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Education
Perspective can be everything
"LOOK AT the big picture," we are often told, when someone wants us to see things in a larger perspective. At the same time, others exhort us to pay attention to detail, to make sure that every little part of what we do is just right. Both ways of seeing are equally important, so it is important to develop both perspectives if we are to succeed in work as in life.
The "micro" approach, which allows us to look at the finer details of something, is very important in some kinds of work, particularly those that demand intense concentration and focus on immediate concerns, or tasks that require fine motor skills and coordination. The "macro" approach is important while considering problems of a larger scale, or those that require you to integrate many aspects or fields of thought. While all jobs call for both macro and micro perspectives at different points in time, some may require more or less of the other, and in fact may be hindered by the wrong kind of perspective.
A surgeon, for instance, must be able to focus intensely on the specific area that he/she is operating upon, shutting out of his/her mind the rest of the system except where it affects the operation. A physician, on the other hand, must be able to look at the person as a whole, and understand how different parts interact. A proof-reader must be able to look at individual words and punctuation without losing himself/herself in the larger meaning of the text. An editor, in contrast, must be able to see how the different parts of a manuscript work together as a whole. It is therefore obvious that some kinds of jobs call for people who are detail oriented while those who have the ability to see the big picture would better fill others. It's important that you understand what you are good at— whether you enjoy solving problems that have to do with details or whether you are good at piecing together the bits of a larger puzzle.
The first involves "getting into" something, delving into the heart of the matter and working from inside out. This is the kind of work software programmers must do— work line-by-line, character-by-character, to build a code that performs a certain function. The second requires you to approach matters from a distance, to see how its parts fit together to work in the larger scheme of things. A systems analyst, for instance, must be able to look at the entire network from a holistic perspective in order to assess what is going wrong where, and where improvements can be made to enhance overall performance.
It's obvious then that both perspectives work together to keep any organisation going. As you enter the job market, you need to be detail oriented. You must be able to focus on the task assigned and do it perfectly. But as you grow in your career or chosen workspace, you need to be able to see things from a larger perspective. A departmental head must be able to see beyond the functions of small teams to the responsibility of the department as a whole. And a general manager must be able to piece together the roles of all the different departments in terms of what the company needs to achieve. To complicate matters further, however, it is also important for the same person to be aware of the details that make up those different parts of the whole. What do not learn however, and what we need to cultivate in order to make a success of any career, is to put both these perspectives together. We also do not consciously learn how to apply one or the other perspective in different situations.
As a result, we tend to swing between extreme positions — we either fail to see the forest for the trees, or forget that the forest is indeed made up of many trees! Developing a sense of perspective can help you in other ways too. It can help you priorities different activities and see how and where your responsibility lies at different points in time. It can help you perform better as a member of a team (by being detail-oriented about your own work, and retaining a macro perspective of the team's responsibility). It can help you take criticism in the right spirit. And most importantly, it can help you retain a sense of balance in terms of work and the rest of your life.
Usha Raman
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