I was inspired to pose this question by a hilarious performance by speaker, Jeanne Robertson. I highly recommend you take a humor break today for a few minutes to check out this clip:
It wasn’t just Jeanne’s humor and the outrageousness of the topic that caught my attention. For me, it also stood out as an excellent example of the power of discernment—or in this case, the lack thereof.
Discernment can be defined as the act or process of using keen insight and good judgment. In this video, the young woman at the department of tourism recommended bungee jumping to a couple, based only on the time they had available and perhaps her own excitement about the sport. Had she really sized up the situation, asked a few well-directed questions and applied the power of discernment, she would have quickly derived that the couple would have had no desire to leap off a bridge—with clothing or without.
World-class concierges use the power of discernment all the time to help them make recommendations for their guests that are “just right.” Their antennae are finely tuned to pick up on subtleties and nuances, and they ask strategic questions to help them more personally connect with and help travelers make the perfect choice.
But the travel industry doesn’t have a monopoly on discernment. It is a tool—and a sharp one at that—that can be used by anyone who works with other people. How can you hone your powers of observation and insight and fine tune your communication skills—asking the right questions and actively listening—to make better judgment calls, based on the information at hand?