My home and office are filled with windows. Like a sunflower turning its face towards the sun, when at home I am likely to be found in whatever room has the most light pouring in. From our kitchen we look out onto greenery and a bike path. One of our trees has been sparse since a wind and hail storm about a year ago. Even though we see it every day, it was only recently that my husband and I realized that parts of the tree bore nodules indicative of disease. Shortly thereafter, we spent an afternoon pruning the tree and attempting to remove the diseased pieces. A few days later we realized we had missed some parts and pruned more.

At our work and in our personal lives, we sometimes miss opportunities or become immune to long-standing issues or problematic trends. Many governments and businesses, including successful financial institutions were unprepared for the 2008 economic crisis and the depth of instability in Europe. This, in spite of the earlier tech bubble and burst, burgeoning consumer debt loads and knowledgeable economists schooled to recognize and anticipate the implication of such trends.

At our work:

Sometimes it is a performance issue that you have not addressed; you may tell yourself that it isn’t really that bad or that the employee appears to be improving. Perhaps the level of employee engagement on your team has slowly declined, insidiously eating away at your profit margin or productivity largely invisible, until the moment you recognize you have lost some of your key talent. Or maybe your work has become the clichéd daily grind; you are there for the paycheque and the security; you are no longer challenged and growing.

In our personal lives:

A near-sightedness may result in us choosing not to notice a slow but sustained creep in our weight, our growing dissatisfaction with the performance of our investment portfolio or our escalating boredom and need for a new hobby or leisure pursuit.

Both my husband and I observed the tree and its signs of decline for several weeks before we looked deeper, below the surface to investigate further. 

When we look deeper, when we or others challenge our paradigms, we discover new insights. Then, if we are open, we can rather quickly identify the source of an issue and consider options.

 Where in life do you need to sharpen your gaze? Consider what may have become largely invisible to you through your regular observation?

When you make your discovery, what action will you take?

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