Unpicking Perspectives
A colleague once told me, “I never enter a meeting without asking myself what does the other person want out of this?” A remarkably simple question. One that forces us to engage with another person’s perspective.
Perspective underpins our actions. It underpins how we communicate and what we choose to focus on. Mishaps and friction in our attempts and relationships can often be attributed to mistaken or misaligned perspectives. Understanding the delta between how you see things and why you see them that way, versus how and why others do, is a foundational pillar for empathy and influence.
Various factors determine our perspectives at work, and about work. By understanding the unique influencers, we can hopefully avoid perspective induced pickles.
Perspective Influencers
There are four overarching categories that influence someone’s perspective:
Work History and Preferences
Organisational Environment
Personal Drivers
Situational Conditions
Each of these contain sub-drivers. Understanding each of these helps identify why a perspective is shaped to that particular viewpoint.
1.Work History & Preferences
Experiences
Our experiences shape us. If you’ve only worked at large organisations, your view of what can be done in a particular timeframe will differ to that of someone who has worked in a startup. If you’ve always worked in scrappy go-get-it-done environments, you may not understand the benefits of process. Much of what we believe can, and should be done at work is filtered through the lens of past experiences. What assumptions may you be carrying that aren’t quite true or helpful?
Capabilities
Our perspectives can at times be influenced by our abilities. The more confident we feel in one approach, the more we may believe that it is the best approach. Prior wisdom which has formed our capabilities can form our perspective about what is achievable. Conversely, the opposite can also be true. Nativity and underestimating the scale of the task has often led to the founding of many great companies. Are your capabilities impacting how you perceive a problem? How would that change if you had to rethink everything from first principles?
Working Style
Context-oriented people view what’s important differently than task-orientated folk who are more motivated by achievement rather than vision. Whether you lean collaboration-focused, data-driven, process-centric, or the opposite of these, will influence your perspective. How may your working style cause you to see the situation differently to others? Is this a boon or a curse in that scenario?
2.Organisational Drivers
Organisational Vantage
What you view to be important within an organisation is shaped by your knowledge of that organisation. People of different levels and teams have differing perspectives. For example, a support agent may not understand why a bug cannot be fixed as a priority. The responsible Product Manager does not feel the everyday pay of support tickets so they dismiss it, to focus on the pain they do feel, (e.g. low conversion rates), which the support agent does not. What information do you know that provides you with a unique insight? What information may you be missing that would cause you to change your perspective?
Incentives
Clashes of perspective are often clashes of incentives. Sales teams are incentivised to close deals quickly. Legal teams are incentivised to reduce contractual risks. These team’s incentives can at times be at odds. Some companies reward innovation. Others say they do but in fact reward maintaining the status quo. Incentives can vary wildly within one organisation. How does what you're personally incentivised to do influence your perspective? Removing that incentive, would you still view it as the right thing to do?
3.Personal Drivers
Values
Our actions are often a reflection of our values, either those that are true to us or ones we’ve inherited along the way. Having a strong sense of fairness and injustice will shape our perspective on whether a policy is unfair. Valuing craftsmanship may impact our perspective on whether a product is good enough to ship. Being concerned about losing status or security may keep us in roles we no longer desire. How much are your values influencing your perspective on a decision?
Motivation
Are you energised by the task? Do you care? Do you even want to be doing it? A highly-motivated person will view a situation differently than someone who is unbothered by it. To what degree is your desire to do something determining your perspective?
Negative Drivers
Ego, greed, fear, lack of self-confidence and many other less-virtuous or unhelpful drivers can alter our perspective. Is your perspective driven mostly by positive or negative forces? How would it differ if those were reframed?
4.Situational Drivers
Localised Scenarios
Are you cold, tired, bored, hungry, lonely? Did you just get out of a terrible meeting with your manager? Did you receive bad news? Our perspectives can be influenced by minor issues in the moment. A good night’s sleep or a snack can completely change our perspective. Do you really feel that way or is your perspective being altered by a bad day?
Unpicking
Unpicking your own perspective influencers, and seeing where they overlap or diverge from others can help shine a light on the path forward. It can help you refine your communication, and redirect how you go about doing things, which will hopefully enable you to achieve your goals more effectively.