Perspective Taking: How to Utilize It & Benefit from It

Do you ever find it difficult to make a colleague see a point of view that to you seems obvious? Do you ever struggle through rounds of contentious negotiations in which a “meeting of the minds” seems impossible?

It could be that you are expressing yourself in a way that makes perfect sense to you, but not to those who you are trying to communicate with. Often someone involved with in-house dispute or adversarial negotiation cannot see the same solutions that a person standing outside the situation can. Sometimes it is necessary to consider a problem from a different vantage point.

One way to do that is through perspective taking: imagining the other person’s psychological point of view. And it has been shown to be one of the most effective tools in finding “win-win’s” and persuading people to see your side of things.

Gaining a New Perspective

In his new book, Mindewise, Nicholas Epley, a psychologist at the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business describes perspective taking as a sort of “sixth sense”. A skill that “allows us to infer what’s going on in another’s mind, what they think, feel, and want”.

According to Epley, perspective-taking is an essential part of interacting with the world: we need to be able to see things from others’ perspectives in order to understand them and interact with them. It promotes cooperation and mutual understanding. When faced with a problem, considering a situation from another perspective allows you to see a problem in new ways and with more objectivity.

Negotiation is one area where this is especially important. Negotiations are often perceived as a zero-sum game. A win for one side is then necessarily viewed as a loss for the other. However, when considering fresh solutions to a problem, value can sometimes be increased for both parties.

The ability to experience things from other people’s perspectives also improves your ability to understand and gain clarity on your own situation and helps you to communicate your unique vision to others more effectively.

It’s not surprising that researchers are increasingly interested in perspective-taking for its application to business leadership and organization. A recent survey of executives conducted by the American Management Association identified “communications skills” as the single most important skill for managers to master. They also cited it as being the area in greatest need of improvement within their own organizations.

Unfortunately, research also shows that most of us are so poorly trained at taking another’s perspective, that even when we think we are doing it, what we are actually doing is just adjusting our own.

Perspective-taking goes beyond the ability to realize that others don’t always see the same thing we see ourselves –even though unfortunately, for many people, it stops at that point. We are not often trained to look at the world from another’s point of view in a deeper way that goes beyond simple interaction. How might someone else interpret a situation differently from us? How might she act given a specific set of circumstances?

The good news is that perspective taking is a cognitive skill that can be both developed on an individual level and encouraged on an organizational level. Social science research provides several insights that can help you harness the power of perspective-taking.

These insights include the following suggestions:

1. Take an active role. Epley notes that recognizing that other perspectives exist is not enough. Ask questions, listen actively and pursue deep understanding. Repeat what you are being told to check for understanding. Too often when pressed for time or involved in fast-paced interactions it is too easy to assume we have all the relevant information when in fact, we do not. Epley also stresses perspective-getting versus perspective- taking. That is, when your “sixth sense” fails, you must actively seek out and go get the information that you are missing if you are to gain the proper perspective.

2. Reduce your power. According to research by Adam Galinsky of Northwestern’s Department of Management and Organization, “High-power individuals anchor too heavily on their own perspectives and demonstrate a diminished ability to correctly perceive others’ perspectives”. Power diminishes perception and perspective. Try to deal with the person you are interacting with on their level, instead of expecting them to rise to yours.

3. Don’t confuse perspective-taking with empathy. Another implication that follows from Galinsky’s work. Perspective-taking is a cognitive skill whereas empathy is an affective one. Empathy is great for building rapport and networking, but can be a detriment in strategic situations. Understand your colleagues’ or opponents’ strategic objectives rather than give them preferential treatment based on feelings of empathy, and do not lose sight of your own interests.

Being aware of these strategies can help someone develop their perspective-taking abilities on an individual level, but Pino Audia, an expert on Organizational behavior and Professor of Management and Organizations at Tuck Dartmouth, takes it one step further.

Basing his insights on his extensive work with executives in Fortune 500 Companies he offers strategies for encouraging better perspective-taking at the organization level. In a contribution for the Harvard Business Review he offers the following advice:

1. Soften your hard line. If you demand compliance and will not budge, chances are the ones you are demanding compliance from will not budge either. A better strategy that incorporates perspective-taking is to focus on why they do not comply and search for an alternative solution.

2. Hire from the outside. Bringing in outsiders can help the team gain a fresh perspective and new insight they were not able to see from their own limited vantage point. More eyes or fresh eyes can enhance everyone’s perspective within an organization.

3. Invest in collocation. That is, create opportunities for interaction, both formal and informal, that can enhance your organization’s understanding of other important perspectives. Placements with collaborating entities and close contact with clients and stakeholders.

4. Allow employees greater autonomy. It goes hand in hand with the first point. Being overly bound by procedure limits the benefits that can be gained from perspective-taking. Giving capable employees greater autonomy allows them to adapt to new situations and fully apply perspective-taking when it is necessary to achieve the organization’s objectives.

The essence of perspective- taking is easy to understand: People respond well to being understood and sometimes it’s necessary to view a problem from a different perspective. Taking an active role in ensuring that it is done effectively can benefit both individuals hoping to advance their careers, as well as leaders who hope to encourage perspective-taking at an organizational level.

By Nicholas Pummer