What do you "C" ?

While we all try our best not just to survive but thrive in this world, we may miss chances of collaborating, complimenting and supporting the other through our actions.

Being able to "C" (see) through a different lens will always give us a wider choice and can possibly help us to be champions and maintain cordial relationships.

Here are 10 possible approaches that we can reflect on:

1. Criticism or Contribution? - Listening is one of the best ways to build relationships. God gave us two ears and one mouth with a purpose. This definitely does not mean that we should stop voicing our opinion, instead what I am implying here is to support a discussion, idea or thought shared by the other by listening and then contributing rather than criticizing alone. It's always easy to criticize but it takes a lot of thought to respond with a developmental feedback. So, let's step back for a moment before we comment while we interact with the other.
2. Complaints or Compliments? - We surely aren't living in a perfect world but we definitely have the choice to make it better. All friends, relatives or colleagues who we associate with may not have the same level of understanding as you and hence we may end up complaining about whatever we experience. We may whine about bad roads, traffic congestions, ill-mannered people, unworthy inventions, corrupt governments, etc, which may or may not be true. So instead of complaining, why not we start being grateful for what we have, the people around us and the systems that support us and credit individuals for whatever good they do. This shift in focus could help us be more positive individuals.
3. Confusion or Conviction? - All of us may want to be recognised by the world for our supremacy over the other, because of our titles that we carry, the qualifications that we have or the invaluable experience that we have garnered. In this quest of dominance, we may end up trying to confuse people around us with our authority rather than convince them with our fact-sharing and humble approach.
4. Cluelessness or Conciseness? - Accepting one's ignorance is no crime. Learning after publicly claiming our lack of knowledge in a particular subject is being vulnerable. However being caught in a situation where we are clueless of the topic being discussed or say a new technology is normal. Hiding that aspect of being ignorant will only hamper our abilities to focus on the challenge at hand. We can be concise in our words or actions once we accept and learn from our lack of knowledge from times when we are clueless.
5. Collusion or Collaboration? - Let's face it - be it the pandemic or crises like war across the world, we have seen that even a nation cannot survive for long on its own. We are all so inter-dependent on each other. Collaboration and networking is the new way of working. With aggregators booming and online services flourishing, I can't help but think that collaboration is one of the most important aspects of being successful. Colluding for personal gains have proven time and again to be a failure and certainly not meant for the ethical-minded people.
6. Closed or Candid? - Being open and candid is the way forward. The young generation of today do it better by default. They say it 'as it is'. Precise and timely feedback is always welcome, be it in our professional or personal lives. Being closed to ideas or change can definitely impair one's growth. As indicated above for collaboration, one should be open to lending a ear and giving an opportunity to everyone to be heard. This is what we also cover in diversity and 'inclusiveness'.
7. Corruption or Cleanliness? - When we have open and clean thoughts, we set the foundation for uncorrupt practices. The moment we, as individuals think in a canny or cunning way to benefit our own personal ideas, that's when we break the team fabric and unhealthy competition comes to the fore.
8. Cumbersome or Clear? - The moment we clutter our mind with more than what we can handle, that's when we may have distorted decisions that are taken. We always crave for processes that are not cumbersome. So, in the same way, how nice it would be to have clear conversations sans complications or hidden agendas.
9. Cunning or Constructive? - We may witness in our conversations that all people may not want to think in a way of putting themselves in the shoes of the other because of their ulterior motives. The question to all of us should be "Can we always think and act in a constructive way? Can we always discuss and debate with a conclusive and mutual closure in mind? This approach can bring us guaranteed success!
10. Carelessness or Consciousness? - This is one of the disasters of high-speed technology and fast-foods, as we continue to live in a world of quick-fixes. Almost everyone around us is in a hurry and they tend to be impatient. This results in being careless. The challenging part is that many of us feel it's alright to be careless as it is easy for re-doing or correcting mistakes. Being conscious of what we do and the repercussions?of what our careless actions may result into, can aid us in being more thoughtful, collaborative and great team players.

I personally hope that the above 10 approaches of 'what and how we see things' versus opening our minds to 'what and how the others may see' may help us in our personal and professional journey.

This article is written by?Willis Langford,?an unbiased, result driven & passionate HR professional who has a flair for technology and keen interest in making this world a better place with a zest for life.

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