Is it perspective or is it pandering?
Is it perspective or is it pandering? This is a question that all successful professionals will have to ask themselves at at least one stage in their career. Throughout your academic and professional life, you will meet peers, students, teachers, lecturers, managers, bosses, and coworkers who may have a different view or mindset to you. You want to put the data into a pie chart? They want to put it in a spreadsheet! You want to use this piece of software development? Well, they think this one is better! You want a tuna sandwich for lunch? They think that’s gross and complain you’re stinking up the office!
The beauty of humanity is that we are all individualistic beings having a completely unique experience! Our diversity can lead to high quality results, incredible collaboration, and thriving projects – but it can also lead to conflict and collision in the workplace. So, when you find yourself in the heat of the moment, face to face with an opinion that just makes you think “what a ridiculous thought! How can they believe that?!”, you will be forced to confront the question – is it perspective or is it pandering?
On one hand, you don’t want to pander to somebody else’s viewpoint if you categorically disagree with it. A high priority for a Young Leader is being steadfast and grounded in your beliefs. Do not be afraid to hold your ground and advocate for what you think. Your voice is just as worthy and deserving of a platform of anybody else’s, and you should never feel silenced or minimised – a healthy workplace is a workplace with the freedom to say your opinions with conviction.
That being said, perspective is one of the most valuable assets to being a Young Leader. When thinking about employable skills, perspective might not be the first thing to come to mind. However, an individual who is able to harness perspective to their best advantage, and is open to all opinions and suggestions is an individual who is solution oriented, creative, collaborative, innovative, humble, and focused on achieving high quality results – not on just being “right”. And those are all highly sought after characteristics that employers look for in job interviews.
A perspective oriented mindset is an adaptable mindset. Seeing things from other people’s perspective means you’re enabling your mind to adapt to different realities, viewpoints, and reasoning. This will help you find solutions faster, and new environments or obstacles less challenging. Being open to different perspectives also means you think creatively and out of the box, cultivating innovative ideas and solutions. If you are aiming to get into a managerial job, perspective is essential to handling your responsibility effectively. When making important decisions, you will need to factor in the perspective of your stakeholders, employees, customers, and bosses.
We live in a rather cut throat society, where people are often more concerned with being correct than being informed. If you start preparing early for not falling into the trap of divisiveness and closed minded attitudes, you will be a highly valued candidate for any goals you embark on.
Human beings are, by nature, conflicting creatures. We don’t like to be embarrassed or proven wrong. But this does not always work in our favour, and you will find that the individual who is open to evolving and changing their perspective is often a refreshing presence in your university, school, or workplace. If you want to be that individual, here are three skills you can work on to enhance your ability to widen your perspective.
- Listening, not just hearing. When engaging in a healthy debate or conversation with someone who has a different perspective to you, it can be easy to hear them but not listen to them. Often we are nibbling our lower lip, hopping from foot to foot, and simply impatiently waiting until it is our turn to speak and we can categorically prove them wrong. However, if you take a second to genuinely listen to them and absorb the information they’re giving you, you may find common ground or a point they make that sways you. And even if you still categorically oppose their statement, chances are you’ll be more empathetic to their perspective and able to challenge them more effectively.
- If a schoolmate, teacher, or colleague tells you they disagree with the way you are doing something, it can often feel like a personal attack – especially if they are aggressive or confrontational in their approach. The reality is that they likely have nothing against you as a human being, but are in “work mode”, with their head fixated on getting the job done the best way possible – however that may be. This miscommunication on intention often leads to professional disagreements getting heated very easily, retaliation being harsher, and feelings getting hurt or grudges being formed when there was no need for them in the first place. When your ego feels bruised, it is an extremely valuable tool to take a second, have a breath, and remind yourself – you’re both here for the same reason, to achieve your goals and create a successful piece of work. It’s professional, not personal.
- Learn to debate, not fight. It is a thin line between the two, but when put into practice – the outcome of these two conversations are drastically different. When fighting, it is usually based on the grounds of ego. You are in a point scoring competition, trying to see who can outdo the other. You are often talking over each other, not effectively listening to one another, and trying to corner your peer into being forced into agreement with you. When debating, you are actively disputing and challenging the points they make, providing different possible suggestions, validating their opinions, aiming to find a compromise, and attempting to understand where they are coming from.
When thinking about the value of perspective in professional environments, I like to think of the mind as a plant. In order to achieve growth, a plant needs water, soil, and sun. Water, soil, and sun are all wildly different and distinct elements to the success and life of a plant, just as wildly different and distinct perspectives are essential to your growth and development. When a plant embraces these different factors, you will see many different leaves and petals start to sprout from the plant. When you cooperate and interact with different perspectives, you will see your own mind begin to form, gradually sprouting into something more complex, informed, and developed.
As you embark on life, you will find your mind constantly being changed. The world around us is not stationary, and our opinions shouldn’t be either. Don’t be intimidated or afraid of growing and altering the way you see the world. It will enable you to become a better student, employee, Young Leader, and a human being in general.
Xantippe Steel
4th October