The Layered Lens Through Which We See
I once had a startling experience with a co-worker after this person assembled a stage TV and cart for our church. When the TV had been tested and was ready for use, I sent an email to the worship team letting them know we would use the new TV for Sunday worship and in the email, I thanked my co-worker for the efforts in getting it ready. Later that day, my co-worker stopped by my office and informed me that the recognition was unnecessary and it was uncomfortable that I mentioned them by first and last name in the email. Initially, my reaction was of stunned silence. I could see my co-worker wanted me to affirm that I would not do such a thing again. After the encounter, I was confused that a genuine thank you from me had been so offensive.
As a certified Enneagram coach, I know that each of us sees the world through a unique lens. This lens is tinted by our personality and our lived-experience. While I know this to be true and teach it to my clients, situations like the story shared above still tend to take me by surprise. After reading The Culture Map by Erin Meyer a realization struck me that I had not considered before—it’s not just that our lens is different, the extent of the difference also matters. In other words, it’s not enough to simply recognize a difference in personality, it could be even more helpful to visually map the difference on a scale to see where each person’s lens is located in relation to the other. My co-worker’s position on a public thank you scale was obviously very far away from my own. As Meyer proves in her book, adding a culture lens on top of a personality lens makes human interactions even more complex. In this blog, let’s take a look at the posture God calls us to have when it comes to our differences (both personal and cultural), how we can harness those differences for good and the value that maps can have on our understanding.
Divine Posture
As doctoral students at Portland Seminary, we aren’t only called to be leaders, we are called to be Christ-like leaders. So what kind of posture did Jesus have when it came to people from other cultures or people with different personalities and backgrounds from His own? He didn’t just tolerate them, He actually sought them out. Not only that, He placed their needs above His own. He honored them. He included them. He saw them for the unique children of God that they were.
Jesus’ attitude toward non-Jews teaches us much about the posture we must hold when interacting with those who are different from us in culture and personality. We are one body, made up of different parts. So we humble ourselves to interact in ways that make it easy for others while also maintaining the unique skills and perspective that we have to offer. In thinking through the suggestions in Meyer’s Culture Map, I recognized this very Jesus-like attitude of being willing to defer one’s own preferences and tendencies for the good of another. As naturally egotistical human beings, this is not easy to do on our own. It is only the power of the Holy Spirit of Jesus, Himself, that allows us to set aside our pride. The more I grow in leadership, the more I recognize the need for the Holy Spirit to be active in my life and the more I recognize that leadership is often about service to those I lead rather than simply getting a job done.
Harnessing Differences for Good
One thing that was not thoroughly addressed in Meyer’s book The Culture Map is the profound importance of utilizing differences between people and cultures for creativity, ideation, and impact. Perhaps it was implied, since her focus was on businesses that already see the value of working cross-culturally, but I think it’s important to state clearly. Particularly in research, ideation and design phases of projects, getting input from a wide variety of viewpoints, background and even outliers is key to seeing the nuanced impact of a project. So while I agree with Meyer’s thesis that adapting and minimizing cultural differences is important, I think it is equally important for people to feel comfortable coffering a unique point of view. In both cases, transparency and open communication is key.
Value of a Map
A final insight to offer is a theme I am recognizing through many of the books I have read thus far in year two of my doctoral studies in global leadership—the importance of a map. In Ahrens’ book How to Take Smart Notes I learned the importance of note taking in the learning process. Not as a way to document things to remember, but as a way to move around ideas and information in a tangible way to make connections. In Game Storming by Gray, Brown and Macanufo, I recognized the importance of using creative activities (often with tangible pieces and artifacts) to generate ideas, test and evaluate ideas, and even develop plans for implementation. And finally, in The Culture Map, Meyers taught me that cultural differences can be most easily seen and understood by using a graphical map to display similarities and differences.
So, as I think back to the initial story I shared about my co-worker and consider the implication of these learnings, I recognize that 1) I must honor the request to not publicly thank my co-worker with a Jesus-like posture 2) consider how I might incorporate the perspective into my own ideas about the importance of recognition and 3) muse about ways to develop a map of personality differences using the Enneagram tool to help teams identify relative personality differences in the same way Meyers does for cultural differences.
About the Author
Laura Fleetwood
Laura Fleetwood is a Christian creative, certified Enneagram Coach, doctoral student at Portland Seminary and Creative Director at her home church, Messiah St. Charles. As a published author, national faith speaker, podcaster and self-described anxiety warrior, Laura uses storytelling to teach you how to seek the S T I L L in the midst of your chaotic life. Find Laura at www.seekingthestill.com10 responses to “The Layered Lens Through Which We See”
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Laura, I’m so interested to talk with your further about the points you make in this blog. Specifically, I like how you pointed out that Jesus did not just tolerate people different than himself, he sought them out and placed their needs before his own. I wonder what this looks like in the work place, in our churches, in our DLGP setting. I wonder, too, how we can pursue this call when we live in settings with people who look much like ourselves.
