Leadership Notes -- Thoughts on Leading People and Making a Difference in Organizations

Word count this issue: 281

Estimated reading time:  1.45 minutes

Greetings from the Sunshine Coast of BC. We have been writing and doing a little commuting between homes here on the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver over the past 10 days or so. We’re getting ready for summer! One of our routines here is a 2.5 mile walk into town and along the beach. I’ve been putting pictures up on Facebook, largely to just say how absolutely lucky I am to be here! 

Yesterday was no different, but I had an insight about how we might think about perspective and perception. 

As we walked along the beach my partner said, “look at this, can you take a picture of this?”

I said “sure.” and stood where she had been standing and lined up a good shot of a tree. 

I took the picture and said, “here, what do you think?” She looked at the picture and looked at me with a quizzical look.

“That’s not the picture, here, look through the tree at the boat.” She took my phone and took the picture.

Later as I looked at the two pictures I realized the boat had not even registered for me. Here we were, looking at the same thing, but seeing different perspectives. We perceive the world around us uniquely.

Next time you are in a meeting, inquire, use open questions to uncover what the team is seeing, how are they perceiving the situation. Guaranteed it will be different from you, and in that difference lies the potential for creativity and insight.

May this week be filled with learning from different perspectives.