Different Perspectives & Perfect Imperfections

As CEO of Seniorsfirst, one of my responsibilities is to foster and ensure a culture of respect, kindness, caring, honesty and forgiveness in how we interact and treat each other. A culture that values friendship, spontaneity, laughter and fun in addition to the important work we do every day. A culture that values diversity; acknowledging and accepting both the differences and similarities among us.

I was reminded of this challenge recently when hearing of a couple of unfortunate interactions between staff. I say unfortunate because I know the hurt and suffering incurred by all parties and I also know the dedicated and well-meant intentions of all parties. Trust me, there were no villains in any of these incidents, but they were all victims.

In my earlier days, I might have tried to resolve these issues via a comprehensive investigation into the facts in a determined effort to find who was at fault. But experience has taught me, more often than not, it is simply a case of misunderstanding..........misunderstanding of each other.

What we all tend to understand best, is our own perspective. We know what we need to do to do our job right. We know why we do it the way we do. We know how it makes us feel when others don't seem to cooperate or follow in our ways.

What we often misunderstand, is the perspective of others. We evaluate others and cast our opinions based on the perspective we understand the most..............our own! And since we all often have different perspectives, even when we have a common goal or objective, we can end up at odds with each other.

So what is the answer? How can we create a more understanding culture and avoid conflict interactions? I believe it first begins with simply acknowledging that every issue can be viewed from different perspectives. Second, we must try to understand the issue from this different perspective. Third, we must understand that we are all different and we act based on our personal characteristics and perspective. Embedded in our personal characteristics is what I like to call our "perfect imperfections".

Hypothetical Example: Mary is a very dedicated and conscientious nurse who believes in the Seniorsfirst philosophy of resident-centered care. When Mary saw that her resident needed a specialty medical supply, she took prompt action and ordered what was needed. Bob is a very dedicated and conscientious office-worker who always follows the Seniorsfirst policies and procedures. When Bob learned that Mary didn't follow the approved protocol of ordering supplies from the vendor-of-choice with the proper documentation, he became upset.

Mary and Bob are both awesome employees with a common goal consistent with that of the organization. But they each have different perspectives and perfect imperfections.

Mary's perspective is that her resident needed something and her first priority and role was to see that the need got filled promptly. Her perfect imperfection is that Mary was never very detail oriented and thus tended to be absent-minded when it came to process details. Bob's perspective is that resources are scarce and the organization needs to be prudent in order to provide the very best for its residents. Bob's perfect imperfection is that he tends to be very detail-oriented and expects everything to be by the book.

The combination of different perspectives and perfect imperfections is often the cause of hurtful interactions and relationship issues. The ultimate answer is to recognize and try to understand each other's perspective and perfect imperfections. Walk in the other person's shoes and embrace their perfect imperfections as you do your own. And when all else fails, treat others as you would want to be treated yourself.

For we were all created equal in Christ Jesus for the good works which God prepared beforehand....................but we view the world from different perspectives and are each perfectly imperfect.