Meaning Between the Lines

A research chemist, computer programmer and fiction writer walked into the Nelson. The chemist wanted to sharpen his ability to interpret lab results. The programmer hoped to hone his appreciation of art. The writer was just curious to see what would happen next.

The trio joined a small, eclectic group of professionals who ranged from the manager of a credit union to a commercial interior designer for a two-hour program facilitated by Robin Gross called Artful Observation. During follow-up interviews, most participants reported that they had learned a great deal about how to really look at what was in front of them and not cloud objective analysis with personal assumptions. Most of them reported that they'd been able to bring this shift to the workplace. A couple described the session as life-changing.

Programs like Artful Observation started at Yale in the late 1990s to help medical students learn to observe and objectively interpret what they saw. The results were so successful that many medical schools require first- or second-year students to attend. According to Amy Herman at the Frick Collection in New York, their collaboration with Cornell has helped change the perception that speed and efficiency are the prized goals in a practice. “I've had students tell me that when they walk into a hospital room, they don't go right for the chart,” she says, instead taking their time to apply their new-found skills. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “With heightened observational skills, physicians can often ask the questions necessary to make correct diagnoses without relying too much on costly blood tests and X-rays.”

From the medical field, courses evolved into training for law enforcement officers from Scotland Yard to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, with whom Robin consults. Feedback such as “I learned to look for objective facts without making immediate inferences” and “This will assist me in paying closer attention, seeing minor details and the bigger picture” led her to expand into the business arena. An MBA degree with an emphasis in organizational behavior — an area she'd worked in for more than 25 years prior to becoming an art appraiser — allows her to seamlessly combine her two loves.

But how does Artful Observation and programs like it work? As one law enforcement officer noted, “Crimes — and art — can be solved by looking at the little details.” The course purposefully takes participants out of their comfort zone and into the world of the old masters. Being in what most of us consider foreign territory often sharpens our senses and removes our tendency to gloss over fine details. With Robin's guidance that is both subtle and practical, participants really look and work beyond assumptions that naturally spring to mind and communicate an objective interpretation. “It is a way to discipline your mind and live in the moment,” Robin says. “If you are a manager responsible for staff evaluations, you need to really see who you are evaluating. People are the painting they are standing in front of in the workplace.”

Another way to look at that kind of clarity is to consider the opposite. Robin uses the analogy of looking in a kitchen junk drawer, searching for some vital receipt, tool or key. How often are you absolutely sure that what you need is there but can't find it? In frustration, you look elsewhere only to return to the drawer, and there it is, right in front of you. Why does that happen and how can it be counteracted?

Our research chemist concluded that the course “underscored the need to be conscious, stay conscious. Science is heavily into probability. There is a tendency to look at data points that fall on the curve and ignore outliers. But for those two or three things outside the norm, there are possibilities, perhaps a cure for an entirely different disease than the one under investigation.”

Two weeks after attending Robin's course, the computer programmer said, “I have begun to realize that observation does not stop at the visual level. In fact, physiology, relationships, lectures and speeches, advertising and even nature itself has meaning that can and should be understood if one is to truly experience life. It will require effort, but I hope to continue this practice and to become aware of the things that surround me as I improve my observing skills.”

Two months after engaging in Artful Observation, the curious fiction writer noted, “I feel that I came away with an increased awareness of the need to maintain a high level of awareness, especially of my relationships. Most significantly, I think it has helped spark the beginnings of a renewal in my marriage.”