I was in conversation with a coworker in a classic debate that I found my brain torn in two in. If I had to generalize this debate it would be the ‘bigger’ picture vs. the ‘smaller’ picture. Before I go further, I need to emphasize that neither option is better. Bigger in our society usually tends to mean better. However, the other side cares not for these hierarchies. I genuinely believe there is no ‘right’ way for bigger or smaller picture thinking. However, I think that my spiritual journey focused more on learning bigger picture thinking, and that has had its own benefits and detriments.
I personally believe that understanding both sides of this debate allows for the best choices, ideas, and innovations to come front and center. However, often times we choose one side to focus on and we turn that into our identity. When I consider smaller picture thinking, I think more about individuality. I think about currently living in a set of circumstances and often times your ‘group’ or identity is isolated from other groups. For my own experience, I can liken it to when I first entered the workforce at my job. I thought so much about the struggles of each person in my current role. I would ask questions like why can’t this be fixed? Why does it seem like no one cares about us? No one outside of our team understands the struggles we are going through.
As I learned about the business and started to gather more and more responsibilities, my mindset shifted, and I started to recognize that my previous line of thinking was unfair to my management and other groups as well. Everyone has different responsibilities and things they are working on to better the company as a whole. Management does. Are about their teams, but often times lack of communication of what is going on in the background can often be perceived as not caring. I could have a different lengthy post about communication.
So which side is right? Well neither.. Bigger picture thinking can cause just as many issues because it can lead to inaction. Maybe part of me thinks that smaller picture thinkers are the hardworking ‘doers’ and bigger picture thinkers are the ‘dreamers’. Working together between these groups is what allows for powerful innovation to occur to benefit everyone.
I think the importance when dealing with people outside of your type of thinking is to keep an open mind. You are able to impact more people with ideas that you come up working with people who think differently than you than working alone.
