It was yesterday only, when I was reading this post from @sanjeevm where he saved a good amount of money while shopping for a shoes. At first he was paying a higher amount but a little discussion with his son allow him to save more. All credit goes to his son who manages to pull out some best deals.
It was a timely second opinion from the grown up son which matters most. There are things which a person is not accustomed to but others were well versed. Like in this case the kids were a bit smarter in cracking the shopping deals thanks to his exposure to different shopping platform and offers. All opinion matters and this is how we build a good life. Diversity of thought is the reality that there is more than one way to think about something.
(my own editted image)
Diversity of opinion is all about allowing and accepting various viewpoints on a topic without being mean, selfish or biased. It is the universal truth that every person are different and each one of us sees a particular situation in different ways. It is like multiple ways of doings a single tasks. Each person interprets and interacts with the world in different ways. This is the reflection of their unique identity, culture and personal experiences. The greater variation in approaches to problems and unique perspectives, the greater the diversity of thought produced.
Diversity of Opinion at Workplace
"Everyday is not Sunday", and "All fingers are not same". These phrases stands true when we see the diversity of opinion when we are with group of people or a team at a workplace or any other situation, where there are more than one mind works. The best place where we can experience diverse opinion is at the work front. No one person comes from same background. Cultural, regional, ethnic, and orientation-based diversity are just a few examples of the various types of diversity at work which makes situation open for Diverse opinion.
Handling the situation
It is very important to handle the situation in a mindful way. In order to push boundaries and consider all possible angles, a wider range of influences and opinions are needed. This is especially true for tasks which involve creative problem solving, innovation and collaboration. I remeber an instance from my working day.
There was huge backlog of work and we were approaching the year end. We were already behind the TAT (Turn around Time) and the management wanted the team to comes during the weekend to complete the backlog and to bring the work in pipeline. No body like that and so does my team. I was in typical situation neither I can go against the mangement nor I wanted to put pressure on my team. I shared the situation with the team to get their opinion and how they like to cover the backlog. On which they comes up with their own solution. The team uninamously agree for a little extra hours of work every day. At the same there were two outstation memver in the team. They agree to work on weekends too. After listening to their suggestion, I allow the two outstation member to work in normal shift while the others followed their strtch timing.
Problems in execution
This suggestion proved to be very healthy and help us to close the backlog well in advance before the year end. However, it is not as simple as it seems to be. There are hindrances and we need to sort them out of our own. In the same case, as above there was the requirement of involvement of different departments to csrdy out our goals. Like the presence of IT or Facilities or office pantry etc were required to complete the task. As a minor hiccups would make things not easy for team. This allows me to talk to take necessary permission from.my management, talks to departmental heads and arrange the necessary back up in case of emergency.
Good learning
Setting some ground rules for communication and collaboration, active listening, respecting differences, and avoiding personal attacks are some ideal ways to make things talks at your place of work. open to diversity of thought is a key component of becoming a great leader. If we always remain the way we think, it going to be very narrow minded in various decisions and their outcomes. Listening to different opinions opens up a broader avenues jn life and help to sort out the problems in easier way. Also it helps us to grow and mature to handle differrnt situation at different places. We can be good human being by being open-minded, curious, and supportive of other's opinions and ideas.