Understanding other's perspectives

"Sometimes a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light."- Dan Brown.

In the picture above, do you see how the same animal is viewed differently by different people only because they are feeling different things owing to the position that they are at and accordingly forming their opinions based on their limited understanding of the entirety?!

This is a very basic & simple example of how we see things from our perspective. Perspective is our mental view or outlook. Sometimes, we tend to forget that there can be numerous perspectives to the same situation. We view things differently, we view our life's experiences differently. If we knew other's perspectives, we would know & understand them more. But here we falter. We get fixed and rigid in our mental views & hence the conflict arises. This then leads to getting defensive, protective about what we think, see & believe & eventually restrict ourselves from both convincing others & making our views accepted.

There is a very important correlation between understanding other's perspective & ability to convince others. The more you understand other's views, the more you will be able to convince them of your views. Many a times, I hear stuffs where people complain about not being able to convince their team of an idea or a boss about a campaign, a proposition etc. What could have been the underlying issues here? Why do you think successful companies take into consideration customer perspective before shelling out money in any ads, projects or investment? They consider & understand the perspective of the party that they are going to sell to and hence the convincing bit becomes easier for them.

This can be applied to anywhere. Understanding your employees', team's perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity & happiness. Understanding other's perspective is a key leadership skill. Understanding other's perspectives will enable you to hear & react to things very differently.

What do I want? What am I scared of? These two questions will enable you to view your & other's perspectives. The fact that perspective is just a perspective & not the total reality is often ignored. How different our relationships, leadership acumen and understanding of people will be when we broaden our perspectives & enlarge the lens through which we view others & life?! What can you create in your professional & personal world with this insight? What actions are you willing to take from this moment?

Warmth,
​Priyanka