Perspective Skills

Mentally step into another person's perspective to understand how a situation looks from their point of view.

Practice when preparing for a difficult conversation, when someone's behaviour confuses or frustrates you, when making decisions that affect others, or when you disagree with someone.

Choose a person whose perspective differs from yours. Imagine sitting in their chair, with their role, concerns, constraints, and history. Ask: "If I were them, how would this situation look?"

What did you understand from taking another perspective that you did not see before? Did it change how you approached the situation or person?

Actively seek out views that differ from your own or from the emerging consensus.

Practice in team discussions when agreement comes quickly, when you notice groupthink forming, when you feel confident about a position, or when making important decisions.

When you notice consensus forming quickly, pause and invite dissent. Ask: "What might we be missing?" or "Is there a different way to see this?" or "Who might disagree with us and why?"

Did you seek out differing perspectives today? What did you learn from them? Was it uncomfortable? How did your team respond to invitations for dissent?

Before making decisions, briefly scan through the perspectives of different stakeholders who will be affected.

Practice when making any decision that affects others, from small choices about communication to larger strategic decisions.

Before deciding, take 30 seconds to scan through key stakeholders: "How would this look from the customer's perspective? From my team's? From leadership's? From future employees? From the community?"

What stakeholder perspectives did you consider today that you might have missed? Did the scan reveal conflicts you had not noticed?