17- Use different perspectives to advance your career
courtesy of Trish Russo
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye- Shakespeare, Love’s Labours Lost
Success. It’s all about perspective. Which of these pictures do you find to be the most beautiful? Both pictures are beautiful to different people. Each viewer approaches the pictures from his or her own experiences and preconceived notions of beauty. For example, if you are a person who associates cherry blossoms with a fond memory of playing t-ball in a park, you might be drawn to the spring picture. In contrast, perhaps you associate snow with sledding and have a fond memory of spending a snow day with your neighborhood friends. In this instance, you may prefer the winter picture. This is what perspective is all about.
The best teams have members with different opinions and different perspectives. If your team is comprised of people with a personalities and backgrounds similar to your own, the phrase “We do things the way they have always been done,” will be used often. Innovative answers are not often found with this mantra. Instead, you should actively seek the perspectives and ideas of others. If you don’t, you will keep repeating the same experiences and your progress will stagnate. You will only be able to solve problems using the few approaches you are familiar with, and, in turn, this will limit the problems you will be able to solve. By embracing different perspectives and seeking out the expertise of others, you will generate new and innovative solutions to your problems.
Every experience you have had affects where you are today; mentally, physically, and spiritually. Think about this the next time you sit in a meeting: The person across from you might be a US military veteran; the person to your right may have been the first in their family to graduate college, and the person to your left comes from a long line of artisans. Each of these people has their own set of experiences that they draw from when they analyze a problem, provide feedback, and make decisions.
Many people don’t pay attention to the different opinions and personalities around them – not because they don’t respect others, but because they don’t understand that everyone is approaching the current topic of discussion from a different perspective. Even in today’s connected world, people are not exposed to different cultures and social norms on a daily basis. Unless you are consciously paying attention to the fact that people have different perspectives, your subconscious may lump them together and consider their opinions as if they came from your own perspective. If this happens, you might misinterpret a great idea someone else puts forth simply because you were not being open to hearing it.
For most people it is not inherent to consider the different perspectives of others. However, you can train yourself to do this and help advance your career. To start, pay attention to the verbal and non-verbal cues of the other people in the room. For example, if someone is sitting with their arms crossed, it could be for several different reasons. It could be because they believe the meeting is a waste of their time. It could also mean they are interested but they are simply cold. By paying attention to gestures and practicing active listening, you will be able to understand their motives and better relate to the information they are sharing.
One way you can consciously focus on finding out more about a person’s life experience is to ask the people in the room to share something about their background. If you are leading the meeting, this is simple. Ask a question about where they went to school or what their favorite hobby is. If you meet with the same people each week, change the question as often as you believe appropriate. If you are not leading the meeting, try to arrive early to introduce yourself to some of the attendees and learn as much as you can in the few minutes before the meeting. By using these techniques, you will have a better understanding of the other participants’ perspective. An added benefit that you will get to know them better and a likely outcome is that the meeting will be more productive.
You might be asking yourself, “How can I remember all of this?” I am not an expert at rote memorization. Rather, I like to think of these types of initiatives more procedurally. For example, one way to force your conscious mind to focus on the fact that each person has a different perspective is to begin the meeting by writing down the names of the people in attendance. Next to each name, write down one thing you know about that person. As the meeting goes on, each time that person speaks, look at their name and remind yourself of that fact. I provided an example of a portion of my notes from a recent meeting below.
Now that you have some idea of what helps constitute the other person’s perspective, you need to keep an open mind and practice active listening. We have a tendency to view our own perspective as the “correct” version, and see the perspective of others as slightly skewed. The result is, when someone else’s opinion clashes with our own, we ignore it. Worse, we talk over the person sharing the differing opinion. When someone else is talking, your attention should be solely on them and your mind open to what they are saying. If you do this, you will be able to glean the important parts of the information they shared. Focusing on each person as they speak and being open to their ideas will help you to understand and synthesize several different opinions from people with varying perspectives and ultimately reach a better solution.
By combining the different perspectives, backgrounds, and opinions of your team members, you can incorporate their individual strengths and mitigate their weaknesses which results in a more collaborative and innovative solution.
What perspective will you share with someone today?
