There is looking and they’re seeing. And I think there is an important difference that needs to be understood. To look at something is to focus on it, observe it for what it is, where it is.
But to see something or more importantly, someone is to know them, to begin to stand in their shoes with some empathy and observe the world from their point of view.
I have been preparing for a workshop about creating healthy space for teams to connect and grow together with the desired end goal of innovating and collaborating.
I hope people will come away from the workshop with a new definition of what it means to “see” people. To see their team members not only as people to look at and study but to say to them “I see you, you matter”. Too often we look at people and see them as issues or liabilities but miss the human side of things. to look at someone and only see them as something to be fixed is judgemental and stripes them of dignity. On the other hand to look at someone and see someone who has value and is important despite their issues is to show them dignity, to show them love, to show them that you “see” them.
The opposite can also be true, when we use status and achievement to determine someone’s value, we teach them that they must do something in order to be seen and that will only lead us to a more disconnected and segregated community and I don’t think that’s worth doing.
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