We might think we live in a culture which is scientific and that we make informed objective decisions, but is this really the case? Can we really see anything with objectivity, or do we view the world with a lens? One of the core-principles of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is the phrase:
The map is not the territory.
That is to say that the representations and ideas we use to navigate our life by and the decisions we make do not necessarily come from an accurate representation or self-understanding of our life or context. To put this another way:
“People do not in general have access to absolute knowledge of reality but in fact only have access to a set of beliefs they have built up over time, about reality.” (1)
Failure can, therefore, often be seen to occur because we have the false notion of objectivity. We are in effect making decisions with flawed information which we consider true. So, in our role in working with people, we are to support them in developing self-awareness of what we might consider their take on their situation. Their story.
References
(1) P.91, Megson in Foreman, Joyce & McMahon (2013)