How to Find New Perspectives
TL;DR: ask unexpected questions.
This week, is going to be a little bit briefer than previous editions (hopefully), as I’m travelling and therefore, distracted and more eager than usual to finish the morning coffee and venture out into the day.
No spoilers if I reveal that I am in Paris today, and loving every part of being somewhere different, and on holiday. I travelled a lot when I was a child and yet I still feel travel to anywhere different is quite magic, like how exactly is it possible that I get on a bus / train / airplane here, and I get off somewhere else entirely there – a place where people still talk and eat and drink and laugh, but in a slightly different way?
I am far from my home in Edinburgh today, but I promise I am pretty much the same when we travel much closer to home, too. It may be that, being a migrant to Scotland and not raised there – because there is always something about Scottish culture, custom or history I have yet to learn and therefore, living and working in Scotland (indeed all of the UK) – even after 20+ years has always felt like somewhere new.
We all love new things
This is true, I think. People love novelty – show a child a new trick, surprise your friend or your partner with an unexpected treat – usually you will be rewarded with the quickest and most unguarded of smiles.
We also all need fresh, and different thinking
My colleague Jamie Spurway is a brilliant facilitator and trainer who designs really impactful workshops on equality, diversity and inclusion. Jamie has a lovely way of reminding us that we can be limited in our perspectives by our experiences – because it is our experiences of being in the world, that shape our perceptions of the world itself.
Very like how my view today of the horizon from this balcony is hidden by the walls of the surrounding buildings, so too my understanding of what is real or possible can be limited by the fact that it is only me doing the thinking.
The problem is, failing to challenge our own ways of thinking means that our solutions can be flawed. Or our solutions might work well for us, but badly for everyone else. People who design stuff for others, in particular, – teachers, inventors, and especially policymakers – need to be better at thinking based in the principles of universal design. That needs new perspectives, and different thinking.
So how do we find new perspectives?
A wonderful thing about people, is that they are all so very different and new perspectives are therefore not at all difficult to find. It perhaps just needs a bit of habit or discipline to find and break through the barriers that normally stop you from doing so. These can include, fear of conflict, fear of finding out something you didn’t want to know and fear of rejection.
Some suggestions:
- quieten down – finding new perspectives is a bit like watching wildlife, or encouraging a reluctant child – you may need to dial down your opinions (and sometimes preferences) in order to welcome new views, different thinking and radical ideas
- ask unexpected questions – how does that work? why did you design it this way? who did you design it for? what is your favourite food? where would you rather be right now? why does this topic (x) upset you so much? how would your life change if you were right about (x)?
- listen and if possible, share – listening is hard, especially when what we’re hearing confronts our own beliefs, or may be hurtful to hear. But if you’ve started with the goal of finding out something new, and inviting conversation – that might make it easier to sit through what you’re hearing and, maybe, even sharing some of your perspective in return.
Not convinced?
That’s okay, and admittedly new perspectives are not for everyone. And there are some times in our lives when gentle investigation into differing views – even for the open-minded – is just too much to handle.
But I’m also thinking on the UK General Election that has been called for 4th July 2024, and the US General Election scheduled for later this year. I worry about an intensification of difference, and the rise in divisiveness of public discourse. I wonder if this is true, or if I’m just getting older and worrisome, and I also worry that such a shift, if real, is harmful for people as well as the functioning of the political and democratic institutions that are meant to keep us safe and support us all to thrive.
I would love to see, in the face of what is likely to be a noisy, opinionated and contested year in politics, a little bit of people-led resistance, in the form of many small conversations with the aim of seeking out new perspectives, and maybe, building new friendships.
I would love to hear your thoughts, and thanks for stopping in again today for The Long View!
And PS: if you aren’t registered to vote, please register here. And if you are registered to vote, please find someone who isn’t, and help them register too!
First published on LinkedIn on 24 May 2024:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-find-new-perspectives-jen-ang-ubxxe/
