When someone on your team is having trouble seeing the bigger picture and they only focus on the details, what do you do?

Our reader poll today asks: When someone on your team is having trouble seeing the bigger picture and they only focus on the details, what do you do?

• I explain things until I’m sure they fully understand the bigger picture 53.34%
• I try to explain things for a reasonable time and after that it’s up to them 42.91%
• I explain it once and if they don’t get it, I let them stay in the details 3.75%

Patience… to a point. Seeing the big picture is important for team members so they know where their efforts fit into the larger organization. Sometimes it’s hard to understand that bigger picture. It’s easy to get mired in day-to-day activities and the big picture requires team members to stretch their thinking and engage in concepts, departments, and with people they’re unfamiliar with. The majority of you report being willing to help them fully understand that bigger picture no matter how much effort it takes. Another large group of respondents, though, do have a point where they say enough is enough and leave it up to the team member after they’ve tried explaining things in sufficient detail. If you’re getting tired of explaining the big picture to team members who don’t get it, consider having one of their peers explain it to them. It might feel less intimidating and that peer knows the details of the day-to-day and they may have an easier time explaining how it connects to the big picture.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.