Developing good observation skills

​Developing good observation skills

How your powers of observation can impact your life, your happiness, your success, your relationships, your growth and your leadership, and how to sharpen it.

Here we are talking about, learning and creating a purposeful subconscious observation habit and to transfer to our conscious whenever it is needed, in that instant.

Even if your observation was in past, the instant, anything needs the lesson from that incident, it props up in your conscious mind automatically.

Observing is not the same seeing, seeing is passive. Similarly listening is not same as hearing, hearing is passive.

It is a process of paying attention, intently and actively, so that you can gather specific information for later uses.

Many of us may not be aware of the benefits of training our subconscious to observe [which it does all the time, for your all experiences through their exposure to all your senses] and transfer the relevant powerful information to your conscious mind [this transfer does not happen automatically].

Depending on the degree of your practice for being a precise observer, you would get the following rewards

1.You may become a very successful entrepreneur, having observed the tell-tale signs of emerging trends and have created a disruptive business
2.You may become a Great Leader
3.You may get into a profession and grow immensely that needs observation skills
4.You may discover or invent something for the future
5.You may learn to read the signs and work to repair and create most wonderful and intimate relationships
6.You may actually enjoy the joy of living by being in the present and noticing the small yet very delightful memorable moments, which most miss in their day to day life
7.You may get solutions to problems that others do not have any clue about
8.You may notice multiple opportunities and reap the harvest
9.You may be able to save your or someone near and dear to you or keep them safe
10.You may become adept in understanding the cues and predicting the behaviors of people [it is not judging or being perceptive, it is about knowing about others through the non-verbal signal they are send to the world]
11.You would become highly creative person
12.Your respect among the peer, senior and others would be at consistent high

Have you ever had nagging sensation/feeling about someone or something, and yet you ignored it.

Later in hindsight you recalled it and were regretting, why you did not listen to that voice. That is our subconscious trying to guide you in the best way.

This subconscious nagging sensation is not same as very strong impulsive urge to do something which in many instances proves to be detrimental.

When you're observant, you use your senses to examine something that you're curious about, and you evaluate what you experience.

This may take at least few months of practice, like the way masters do for say playing musical instruments or learning a new language.

Behavior and mindset needed for accurate observation skills

1.Understanding how people behave

2.Challenging our perceptions and assumptions

3.Creating the habit of asking Why and why not in appropriate stage

4.Listening skills that goes beyond understanding what is said, but especially focusing on what is between line and unspoken

5.Identifying and shattering personal biases and prejudices

6.Being open to the inputs of others, even though it may be contradictory to our own beliefs and thereby adjusting our beliefs

7.Pro-actively looking out for new experiences and possibilities

8.Becoming comfortable with ambiguity

9.Interest in gaining Knowledge of the behaviors and attitudes of people

10.Knowing-self – accurately knowing your own behaviors, attitudes and personal skills, and how they impact others

Why great leaders are wonderful observers, because The Best Leaders are the Best Learners, As a leader, we need to be aware of 1.How individual team members are doing and their level of energy and engagement
2.The dynamics of the team
3.How people behave and communicate under different teams, leads and situations
4.Training your brain to observe allows you to learn and remember more about the people, places, events, and situations around you – to pick up on details that you might otherwise miss
5.Critically analyzing your observations, helps you to understand and to solve problems more effectively
6.These abilities also strengthen your workplace and interpersonal skills, improving the way you interact with the people and environments around you
7.Moving into observation mode also helps us to see the bigger picture and also teaches us when to sit back and observe, as opposed to when to jump in and act
8.It also enables us to take a step back and peer into ourselves and others, just looking is not enough, but the insights that we can get from dissecting and analyzing gives us the discerning patterns, styles, and results
9.They seek, sense and share

One of the finest tool for observation which you can finetune and use in all aspect of your life is Gemba walk [Earlier we used to hear another term coined by Tom Peters "Management by wandering/walking around"] 1. This is used for identifying and Solving Problems even before they become critically important. 2. Make all the stakeholders aware of the purpose and also what it is not

3.Clarifying who will be participating and what would be their roles

4. Creating a plan on how achieve, what is given in point 1, one element at a time

5.Preparing, rehearsing and redesigning the questions to ask which can include 5Ws and 1 H[although this how is done later after all the 5 Ws have been gathered, sorted and classified.

Questions we need to answer across the spectrum include:

I.What is working

II.What is not working

III.What near-misses which can cause problems

IV.What are important but is being sidetracked

V.What short-term success routes are being used that can result into big negative outcome later

VI.What would enable sustainable, meaningful outcomes

VII.What positive enables are working

VIII.What negative enablers we need to get rid of

IX.What are the activities being done just because it has been in practice, without any actual impact

X.What wastages can be eliminated

You can evolve many more questions, as you become expert in asking them

6.Involve employees and all the stakeholders, to suggest processes, shifts, or work areas that might benefit from a Gemba Walk.

7. Focusing on improving Processes, Not People at this juncture

8.Clarifying How to Document Your Observations

9. Don't Suggest Changes During the Walk

10.Creating the entire team its process owners

11.Including people from unrelated areas, even outsiders for observing event

12. Schedule but mix the schedule 13. Follow-up with Employees

14.Feedback to the employees about the outcomes and proposed changes post entire Gemba walk exercise

15.Reevaluate 360 degrees post Gemba changes implementations by doing regemba

The management by wandering around (MBWA), also management by walking around refers to a style of leadership practice where the leaders, walk or wander around, in an unstructured manner, through the workplace(s), at random, to check with employees, equipment, or on the status of ongoing work.

