This week I crashed head first into perspective. It was uncomfortable and awkward as I expected it may be and was only somewhat prepared for what was to come. As a lifelong learner I look forward to whatever there is to learn around every corner. This I know. In order to learn throughout life, you also have to be open to it. Truly open. Not just to new information, but new approaches, new ways of thinking and living. New ways that have been developed over time and may be just as difficult to change or sway as the ones you are demonstrating today. This week's experience hit close to home for two reasons. 1. I am participating in an intensive three-day Innovation Bootcamp at work (it was AMAZING to say the least, I'll share more below) and 2. I facilitate coaching conversations with leaders throughout my organization as well as friends and family all the time. Until it came time to have my own conversation. You might be thinking, "What's the connection to bootcamp?" Answer: empathy. The bootcamp focuses around discovering solutions to compelling issues using a human-centered design approach, which starts with empathy. It connects with the end-user for the first stage (not the last) in the process. More on bootcamp thinking: http://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/BootcampBootleg2010v2SLIM.pdf Love the old adage, hindsight is 20/20... Reflecting back on my conversation, I didn't start at a place of empathy so it's now easier to see how my "solution" didn't work for the user. Now to the second part, coaching. A key part in effective coaching is having an idea in your head of what you want to accomplish in the conversation, and some people even write it out to practice to avoid fumbling through their words (but of course do NOT read from it when having the actual conversation!) Knowing what I wanted to say, and what I didn't want to say, I wrote out the words to the conversation I was going to initiate. And later that evening, the conversation took place. Although the words were written, much more (and different!) started to come out. An understanding and misunderstanding of a perceived situation. Perceptions, unintentional judgement, raw emotion... I realized the words on the page were just a start and the rest had come in the moment. It was real and from the heart, from both of us. And we could both tell. After a chance to sleep on it and finish my last day of bootcamp, I realized that I don't always get the chance to hear someone else's perspective; be aware of the differences; not agree with it and yet be completely okay with it. It is in that space that I sit now, writing this, and think...I can now see how tough it may have been for that person to see my perspective if it was just as tough for me to see theirs.
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