6 Points of Perspective in Situations

A request was made that I incorporate some management and leadership tips into the tone of it, so here it is.

We each interact with the world in different ways; we create our situations just as much as they create us. This “circle of life” can be summed up with the following six statements:

1. Different persons respond differently to the same situation.

This statement simply means that if two people are placed in the same situation, they would respond differently because they would be attuned to different aspects of the situation. Their different life experiences would lead them to interpret the situation differently. As a supervisor you want to get to know your people so that you can place them in situations that draw from their experience and get the best out of them. Design an experiment that would see what the company would get out of workers in a simulated situation and begin a process that would see the more favorable workers constantly placed in those situations. This type of experiment could be used for any of these statements.

2. Situations choose the person.

This statement simply means that situations have entrance requirements that have to be fulfilled before a person can enter them. Colleges have GPA and test scores requirements, jobs have education and experience requirements, potential mates have their requirements, and if you don’t meet these requirements you don’t get a chance to live in that situation. As a manager seek to make sure that all of the workers meet the requirements for being in the positions that they are in, if they aren’t try to get them the credentials they need. If I were consulting a company I would have them do the exact same thing, make sure that everyone is properly qualified, if they are over qualified give them more, if they are under qualified try to bring them up to speed or move them to another location more suited to their skills.

3. Persons choose the situation

This statement is something I see as complimentary to the one above it. Not only are we chosen by a situation, but for it to become real we have to choose it. If you qualify for school then that situation has chosen you, but if you choose not to go to school, then you don’t get to partake in the college experience. As a supervisor always try to give a choice to the workers, if they are qualified for something else, they need to be free to choose it versus being told to go do it.

4. Different situations can prime different parts of the person.

This statement says that different parts of your identity are brought forward by different situations. Violence brings about your aggressive side whereas a hug brings about your nurturing side. This is useful as a supervisor because it can be used to figure out how to get the attributes or personalities that are most productive and happy from your workers.

5. Persons change the situation.

This statement simply says that people make situations run along a different course by their interaction with the situation. A happy person walking into a room full of misery can uplift the entire room. Likewise the reverse is also very true. As a supervisor you could use this to pair skilled workers up with difficult task making them seem easier and making everyone’s day flow smoother. You could also pair the miserable worker up with the unflinching positive guy.

6. Situations change the person.

This statement is basically saying that a violent situation could turn a preacher into a fighter. Using this in management put negative people in positive situations to boost morale and increase production.

What do you think about these six points, do you see a way you could use them to improve your life?