Learn to listen to a different perspective even when you don’t agree…
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
It’s been a pretty interesting climate in this country lately with COVID19 and the Black Lives Matter protests. I have found myself on the opposite ends of arguments. It can be difficult to get along with others when you have a different perspective.
If you are aren’t listening to what people are protesting about because you don’t agree with them, what about stopping to listen to what they have to say before going on the defensive. Here are some ideas for how you may change your perspective:
Listen. We can listen to each other’s point of view and come up with a compromise. For instance, I understand why police are upset because they think not all of them should be blamed for the actions of some. Ok but how about agreeing to reforms that will stop the police who are abusing their powers. Of course there are good cops, but they need to speak up about the not so good ones so we can stop innocent killings of black people.
Stop generalizing - “Democrats are all lame!” I see things like this all the time on social media. You can easily switch Democrats with Republicans. Both sides are doing this. These types of statements are wrong because not all of one group believes the same exact things. For example, I don’t agree with everything my party does or says so it’s not fair to make a blanket statement like this. Perhaps we can speak about what we disagree with rather than name calling.
Take accountability. Having managed teams in the past, I made many mistakes. It’s easy to do. You think you are doing the right thing and found out it didn’t work out. You need to own it, apologize and then make it right. I have seen the leaders of our country and our states make mistakes with respect to the coronavirus response. Some have taken responsibility and others haven’t. It’s easy to see how mistakes were made. We haven’t been through a pandemic in a very long time. We all missed being concerned about it until we saw many people dying. It’s very sad, but we then turned it around by going on lockdown which most likely saved many others from dying. It’s not over yet and we need to continue monitoring what we do going forward. Some people still think it’s hoax. It’s definitely not a hoax as we have seen people dying so we need to make sure we do everything to keep ourselves and others safe. Wear a mask!
Educate yourself . We need to learn about each other’s culture so we can better understand what others are dealing with on a day to day basis. I’m not just talking about black people and white people. I’m also talking about rich and poor, LGBTQ or not, and many others. We can all learn to have more empathy for each other’s differences.
I do think we can all make changes to how we view others and how we respond to each other. If we do not, we will not be able to come together as a country. This will affect how we live and work with each other.
I know I may not change your mind with my thoughts on this, but I do ask you to think about how we can come together as a nation and treat each other with respect and kindness no matter what color, race, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, etc. Let’s embrace each other’s differences rather than use it against them.
Some good things have come out of the protests. Juneteenth has been named a holiday across the country! This is amazing. We are hearing plans for reforms within the police department. The reforms may not be everything we want, but it is a start. Conversations are popping up everyday in corporate America. Let’s keep the conversations going so we can continue to make change for the good!
This week we also saw some Supreme Court rulings for LGBTQ and DACA - “Dreamers’. This gives me hope that our country is turning around for the better!
Please give your feedback in the comments below so we can continue the conversation. What can we do better to embrace change?
Here’s to embracing change!
Best,
Rene