Also, I, too, have been thinking about leadership involving service to those we lead. It seems that the role of a leader is to help others develop their skills well and become strong teammates. I once heard the point guard for the Tennessee women’s basketball team say that it was her job to make her teammates look good. I have always remembered that.
Lastly, your point regarding the potential to use cross-cultural differences to enhance a project and create something unique and otherwise not possible, seems important. I wonder if Erin Meyer would get back to you if you asked her insight on this thought? Perhaps she would edit her book with an additional chapter in the future!
Looking forward to seeing you soon and chatting more about this! I love the idea about reaching out to Erin Meyer to get her thoughts about whether her scale could apply to personality as well as culture. Thank you for that!
Hello Laura,
I enjoyed reading your blog post. The following points stood out to me:
1)”Adding a cultural lens on top of a personality lens”
I am challenged in this area as well. I need to pay attention to cultural considerations when working with others, keeping personality lens in view simultaneously. I am curious if the Enneagram addresses nuances in cultural when assessing personalities? The Enneagram is a great tool! What’s your number/wing number?:)
2)Emphasis on “service to those I lead instead of just getting the job done”
This is a great challenge/focus.
3)”Getting input from a wide variety of viewpoints, background and even outliers is key to seeing the nuanced impact of a project.”
I have found that this is a great goal but there are some pros and cons in achieving this. Have you found a successful way to get input from people of various backgrounds?
I enjoyed seeing how you organized your thoughts in your blog. I look forward to reading your blogs in the future! See you in Cape Town!
I am a 7w6. Thanks for asking! The Enneagram does not take cultural differences into account, and your questions made me curious if the tool works for non-western cultures as well as it does in the west. I am going to ask my Enneagram Coach peer group about that. I will get back to you.
As for getting culturally diverse input for my portfolio project, that is a challenging question because it is centered on my particular ministry context which is not culturally diverse at all. So for my stakeholders, diversity looked more like different roles related to the core audience (early-adolescent girls), but if my ministry context was more culturally diverse that would have been an extremely important factor to consider!
I’m curious. What does diversity look like in your ministry context?
Laura,
What a thoughtful and intuitive response. The idea of “Harnessing Differences for Good” is so important. It makes me think of what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:22b-23, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” As you said, Jesus sought out people of other cultures. Paul did as well. We are called to go and make disciples of all nations, but that does not mean to conform them to our way of doing things.
One of my best friends is Jewish. I remember in high school praying for her, and in my mind, that meant that she would come to my church and worship God the way that I did. That perspective misses so much of who she is, her values, her culture, her understanding of the world. Our friendship has only grown deeper over the years and I think this is largely due to how much we treasure and value the things that make each of us unique.
Yes! I thought of that verse, too when writing the blog! I relate to your honesty when recounting the way you wanted your friend to experience God the same way you did. It shows great growth in perspective that you now see the value in accepting her just as she was. it’s difficult to remember that everyone has their own journey with God and that transformation looks different for each of us.
I really enjoyed this post. There are so many layers and points I could comment on but I’ll limit it to just my favorite. I agree with you that leadership is often service driven. I believe this mentality or style is extremely effective and can also lead to completing the job. A service mindset is not always the easiest but staying connected with the Holy Spirit certainly makes it more tolerable and rewarding. I often feel the Spirit tugging at me and sometimes I’m not sure why until later. It’s important to recognize the Spirit’s calls and stay connected so we don’t miss crucial opportunities. This is especially important in church leadership and ministries. Jesus lead by example and showed us how to incorporate faith and discipline into leadership. His Spirit continues to help us today. I pray we all stay dialed in with our leadership.
Yes! I think staying connected to what God is doing through His spirit is an often-missed component of leadership. There are so many voices telling you what to do and how to do it, that it’s easy to become focused on measurable outcomes (which certainly ARE important), but often what Jesus did didn’t make logical sense at the time. This is one of the reasons I like having Spiritual Director in my life. Someone who listens to the lead of the Spirit with me and helps keep me accountable-I really need that!
Amen!
Laura, I appreciate how you took the time to break down what christian leaders should look like. It is helpful to have a reminder if the lens that we should use when dealing with different cultures as well as our brothers and sisters in christ.