{"id":10001219,"date":"2020-01-14T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globallearningpartners.com\/?p=10001219"},"modified":"2024-03-18T19:36:50","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:36:50","slug":"put-yourself-in-someone-elses-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globallearningpartners.com\/blog\/put-yourself-in-someone-elses-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Put Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"\" Download Technique<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A while ago, my colleagues and I invited the people in our training to imagine they were someone they were not. For a while they had to \u201cbe\u201d this person and experience the joys and challenges of this role. They had to put themselves in someone else\u2019s shoes and look from a different perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This experience was mind-opening!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to understand, I work for International Budget Partnership<\/a>, and my colleagues and I conduct trainings on the research methodology of the Open Budget Survey<\/a>. We work with government officials in countries around the world and discuss budget transparency and accountability in the hope that these government representatives will contribute to the Survey’s research process. These groups are not often invited to engage with content or each other in ways like \u201cputting yourself in someone\u2019s shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This technique was very helpful, so let me tell you how it worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The task for one session of the workshop was straightforward enough: to discuss the key information that a budget proposal \u2013 the document that a government executive prepares each year as the basis for debating about policy priorities and allocating budgets \u2013 should contain. The challenge was to explore this with participants \u2013 government officials with a high level of knowledge about the topic \u2013 in a way that would contribute to their understanding of what budget information is relevant from the perspective of civil society and why. We decided to try something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the Pick a Spot Technique<\/a>, the tool of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes helps to bring constructive insights and transformative learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how it works:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Set the parameters of discussion<\/strong>. Ask participants to step out of their status (e.g., work position) and put themselves in the shoes of a different group\/person. In our case, we asked the government participants to imagine themselves as a researcher in a civil society organization.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Allow for questions and clarifications.<\/strong> Some participants may wonder whether they should assume for the purpose of the exercise that they have the same knowledge and experience they currently have. Some may struggle with the idea of being part of a different organization or setting. And some may find it quite exciting to look at the topic through a different lens.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Allow a few minutes for people to consider their ideas<\/strong>. Encourage a focus on what is relevant from the other person’s point of view.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Open the discussion<\/strong> for sharing thoughts on the content discussed. In our case, we asked government officials to share their thoughts about what information they wanted to see in a budget proposal to be able to analyze it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Provide time for sharing the challenges<\/strong> of the task to ensure participants feel respected and recognize that putting themself in someone else’s shoes is about understanding the needs of others and empathizing with them. You can pose some questions such as:\n