-

Where different perspectives come from

We all have different perspectives on life. It’s easy to forget that our view of the world is uniquely ours. Several layers forge that view:

• Firstly, our knowledge, experiences, and skills. These can vary by what education and life experience we have had.
• Secondly, we would also recognise that we have different interests – things that we are affected by day-to-day. For instance, a business owner and a worker might have different interests, as the business owner might want to maximise their profits, while a worker wants to get a good salary and work safely. 
• Thirdly, we have different beliefs and values – which might be religious or not – about how we should act and behave in the world. These are the things that we view as making up good behaviour. 
• Finally, we also have an underpinning set of assumptions about the world, which might not even be conscious to us. For example, the relationship between humans and the earth, the nature of time, or what happens beyond death.

With all of these different layers, what we see as the world is simply our view of it – and so it is no wonder that we have different perspectives.

-

The value of understanding where perspectives come from

When we share our views on something, we are only sharing the very top level of this thinking. We are most likely to talk about how our perspective is informed by what we know, what we understand and our experiences. This is often the most comfortable level to talk about – these things are harder to dispute, and they are also impersonal, so people feel most comfortable sharing them.

Sometimes individuals might talk about how their interests differ from others'. This is less comfortable because it highlights individual self-interest and we often want to project that we are taking a perspective for objective reasons, rather than for our advantage. 

It is even less likely that the conversation will come to beliefs and values, unless these are commonly shared. That is because individuals sometimes find it hard to identify the drivers of their own ‘gut reaction’ to something. At other times, if their beliefs and values differ from others, they might feel uncomfortable to set themselves apart as different. 

When it comes to underpinning assumptions, these are very rarely shared because they are often unconscious to the individual themselves. 

For all of these reasons, it is essential to remember that sometimes the perspective and the rationale that we hear on something is only the very tip of the iceberg. There is likely to be a lot more than underpins a particular opinion that we might not see – but is still helpful to understand.

-

Analysing different perspectives

As humans, we often struggle to understand fully where our view on something comes from. We simply don’t have the brainpower to be able to unpack consciously everything that underpins our view of the world. 

It is at least as challenging to analyse that for someone else, when we only ever have imperfect information about them. Therefore, we need to move carefully and modestly when we try to understand what is unspoken in someone’s perspective.

In Step 13 and Step 14, we look at how to identify bias when listening, and how to use questioning to better understand different perspectives. For now, a good approach is to think about several layers when we hear individuals giving different perspectives:

• What other reasons might they hold this perspective?
• What skills, experience or knowledge might they have?
• What are their interests – how will they personally win or lose depending on this decision?
• How might their beliefs or values be part of their perspective? 

Asking these questions will help to widen our understanding of the issue and avoid just taking the views we hear at face value.

-