Vantage Point: valuing perspective for daily performance demands

When I was a boy, my father would occasionally take me fishing after school.  It was in those moments when I would learn some of my most lasting lessons.  On one particular trip we searched for a secret fishing hole that someone had told us about. Finding the spot took a bit longer than my limited patience could take. Sensing my anxiousness, my dad led us up to a higher plane in order to get our barrings. In a spirit of frustration I asked , "Why are we walking up the hill when we were told the secret spot was in the valley?" My dad patiently looked at me and and said, "Vantage point." "From this higher place we could expand our line of sight and better understand the landscape of the valley." Once on the top of the hill, the markers we were told about to find the fishing hole began to make much more sense. This was the first moment in my life that I began to understand the value of vantage point.

 

      Depending where you are on the mountain, your frame of
reference,your criticism, your reactions, and your decisions
are critically influenced by the vantage point you hold.

In our daily attempts to win each day, the principle of vantage point can play a major role in such areas as; conflict resolutions, assets management, and overall context. In a the May 2011 issue of the Harvard Business Review, professors Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi wrote an article titled The Wise Leader; How CEO's can learn from practical wisdom to help them do what's right for their companies. In the article they write
"The world needs leaders who will make judgements knowing that everything is contextual, make decisions knowing that everything is changing, and take actions knowing that everything depends on doing so in a timely fashion. They will have to see what is good, right, and just for society while being grounded in the details of the ever-changing front line. Thus, they must pair micromanagement with big-picture aspirations about the future (2011)."  Nonaka and Hirotaka give us some food for thought regarding just how critical an appreciation for the principle of vantage point can be for our daily competitiveness.

As leaders, parents, friends, and employees, we can all benefit if we take a step back from the moment to assess the context that our vantage point is feeding us. For instance, as the head football coach of a college team I am surrounded by a wealth of opinions. Initially, I may agree with some, however as the HC, I may disagree with others based on my more expansive vantage point. You see, I'm held accountable for leading the entire program to a greater good. While an opinion may be presented to me with sincere passion and conviction, my position allows me the perspective of knowing how decisions and circumstances can be intertwined with other cause and effects. Conversely, as time goes on, I may begin to loose the prospective of my front line people since I am further removed from what their daily reality is. Ironically, like most leaders, I am judged by the daily performance of my front line people instead of my over-arching vision. Therefore, a default response of mine to the front line frustrations can never be "they just don't understand." It is imperative that I never loose awareness of just how impactful my decisions can be to the front line since such power distance implications of vantage point can be the root of underachievement and organizational dysfunction. I have to keep my interpretive context  full of fresh insight from the top and the bottom.

 





Application of this principle within the context of the grass roots, vantage point can be the root of family and relational dysfunction. You see, depending where you are on the mountain, your frame of reference, your criticism, your reactions and your decisions are critically influenced by the vantage point you hold. At every level, everyone wants to win, this is why we can be so passionate about our personal positions and opinions. Our position can be  functional, or dysfunctional based on our perception. While a parent has the vantage point to restrict their teen from a potentially detrimental social situation, all the "rebellious" teen has to work off of is their vantage point that places tremendous value on the social currency implications of not going. Such a difference in vantage points can produce a lack of empathy between leaders and followers since they do not experience each other's consequential line of sight (see Vantage Point Index).



To win today, lets give room for the vantage point principle. As leaders, push for fresh perspective of the front line. Your macro directives may be right for the greater good, but will rely on the buy-in of your front line people. As followers, push to empathize with the responsibility demands effecting the greater good that leadership is accountable for. A follower's behavioral agenda may be short sighted in light of the grand scheme. 

In terms of communication, it is the responsibility of everyone to resolve the end by means of relying on the maximum line of sight that we have, while appreciating the line of sight that others bring to the table. By doing so on the daily, your relational unit around you will reciprocate some incredible nuggets that add value to your envisioned reality. Nonaka and Hirotaka state it this way, "When leaders cultivate such knowledge throughout the organization, they will be able to not only create fresh knowledge but also to make enlightened decisions (HBR, May 2011)." Practicing the vantage point principle fosters an environment of openness and trust since we recognize each other's vantage point reality.  As organizational leaders, the strong warning to not applying this principle is that we can tend to think too much of ourselves and our own opinions, essentially flipping the index upside down, resulting in severe organizational dysfunction and collateral damage. In the end, our desire and abilities are useless if we can't find that secret fishing spot in the valley!

Win Today!

Victor