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My intention with each of these posts is that you’re challenged to interrupt the noise and routine in your life, just for a moment, to think more deeply about what really matters in life… your relationship with yourself and with others in your professional and personal life.
Welcome to this month’s Tap Into Trust topic
Each month through 2021, I’ve made a commitment to Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO of Trust Across America-Trust Around The World (TAA-TAW) to research and explore a specific topic that focuses on how trust impacts almost every measure of success in our professional and personal life.
I will be using the acronym TAP INTO TRUST which is an initiative from TAA-TAW.
Each letter in the acronym TAP INTO TRUST represents a one-word topic. Here’s the video for Episode 5 on Notice (If you’d rather read than watch, the transcript is below).
This month’s topic is on Notice
Here’s an aspirational action-based statement for you to use this month as you think about and apply this information and strategies on the topic of Notice:
I actively seek out and listen to diverse perspectives. I believe every voice can matter.
How good do you think you are at noticing diverse perspectives?
In a world where the social media platforms use algorithms to send us information that we seem to be interested in, based on our search and click history, there is a clear and present danger that we are at risk of reducing rather than broadening our perspectives and understanding of diverse and different points of views and experiences.
Get Curious
In his book titled Curious, Todd Kashdan highlights his and others’ evidence-based research that demonstrates how our intention and capacity to be curious and open to exploring diverse perspectives, can help us lead more fulfilling lives.
Kashdan says this: “Our brains are hardwired for curiosity.”
From way back to our cave dwelling ancestors to the current day, we have developed an innate drive to understand our world, to seek answers to what makes things the way they are and how we can make things even better.
What we now know from a host of neurological research is that this innate drive to notice things, to question things, to be curious, to understand things, creates new pathways and connections in our brains, which is what neuroscientists refer to as neural plasticity.
Notice and The Three Lenses of Trust
Let’s consider how being curious and noticing others’ perspectives can impact our lives through the three lenses of trust.
Through the lens of Self-Trust, when we know that we are genuinely trying to see the world beyond just our own personal point of view, we can feel good about ourselves because our curiosity and noticing are the pathways for our personal growth in our knowledge and understanding of ourselves, as well as others and the world within which we live.
Through the lens of Trust-Others, we take the risk to place our trust in other people; to have the courage to trust that they will live up to our expectations and deliver on their promises to us.
As we collaborate in these trust-based relationships, by their very nature, we need to ensure we are noticing and curious about the diverse perspectives of all stakeholders, so that we are fully aware of the impact of any decisions or actions we might individually and collectively decide on.
If we ignore the perspectives of others, especially those diverse perspectives that might not be aligned with our own, we put trust at risk – and when trust is at risk, almost everything is at risk… especially in our personal and professional relationships.
Through the lens of Earning Others’ Trust, again, it becomes obvious that without our ability to notice and be curious about diverse perspectives, our own trustworthiness will be in question.
People judge our trustworthiness by making assumptions and observations about our intentions, promises, actions and results. They are judging our trustworthiness by their assessment of our character, our competence and our consistency in demonstrating our integrity through our words, our actions and our results.
The Paradox of Belief Alignment
It’s easy to suggest that we all be a little more curious and that we all ought to notice diverse perspectives, but while on the one hand we are hard wired to be curious, on the other hand, we are also hard wired to only notice things that are aligned with our own beliefs.
In his research on the Paradigm Effect, futurist Joel Barker highlights that when we come into contact with ideas or diverse perspectives that are not aligned with what we believe or expect, we can often miss them entirely; or we distort them in some way to fit with our own perspectives; or we simply ignore them because they don’t fit our own beliefs.
To intentionally notice diverse perspectives, to seek out and listen to them takes energy, motivation and practice … and it’s well worth our while (and others) to do just that.
Notice More for your own Well-Being
In his book Curiosity, Todd Kashdan shares this: “The evidence is clear that people who are meaning-makers and able to learn from events, gain valuable insights, and grow as a person, experience profound health and well-being.”
We know that trust impacts almost every measure of success in our lives, and when it comes to trust, whether that’s self-trust, our propensity to trust others, or our own trustworthiness, the evidence is clear that being curious and noticing others diverse perspectives will enhance trust.
So, for this next month and beyond, focus on being even more curious and open to noticing diverse perspectives … especially those that are not aligned with your own.
Next month’s topic is on Talent. For now though, that’s it for this month’s topic on Notice and until next time, my very best to you.
