Navigating our Truths

Imagine a world where everyone was seeing the world through the same lens, had exactly the same beliefs, and shared identical preferences. It might sound like complete harmony, but it would also be quite boring. In reality we all know it is not like this, it is actually the complete opposite.

The Diversity of Truth

In fact as much as 90% of individuals have preferences that are different than yours. Even when seem to be aligned, the underlying reasons can be different for each individual. This is what was revealed by the research of Dr. Will Schutz known for developing the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientations (FIRO) Theory.

FIRO A Tool To Understand Our Preferences

FIRO is a tool used to help us understand our behavioral preferences. It empowers us to have meaningful conversations in our relationships and in our team about the topics of inclusion, control and openness. (You can learn more about this here: https://www.thehumanelement.com/firo-theory/)

Individual Preferences and the impact on collaboration

Take a moment to reflect on your own individual preferences. How do your preferences with regards to inclusion, control and openness influence your collaborations and interactions with others?

Do you like to include many people or do you prefer to do things on your own? Do you like to be in charge and control how things get done or do you prefer others to take charge? And, do you like deep connection or more lighter connections?

The Power of Awareness

When I am aware of myself and that I am different than you and both of us have this awareness it raises our empathy and understanding of each other and we can avoid misunderstandings. We can have conversations about our different preferences and what that means for our collaboration.

Coaching's Perspective: Embracing Wholeness

In coaching we embrace the belief that every individual is naturally creative, resourceful and whole and fully capable of finding their own solutions to problems.

Seeing individuals as naturally creative, resourceful and whole means that there is a spectrum of behaviors, attitudes and views of the world. We all see it through our own individual lens.

The impact of our Experiences

We are all influenced by our upbringing, families, parents, siblings and society. We have different experiences and therefore we are different.

From Defensiveness to Curiosity

It is easy to quickly move into defensiveness when we perceive others as different than us, we might even have a hard time understanding the other person, but when you know and fully accept that we are different it opens up the possibility to have different kinds of conversations.

Exploring Curiosity and Self-Reflection

We can get curious, we can listen with the intention to understand and we can improve our relationships by even becoming curious of our own reactions to people around us.

The Path to Constructive Interaction

Culture and relationships in organizations are influenced by our willingness to engage authentically. Only by accepting ourselves fully and taking responsibility for our feelings can we interact constructively with others.

Remember: "My truth does not equal your truth."

Source: https://www.thehumanelement.com/firo-theory/ and https://www.radicalcollaboration.com/#book