5 Reasons why perspective matters

I distinctly remember the first time I created a sculpture.My art teacher had decided that a boy in our class who suffered from rheumatoidarthritis would need to sit on a chair positioned on top of the tables so wecould all observe him as our “subject”. I remember feeling sorry for the guy ashe was mildly disfigured due to his disease. I wasn’t sure if the teacher hadasked him to be the subject for this reason…. or had he nominated himself tohave a whole class full of students use his body as the subject matter fortheir sculpture. He didn’t seem to be phased by the request so I relaxed intothe task at hand. Having never done sculpture before, I was curious as to how Icould create a great sculpture. We were using clay and I found that I couldmake my figure interesting from one side only to find that the other sidelooked horrible. This push and pull became a little frustrating and seemed tobe an ineffective way to create a masterpiece. Feeling a little miffed with theexercise, I heard my teacher say “your challenge is to make your sculptureinteresting from every single angle. You need to let the piece emerge as youcontinuously refine your interpretation of the subject”. For whatever reason,what she said clicked for me. I’d been trying to create a three-dimensionalsculpture by observing the subject, my mate with rheumatoid arthritis, from asingle perspective. It prompted me to get up and move around the subject andexplore how he looked from every angle. As a result, I was able to create afantastic sculpture that was unique and interesting from every single anglethat you looked at it.

"Unfortunately, the perspective taken in many cases is unidimensional, fixed in their seat and only observing the subject from a single point of view. The result, an uninspired piece of work that is dull with little impact on the observer."

Every time I’m stuck on a problem, helping my kids with achallenge, working through a solution with a client or even observing someoneelse’s artwork in a gallery, I always think back to that experience I had whenI first attempted to create a sculpture.

Indeed, I use sculpting as a metaphor in leadershipdevelopment, self-development, culture. In all of these areas, we are aiming tosculpt something be it a great leader, a better version of ourselves or aculture that everyone would love to work in. Unfortunately, the perspectivetaken in many cases is unidimensional, fixed in their seat and only observingthe subject from a single point of view. The result, an uninspired piece ofwork that is dull with little impact on the observer. In an organisationalcontext, these are the run of the mill ‘leadership development’ courses thatare a ‘feel good’ fiesta for a couple of days but ultimately develop nothing.  Or a self-development course that enables youto feel better about yourself but see everyone else in a negative light. Orworse still, the culture ‘change’ program that promises to change so much thatnothing changes at all….at least not before the environment organically changesfirst.

What’s my perspective on all of this? Get more perspective!It’s way too easy to put the blinkers on and see things from a familiar, triedand tested viewpoint. If you always see a problem, in the same way, you’re veryunlikely to develop novel solutions. In fact, when you take a different perspective,you might not see it as a problem at all!

One tool that I love to use with clients (and myself) iscalled the ‘5 perspectives tool’ (thanks to David Drake for creating the tool).When an individual or team is stuck on a problem, the ‘5 perspectives tool’ isa great way to help them get unstuck and see things from a different angle. It’sa very simple method to generate multiple viewpoints where there are seeminglyno options left. Start by writing down your problem or challenge in the centreof your page then draw 5 spokes representing other perspectives you could taketo describe the same problem or challenge. You’d be surprised how hard it is togenerate more than 3 perspectives and to get the 4^th and 5^thcan be exponentially more difficult.

This tool reminds me of that first experience I had creatinga sculpture. It helps me see things from every angle and ensure that myinterpretation is a well-considered, ‘interesting from all angles’ solution.

 One final perspectiveI’ll leave you with, most problems that we are facing a no bigger than a grainof sand. It’s just that our focus is so intently fixed on the grain of sandthat we can’t see anything beyond it. If we are bold enough to step back andsee the bigger picture, our problems become no more than a grain of sand on abeach that is barely perceptible in this vast universe. If you’re up for the challengeof becoming a better leader, better version of yourself or shaping a betterorganisational culture, have the courage to step back and see the biggerpicture. You might surprise yourself and end up creating a masterpiece.