Recently, at a Fireside Chat session with a client*, we were asked, “If you knew nothing about Worldview Intelligence, in its most basic form, what does it look like in practice?” A great question that invited us to reflect on the most accessible practices of Worldview Intelligence, even if you don’t know you are practicing it.

There are five things you can do in personal reflection or when interacting with others. You can do them at any time and you can do them in the moment when you find yourself reacting to someone or something.

The Power of the Pause

The first thing you can do is practice the power of the pause. Take a breath. Count to 10. Check in with yourself before you say or do anything.

Remember Everyone has a Worldview

Simply remembering that each of us has a worldview, with different realities and different experiences that shaped our worldviews, opens the potential for exploration. Someone who has had a different experience does not make your own experience wrong or invalid, and vice versa.

Be Curious

What are you reacting to and why? What is going on within you? Why might the other person be saying or doing what they are? Curiosity and judgment cannot exist in the same place. It also cannot co-exist with defensiveness or dismissing of another person or their views. The practice of curiosity is powerful.

Check Your Assumptions

What assumptions are you carrying about the situation, the other person or group, or yourself that might be influencing your reactions? You don’t even have to ask yourself if the assumptions are right or misguided, just notice what they are and be curious about them.

Listen

Listening is a skill all of us can improve on. We can be quick to speak to defend, to argue or to provide advice that may or may not be wanted or needed. Listen internally to what your reactions have to offer you. Listen externally – be fully present – to what someone else might be offering.

These five practices serve to short circuit automatic reactions and allow us to respond more calmly, compassionately and empathetically to the situation or to the person. Also, to ourselves, as we are our own worst critics.

*(We have been working with this US based client, with a footprint in 8 states, for over a year on an enterprise-wide initiative to support their Inclusion and Belonging goals, offering a combination of virtual, in-person and an animated customized animated video series.)