The perceptive manager can use oblique tools, such as note taking, to measure an employee’s strengths and weaknesses, using the information to develop employee skills. For example, if an employee generally takes notes during meetings but doesn’t during a discussion of an esoteric subject matter, there’s a good chance the employee is unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the subject matter. If one attendee to the discussion is lost on a subject matter, there’s a very good chance that other attendees are lost on the subject matter. If the supervisor does not take the time to facilitate their understanding of the subject matter, either during the meeting or in a follow-up, then there’s a good chance that the goals of the meeting were not fully realized.