The emphasis is on the word wandering as an unplanned movement within a workplace, rather than a plan where employees expect a visit from managers at more systematic, pre-approved or scheduled times.

Tips to make to master observer – few tips are from internet

[Which can help you observe without pressure and retain and file the information/lesson in an effective way for easy recall]

1.Slow down, rushing through your day leaves no time to observe the world around you.

2.Every day to ask yourself - "what is the most important thing for me to focus on today"

3.Talk less, listen more

4.Focus on body language and non-verbal cues

5.Proactively observe yourself, how you react or think internally

6.Get feedback from your 360 degree connections

7.Get out of your subconscious routines

8.Observe new techniques, strategies, ideas and resources
9.Gain insight into one's own strategies and techniques

10. Identify What might you should be looking for

11.What should be observed,

12.How the observation should be recorded,

13.How to ensure accuracy of observation, and

14.When should the notes be taken, and

15.How the notes should be kept

16.Ensuring the accuracy of observation is another important concern of the observer

17. Stop Judging 18.Get used to observing things
19.Slow down your life
20.Get visual cues and let them be processed by your brain. Look at things from different angles.
21.Make notes to remember things
22.Meditate daily
23.Pose yourself intellectual challenges, Solve puzzles.
24.Start associating the information you have with what you are observing

25.Memory Games

26. JOURNALING your day

27. create your own OBSERVATION WORKSHEETS 28.Read body language
29.Noticing what you are noticing
30.Give a running commentary of any situation, picture, occasion, activity or scene
31.Pay attention to your meal. Notice how the various tastes, smells and textures mingle in your mouth.
32.Asking questions about others
33.Posture - How does this person stands
34.Is he/she using open or closed body language
35.What's the look on his/her face
36.What does he/she does with his/her hands/legs
37.Does he or she makes eye contact
38.Learn to read faster and more accurately

39. Go for Trial and error in unknown territories 40. Be open to new experiences 41. Test your observation skills

42.Try Something New
43.Cut Out Distractions
44.Play Games
45.Test Your Recall
46.Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills

47. Be Open, Be Looking, Use all your Multi-sensory

48. Be Still – take cues from cat waiting to catch birds

49. Be Aware of Your Filters

50.Link cause and effect
51.Combine micro and macro
52.Track a sequence of events
53.Activate the five senses.
54.Think big and small
55.Avoid assumptions
56.Compare past to present

57. Sit in a public place, nature and journal 58. Create stories 59. Walk instead of drive 60. Take off your headphones

61. Consume entertainment actively

62.Train Yourself to Look for the Stuff that Matters to You
63.Challenge Yourself to Pay Attention to New Things
64.Watch people in crowded areas
65.Take a Walk with an expert
66.Keep an Eye Out for Patterns
67.Pay attention to small details
68.Stay in the present moment
69.Write down everything that you notice on a daily basis be as specific as possible
70.Quantify everything you notice
71.Recall details after looking at a piece of art
72.Identify any strange sounds or smells
73.Feel objects with your eyes closed to improve your sense of touch
74.What is the texture of the object? Is it smooth, bumpy, ridged, or soft?

75.Describe what you see in detail, interpret from many angles

76. Play Observation Games

77.Try "Kim's Game"
78.Navigate by Touch and Feel
79.Observer people's Breathing to predict their emotional state, NLP technique

80. Learn to Mirror Breathing building rapport with other, NLP technique

Few NLP techniques that make you observe and create the life you want – list taken from internet

1.Accelerated Learning – Techniques of using all your senses in the learning process….
2.Anchoring – Unconscious habit forming…
3.Olfactory Acuity – A great sense of smell.
4.Auditory External Acuity – Learn to improve your listening skills.
5.Auditory Internal Awareness – How well do you recall sounds & people's voices?
6.Auditory Tonal – Ability to hear sounds.
7.Break State – A quick change in though pattern…
8.Breathing – How aware are you of your own breathing? How often do you pay attention to others breathing patterns?
9.Calibration – Paying close attention to others actions, expressions
10.Pacing and Leading – If I pace and lead you, then the chance are that we will be
11.Pattern Interrupt – STOP running that thought pattern NOW!
12.Perceptual Positions – Great process to produce incite and learning from communication.
13.Personal Evolution Process – Taking you to the next level.
14.Phobia – …and how to overcome one.
15.Physiology – How you sit, how you stand, your facial expressions…
16.Precision Model – Devised by John Grinder – questioning technique.
17.Predicates – The words that we use that indicate how we are thinking…
18.Preferred Representational System – Your preferred means of processing communication
19.Presuppositions of NLP – A set of empowering and useful beliefs….
20.Change Personal History You store your memories? Are they useful to you?
21.Circle of Excellence – Get in a powerful state of mind whenever you need it most!
22.Circuitry Clearing – From the P in NLP. Change your programming, change your results.
23.Communication Model – Understand how you experience the world and create behavior
24.Confusion/Overwhelm – How do they occur? How to deal with them
25.Primary Representation System – Your favored means for taking in and processing information.
26.Prime Concern – What is it that is really blocking someone from reaching their potential…?
27.Projection – I project my own thoughts on to you and attribute them to you…
28.Rapport – A method that will enable you to consistently build an energetic affinity with other people…
29.Reference System – The sense that you use to reference your experience…
30.Designer Swish Pattern – DIY NLP pattern for changing poor though patterns…