Commentary by: Project Coordinator Chris Money

I know we all hear statements like this seemingly all the time.  People across all industries talk about how the small details are what set them apart from the other guy.  Our parents always told us to pay attention. Motivational speakers constantly talk to us about how to pay more attention to the little things.  In general, I think we all do a pretty good job of taking care of the details when it comes to our specific job functions.  Video always works to get the best image they can to the screen and to record.  Lighting is always tweaking the look of the set…looking for that one little thing that makes it pop just a little more.  Audio is constantly listening for way to make the room sound better and give every attendee the best seat in the house.  None of these are bad things and they are all a critical part of our jobs, but are they the details the client cares about?  Yes, is the short answer.  But there’s more to it than that.  Clients also care about the small details that are outside of our everyday job responsibilities.  Lots of people in our business do a great job…so how do we do it better?

Not long ago I was at a restaurant where the attention to detail really took me by surprise.  The wait staff did a nice job serving us and making sure our glasses were never empty.  The food was great. The atmosphere was great.  But we had come to expect those things from this particular restaurant.  What set them apart that day was a small action that was taken by our waiter.  In refilling our drinks, he brought a fresh glass of tea and the exact number of sweetener packets for one of the people at our table (incidentally, that was the only drink that needed refilling so he wasn’t neglecting the rest of the table).  He not only noticed we were out of sweetener and brought the correct sweetener; he brought correct number of packets…and he took the time to add the sweetener to the tea and stir it in.  At first I was amazed that he went to such a length but more impressive was that he knew exactly how much and what kind of sweetener to use.  Then it occurred to me…when he cleared the used packets from the table while taking the half empty glass, he noticed how many packets were used.  After that it was a simple gesture to bring that many packets back and add them to the drink.  How many times do we have the opportunity to notice such small things and act on them?  I would say those opportunities arise more times than we know.  We all just tend to get so wrapped up in our own departmental work that we don’t always notice them. Maybe someone is wandering around a ballroom looking for a place to “office” out of for a while. That’s a great opportunity to find them a table and some power.  Maybe someone has to work through their lunch break.  That’s a great opportunity to just show up with something for them to eat.  Neither of these falls into a specific job description but they are small details that might make the difference in how their day is going.

On another occasion I was put in the position of needing to make amends for something I had done.  Without going in to the gory details of the situation…I really owed someone an apology.  When I had the opportunity to make that apology the response I got kind of took me by surprise.  The other person actually stopped what they were doing to tell me they accepted my apology.  Again, how often do we really stop what we’re doing to truly recognize someone else’s effort?  It was a small thing but it happens so rarely that I wasn’t real sure how to respond for a minute.  There are plenty of times through our work day when we can stop for just a second to acknowledge someone.  Whether it’s telling someone you accept an apology, offering an apology to someone, or just offering a genuine “Thank You”, we all have several opportunities in our day to make someone else’s day a little bit better.

These couple of instances didn’t take any significant time or effort on anyone’s part, yet they both had a relatively large impact given how small the gesture was.  None of this is to say that I’m somehow better than anyone else at recognizing the small day to day details. It’s something I have to work at every day, but those few sweetener packets reminded me that no matter how insignificant something may seem…it is often the small gestures that can turn someone else’s day around.