SENSING DIFFERENTLY is an important countermeasure to over-relying on experience and expertise in a disruptive, uncertain, and unpredictable environment. Just consider one aspect, SEEING DIFFERENTLY.
CHANGING PERSPECTIVES HELPS YOU SEE DIFFERENTLY. Consider for example how easy you are to work with. Have you ever looked at or asked about this from one of your stakeholder’s viewpoints? What did or might you see and learn from your customers’, employees’, suppliers’ or even competitors’ perspectives? Might it be very different from what you think? How valuable would it be to have these perspectives when asking important questions?
ZOOMING OUT AND ZOOMING IN HELPS YOU SEE DIFFERENTLY. Now let’s consider something different - hurricane forecasting. We zoom out with satellite pictures to monitor the development, size, and path of the storm. We zoom in to the poor, drenched CNN correspondent standing onshore as the storm hits to see close up what’s happening. Have you ever zoomed out to see the “big picture” of your company, its industry ecosystem, and the business environment it does or will operate in? Conversely, have you zoomed in customer interactions to better see and understand how they work? Do you favor zooming-in or zooming-out? Do you know when to shift views? Your answers determine what you see.
REMOVING BIASES AND BARRIERS HELPS YOU SEE DIFFERENTLY. Let’s get some help from Disney to consider what biases and barriers we might have. Do we live on Main Street where everything looks clean and orderly on the surface (but may not be)? Do we live in Fantasyland and wear rose-colored glasses detached from reality? What happens if we take our Fantasyland or Main Street mindset over to Adventureland or Tomorrowland? How well will we fare? These examples highlight biases and barriers you and your organization may have and experience. Are you aware of these biases and barriers? If yes, can you disregard or work around these to see better and differently?
Seeing is one of many senses we have and can use.
SENSING DIFFERENTLY helps us gain new and “un-sensed” information and insights essential to effectively leading and running our businesses in a turbulent and unpredictable world. However, only if we pay attention to them, use them effectively, and understand what impairs them so we can mitigate these biases and barriers. Our senses provide us context and in a disruptive and volatile world, CONTEXT MATTERS.
In my next post, we will discuss how we make use of this newfound information by THINKING DIFFERENTLY about it.
Copyright, Jay Weiser and Weiser Strategy Group, 2019.
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