Watch Out: What You're Not Seeing in the Office

Years ago, when I was working as a journalist in Cambodia, a friend visited me in Phnom Penh. At a sidewalk cafe, we drank iced coffee and watched the passersby. A family of six perilously piled onto one tiny motorbike cruised by. My friend stared wide-eyed at the balancing act. A pedicab passed with two live pigs lounging in the passenger seat. My friend pondered how that was possible, and I explained pigs were sometimes drugged with marijuana for transport. More amazement. A woman strolled by with a basket of lotus pods perfectly balanced on her head. The show went on, and slowly I realized something. None of the sights had captured my interest, but all of them fascinated my friend. After living in the country for two years, it all looked perfectly normal to me - even though it wasn’t for the rest of the world. I’d acquired native eyes. And that wasn’t a good quality for a journalist to have.

In the decades since, I've learned the curse of the native eye extends beyond the work of a foreign correspondent. It relates to all of us, in our lives and in our offices, every day. We stop seeing what's odd, unusual or special about our environment. We take for granted how things are done. And we stop questioning the parts of the status quo that would strike any outsider as downright silly.

Watch out: what you're not seeing - because of the trance of the routine - can limit our potential and hurt our organizations.

When everyone in the workplace has native eyes, minds go on autopilot and habitual ways of business harden. Everything and everyone looks normal because that's how it's always been. Dysfunction, along with function, becomes permanent. Companies lost in blind routine see whole lines of business get taken by upstart competitors and rendered irrelevant. Familiarity is a big barrier to innovation.

One of the reasons I love new hires is they have fresh eyes. Spend time with the newest members of your team - or any outside consultants you might have at your organization because they ask why all the time. They wonder about different ways of approaching a problem. They get excited about opportunities that have gone ignored. And they almost always notice the downright silly things that should be changed.

You can also train yourself to ask questions that inspire needed perspective. Here are a few:

1. Why did we start doing things this way? Is there a good reason or does the reason not exist anymore?

2. What underlying purpose does this meeting/activity/routine serve? Is that really important to my organization or are there better ways to spend my time?

3. If we're doing certain things because of problem, is there a way to solve its root cause and prevent even needing to react in the first place?

4.If we're pursuing an opportunity, is there a way to go bigger? How would I go after it if this were my first day on the job?

5. When I describe my work to other people, what do they find exciting and remarkable? What does that say about how I approach my job?

If there is something about your work that bothers you, it's often because native eyes have resulted in a situation or system that doesn't make sense. These are a few ways of thinking that can lead to a fresher path forward.

Watch out: What you're not seeing is right in front of you, and it might need to change.

How do you avoid native eyes?

Photo credit: meunierd / Shutterstock.com