges, examiners increased pressure and scrutiny, and the threats of more changes by Congress and the regulators. The lead story in this newsletter tells of some of our leaders with the ability to see both sides of the story trying to communicate the futility of some of our regulations. There is a great pressing need for communication to flow in both directions between the detail people and the big picture people. I live in hopes of that happening, but my phone calls and those of my colleagues tell me different.

You'd think we'd learn by now, wouldn't you?

Copyright © 2005 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 15, No. 5, 6/05