20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. This means that if you have 20/20 vision you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance.
If you have 20/100 vision it means that you must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet.
Mind you, having 20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision, it only indicates the clarity or sharpness of vision at a distance. Other important vision skills including peripheral awareness or side vision, eye coordination, depth perception, focusing ability and colour vision contribute to your overall visual ability.
So there are other factors that affect a person’s ability to see well
The eye is an organ of visual systems that provide organisms with vision, to make us able to receive and process visual detail . They also react to light and pressure.
The cornea focuses most of the light then it passes through the lens and, behind the cornea is a coloured ring shaped membrane called the iris which controls the size of the pupil regulating the light that reaches the retina.
When the light around you is bright, it decreases the size of your pupils letting only a small amount of light onto the retina to avoid any stress to the sensitive parts of your eyes.
As leaders we need this skill of self- regulation to reduce our stress. Self- regulation is an essential emotional intelligence component skill we need if we are going to get the best out of the people we lead. We cannot use the same lens to look at each person. Self- regulation liberates us from living like hostages to our impulses. It is concerned with how you control and manage your emotions.
Sometimes as leaders we are drawn to those few people in our team who support us and agree with every decision of ours, and as a result we fail to sample the opinion of (in some cases) the majority of those who have differing opinions; or at times we get angry with them, throw tantrums , sanction them , demote or transfer them for thinking differently or having varying opinions. We tend to feel in such situations that only our 20/20 vision is the perfect vision.
The eye and Iris Principle focuses on what we see in the people we manage, different personality types, different cultural upbringing, different values, beliefs and attitudes and how we should regulate our emotions in dealing with them if we are to get optimum performance out of them and also minimize our own stress.
POWERFUL COACHING QUESTIONS
- How well do you know the people you lead and what qualities do you see in each of them?
- What could be responsible for your inability to appreciate the unique individual differences in some of your team members?
- What factors have contributed to your feeling that your own 20/20 vision of things is perfect vision?
- What triggers your emotions of anger, frustration , fear and joy in the workplace and at home and how do you self- regulate each time these emotions are triggered ?
- What vibe do you receive from each of the people you lead and how does your interpretation of the vibe affect the way you relate to the person?
- The eye reacts to light and pressure. What do you react to when it comes to people management and what could you do differently ?