MULTIPLE REALITIES

This past weekend my husband and I were driving away in the car when I remarked about “all of the bird droppings all over the car.” My half of the windshield was covered. My husband, who was driving, slowed the car down and started looking around. “Which car?” he asked. I was stunned. Wasn’t it obvious? It was all right in front of us and more than half of the windshield was covered. Yet, he didn’t see it. I often see this in business settings. Huge rifts occur when people think they are talking about the same thing and later come to discover that they are actually talking about different topics, or may be talking about the same topic but coming from totally different perspectives. People can get so fixed on their “picture”, especially when their “picture” is so obvious to them, that they can’t even begin to fathom that their colleagues have a different point of perspective or see a completely different “picture.” A leader’s job requires that she bring out all of the multiple perspectives that exist and to simultaneously manage all of those multiple perspectives. This requires the ability to not get fixed on our own pictures, to ask questions and be curious about what another person is “seeing.” How do you see beyond your obvious view? How do you help others understand the multiple realities that co-exist all at the same time?