Why "Where You Stand Depends on Where You Sit" Is the Key to Better Team Collaboration
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How Miles Law explains why single-perspective solutions fail in modern workplaces
I often talk about how we need to collaborate in order to solve the problems in today’s world and achieve real success. Working on our own just doesn’t work so well anymore. Partly because the world is changing faster than we can keep up, and partly because one person’s perspective never gives the full picture of what is going on in a context.
If we work on our own, we end up with solutions that are one sided and ultimately exclude someone, or potentially huge swathes of people.
When I was at a meetup recently, two ex colleagues, Matt Chave and Chris Preece, shared a new lens on this problem that I found really interesting and quite accessible, so I thought I’d share it here with you too.
What Is Miles Law and Why Does It Matter for Team Collaboration?
"Where you stand depends on where you sit"
Rufus E. Miles Jr.
Miles Law, attributed to federal administrator Rufus E. Miles Jr., points to the fact that your views, values, opinions and ultimately how you communicate and frame something comes down to your individual experience and position. And why would it be anything else?
It’s an academic theory when viewed with a practical lens, is there for understanding why team collaboration often fails - and how to make it work.
The Real-World Problem: Single-Perspective Solutions
At the session I attended, Matt described looking at the problem of drug abuse in today’s society. If you are a police officer (where you sit) you might stand for more rules and enforcement to solve this problem. If you were a teacher (where you sit) you might stand for more education around the dangers of drug misuse. If you were a social worker, you might stand for it being a social issue where people need to work together. And if you were a healthcare professional, you might stand for helping people through more access to medicine or rehabilitation.
Different professional perspectives on the same problem:
Police Officer: Increase rules and enforcement to deter drug use
Teacher: Provide better education about the dangers of drug misuse
Social Worker: Address underlying social issues through community collaboration
Healthcare Professional: Expand access to treatment and rehabilitation services
Each viewpoint is completely logical based on that professional's experience ("where they sit"). Each proposed solution addresses part of the problem effectively.
But here's the critical issue: if we only implement one approach, we miss the full scope of what's needed for lasting change.
The problem with leaving the solution of this problem to one person is that they will stand for their own perspective and will have less weight for the others - which are also totally valid!
The Power of Productive Tension for Team Collaboration
Matt suggested that we need to ‘integrate’ these different points of view in order to find solutions that really work, without compromise or dilution, which means working together and collaborating - well.
Matt and Chris also encouraged their audience to find the ‘tension’ in a problem. A multifaceted problem like this includes many tensions. For example:
How might we reduce drug misuse whilst also supporting people through tough times AND reducing the strain on public services?
They argue that by turning the problem into a tension to be solved, you make the potential solutions more positive and open, inviting integration to happen, instead of compromise.
The Research Foundation: Why Diverse Perspectives Work
This reminds me of the work of Keith Grint, whose research I have spoken at length about in the past. He cited the work of Mary Douglas, who said we can organise social life into 4 areas; Fatalism, Hierarchy, Individualism and Egalitarianism.
These musings bring me again to why we find this so hard to accept and implement in our workplaces. The research is there to show us that working together and working with each other’s individual perspectives on life makes our approaches to dealing with modern work and life so much better, so why is it so hard?
That’s where I can help. I’ve been working with teams for 10+ years on making things like this work. Building acceptance across groups of people and using their individualities to help the team thrive.
Abdy's In: Transforming Exhausted Teams into Thriving Powerhouses
I'm Valerie.
Helping people unlock the transformational power of bringing diverse views together with a common purpose for over a decade is my bread and butter.
Through my framework, I work with leaders who know their people have more to give but can't figure out why everyone feels stuck.
Because here's what I've learned: the most talented teams can still be scattered, unfulfilled, and voiceless. But when they become thorough, harmonious, and integrated? That's when the magic happens.
Thanks for reading my blog,
Valerie
Collaboration Coach
