Think back to the last time someone shared a document or code they’d written and you were delighted.
What made the difference to the average work you see on a daily basis? I bet it was their attention to detail. They nailed the formatting and made it easy for you to consume the information. They spelling and grammar was correct and they structured their work logically with their audience in mind.
Saying “I pay attention to detail” is easily done, but becoming a really detail-oriented person takes deliberate effort.
In today’s newsletter I want to help you identify where you can improve the quality of your work so the things you create stand out and help you build a strong professional reputation.
Good things often don’t get noticed
The strange thing with high quality work is that it stands out because of ‘absences’. There are no typos, no grammatical errors, no irregularly formatted parts, and so on.
Much like we don’t notice ‘feeling healthy’ but we definitely know when we’re sick, it can be difficult to pinpoint what makes someone’s work such good quality stuff.
Here are the most common areas that – when you get them right – will delight your stakeholders and colleagues alike.
1) Grammar and spelling
If in doubt, use spell check, grammarly and the Hemingway Editor, so your content is free of typographical and grammatical errors.
You may not be the most experienced writer, or – like me – could be writing in a second language. There are reasons people make errors. Becoming better will help you progress in your career and build your professional reputation.
It’s the little things that count!
2) Formatting
Beautifully formatted slides, annotated code and formulas, an easy-to-read report can make a positive impression on your audience.
Take the extra time to format your work consistently, make it easy to read, nice to look at and include your own recognisable style. It’ll be worth it.
My recommendation for written documents:
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If in doubt, add more space: no one prints things anymore.
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Zoom out and look at the page from far away – are you interested in reading or overwhelmed?
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Use headings, bullet lists, images, and diagrams where appropriate to guide the reader through the information.
3) Include something extra
Whether you’ve been asked to produce a written report or an interactive analysis, add something extra that your audience will benefit from.
This could be information from additional research, a well-designed page of links to further readings, or examples on what else people could use your information for.
Try to give your stakeholders more than they asked for, every time. Adding a little extra doesn’t cost you much time but goes a long way in building your reputation for delivering high quality work.
Do the consulting test
Before submitting any piece of work I ask myself a question from my consulting days:
“Have I done everything I can, so when someone else reviews this work, they don’t have to fix things I could have done better?”
I call this “the consulting test” because the idea behind it is that every person in a chain of reviewers should do everything they can, so the next person, who is at a higher hourly rate, doesn’t have to spend their time fixing mistakes, and can add unique value instead.
When you ask yourself this question and go through the three suggestions above, you will iron out a lot of quality issues. Focus on delivering high quality work and your colleagues and stakeholders will be delighted.
The reputation you build along the way will last much longer than the extra minutes or hours spent. I promise.