Making Better Decisions With The Zoom Out and Zoom In Technique

There used to be this popular saying about the average human attention span getting shorter than that of a gold fish. This stems from a report conducted by Microsoft in which it was realised that the average human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to a mere 8 seconds in 2015.

Perhaps, this could imply that our attention span will continue to decrease as we enter more into the digital age.

We're living in an increasingly complex and distracting world, where holding a single thread of thought for a respectable amount of time is becoming near impossible. We have to deal with serious information overload, inefficient multitasking that gets us nowhere, and the constant changes that are happening all around us.

How well can we cope with this? Can we make better decisions and solve problems more effectively amidst the increasingly complex and distracting new world? Or is it just a lost cause without any way out of this dilemma?

These are the questions I would like to answer from the lens of a technique I discovered recently. The zoom out and zoom in technique is a seemingly simple technique that some of the most successful leaders and innovators use.

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What is Zooming Out and Zooming In?

Although the phrase seems logical and practical enough, there's an actual skill to it. This skill can be very useful to have in any situation, especially when facing uncertainty or complexity.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at Harvard Business School, refers it as the ability to switch between different levels of perspective or focus. Aly Jumma, a writer and entrepreneur, explains it as a process of shifting perspectives for how you view any given problem.

The keyword on both definitions is perspective. Basically, the zoom technique is the ability to hold two different perspectives and alternate between them when faced with complex problems that have a good level of uncertainty.

To unpack the definition:

• Zooming out means having an overview of the big picture, looking at the overall goals, the long-term vision and the external landscape.

• Zooming in means looking at the details, the specific tasks and immediate actions, and the internal landscape.

It's good to note that zooming out and zooming in are not fixed modes of thinking, but are dynamic and can be switched depending on the situation.

Why Is It Important?

If you think about it, many people mostly operate from either one of the two. It's either they're zoom out thinkers or zoom in thinkers. I think many are in the latter category.

Zoom out thinkers are those who understand the big picture so much so that they don't border about their immediate environment and the problems they may encounter.

I had a friend who was deeply immersed in spirituality and this was the perspective he operated on most of the time. He believed that he understood this tragicomedy movie called life so there's no need to play a role or do much about anything else.

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Zoom in thinkers are almost the opposite. For them, most if not all of their focus is in their immediate environment and the circumstances they're experiencing. Constant execution on their day to day or week to week activities. Which one are you?

For me, I was mostly a zoom out thinker thanks to my spiritual friend. But over the years, I've gradually learnt to put my feet firmly on the ground while roaming the stars.
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As humans, especially in this day and age, we need both modes of thinking to operate within the complex world.

My rational process behind saying that more people are in the zoom in thinking category is because as our attention span become shorter, our mode of thinking gets short circuited to focus only on our immediate circumstances. Since we have become overwhelmed by it.

This leaves no room to zoom out and cultivate the ability of seeing the big picture.

Putting On The Lens

This technique can help us get a wider view and a more specific plan for any situation. Whether it is personal, professional, or social.

To apply this technique, we basically need to switch between two different levels of perspective or focus: zooming out and zooming in.

This technique can help us with two aspects of our personal life: our emotions and our goals. For example, If I'm feeling stressed or anxious about a situation, I can zoom out and ask yourself: What is the bigger picture? What will be the most unfavorable result? How relevant will this be in the long run?

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Then, I can zoom in and ask myself: What can I do right away to tackle this situation?
What actions do I need to take to solve it?
If possible, who can I ask for help or support?

By zooming out and zooming in, I will be able to gain a more balanced perspective and more effective action plan.

How about a social situation? Let's say I'm having a conflict with the this spiritual friend of mine(the same one).

When I zoom out, I can ask: What is the context of this conflict? What are the underlying values and beliefs of each party? How does this conflict affect our relationship and others around us?

And when I zoom in: What are the emotions and motivations of each party? What are the facts and assumptions of each party? How can we find a win-win solution or a compromise?

The beauty of this technique is that we trascend the limited and one sided view we often have towards the situations we encounter. Making better decisions mostly depends on the quality or quantity of the information we have.

By using the zoom out and zoom in technique, we can filter out the noise and focus on the signal. Seeing both the forest and the trees. This way we can avoid getting stuck in one mode of thinking and see the situation from multiple angles.


Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.

Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha