To be objective means to not be influenced or based on personal preference or bias. And yet everything we do is influenced by our experiences and beliefs. So, is there really such a thing as being objective?
In September, I attended the opening plenary of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies conference. I was going to try to summarize the entire session in one post, but the session was just too rich for me to be able to condense.
Dr. Leroy Little Bear is a Blackfoot researcher and Vice Provost of Indigenous Relations at the University of Lethbridge in Canada. The presentation was entitled: “The Impact of the Anthropocene on the Ecological Role of Fish and Buffalo.” He opened his speech by telling us he was going to play with our minds. And he did – if people were paying attention. My focus for this blog is on objectivity and whether it even exists.
The stories we tell.
Little Bear said, “As soon as you put humans in objective reality, it becomes interpretation.” Therefore, we all have interpretative templates. As I was taking notes, I wrote in the margins “The story we tell ourselves.” This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately in the past year. Most of what we regard as our truth is simply a story we are telling ourselves.
I did an activity around this statement last October at a leadership training. The group had gone through a traumatic event about a week before I arrived and I knew it, but I had no idea how it would show up. I opened my session on Courage & Vulnerability with a very vulnerable story. After that, I asked participants to write down two things. First, the story they were telling themselves about me, the facilitator. And second, the story they were telling about themselves in that moment. There were several quite nasty comments about me and lots of comments about being unsure if they would have the energy to make it through the day.
As I re-read the comments from this session in my later review, I estimated that at least half of the participants were in a reactive mode that remained because of the earlier traumatic event. I brought my concerns about not processing the traumatic event to the leadership team before the day started, but they did not want what was happening couched in that way. They were all operating from their own interpretations and/or trauma. No one had bothered to stop, look at relationships and behaviors nor give space to talk about how the traumatic event had impacted them.
The decisions they were making felt objective to them but were far from objective reality. They were simply stories they were telling themselves, which ultimately also became a false truth. And, that false truth hurt a lot of people, including myself.
Something I do on occasion is precede a statement with “The story I am telling myself about (person/place/event) is [complete the sentence]. That way, even my truth is open to interpretation. Try it for yourself sometime and see how that shifts the way you think about things.
Interpretive Template (Subjective Reality)
Dr. Little Bear included a slide about the Interpretive Template, and it said the following:
“The Interpretive Template. In other words, your paradigms or metaphysics are your interpretive template. And the reality you see is a product of that template, it is not the reality. That interpretive template becomes the foundation of your science and methodology. In Blackfoot, for instance, has a different interpretive template and, therefore, a different approach to science and a different methodology.
Western Science is all about measurement. If it is not subject to measurement, it is not scientific. Blackfoot Science is about relationships. If it is not about “all my relations.” It is not scientific.”
In conservation (western), our interpretative template says if it can’t be measured, it doesn’t have value. I have been trying to challenge this interpretative template for much of my career (as I think about it).
Recently, I’ve been doing some diversity and inclusion work. After each series is completed, there is a feedback form for participants to evaluate the facilitators and program. Never is there a way for facilitators to evaluate the group and its dynamics and behaviors. The a-ha moments that show up in the room are not recorded or considered as a part of success. The new relationships that develop are not counted. And, most of all, it is difficult to measure changes in attitude because we don’t ask about beliefs and attitudes before we start. For instance, I don’t know who is mandated (and more likely to be closed) and who shows up voluntarily.
I recall an early conversation with an academic/scientist about the diversity and inclusion work I was doing. I explained that we can’t truly measure success in this work because we don’t have a before and after picture. In addition, the changes required in this work take years and can’t be measured in “one-offs.”
We aren’t tracking the data as it shows up in the room. Success is determined by only an after-session feedback form, and even then, all factors are not being considered because the questions were limited (and to be honest, not even relating to the work we were doing). I sensed the immediate discounting of the work I was doing because of this challenge about measurement.
How do we measure the feelings that show up? What about beliefs and biases held from childhood? How open are you to new ideas? What about the individual statements that indicate a shift was made? How are resistance behaviors noted?
Answers to these questions are probably going to tell the story of success or failure better than some numbers on paper. So how can we be “objective” when we only collect a small fraction of the story?
Objectivity unexamined
Dr. Little Bear equated the conservation situation to a mid-life crisis. When we hit mid-life, we often look back and reflect. In conservation and environmental work, we are in crisis. And yet, we aren’t taking time to reflect and examine. We just keep DOING.
“Most of us get up in the morning and do. We don’t examine what it is based on.”
I’ve written about Reflection Deficit Disorder before, and you can read it HERE. I have been guilty of this in the past as well. Today, I keep taking new lenses to my work. When I learn something new about diversity and inclusion or human psychology, I often sweep my work to incorporate the new learning.
Most recently, a participant of the Nurturing Trauma-informed Conservation Communities workshop said they were waiting for some humor to arrive. He said this because humor is an important part of life AND it is a part of resilience. This wasn’t the first time humor was called to my attention. This time, though, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Yes, many of the topics I teach are deep topics.
In my next workshop, which included a short piece on resilience, I inserted some lame jokes. The participants appreciated the nervous system break and one even suggested a joke for me to use in a future session.
When was the last time you looked at your work? Why are you doing it? Does it still meet its original purpose and/or the mission of the organization? What part of your day is spent on things that haven’t been examined for years?
How can we be objective if we aren’t spending time on reflection and examination?
Reality
Reality is subjective. As Dr. Little Bear stated, “As soon as you put humans in objective reality, it becomes interpretation.” We are interpreting things based on our past experiences and learnings. We see things through our very limited lenses to the world. That’s why we need each other – to see the things we cannot ourselves. My truth is simply my truth, it doesn’t mean it is THE truth.
We are walking around in story. I, for one, want to hear other’s stories. Expanding my interpretative template is a big goal. I want to be more curious and open to other ways of thinking.
For further contemplation about objectivity and subjectivity consider these statements and reflections throughout your day;
- “The story I am telling myself is _______”
- “My truth has evolved from _______ to _______.”
- “Who is a person very unlike me who might contribute to expanding my current beliefs?”
- “The parts I can’t measure and contribute to reality are ______.”
- “As I reflect on my day, I spent ____% of it mindful and purposeful of the work I am doing?”
- “As I reflect upon my day, how open was I to other interpretations?”
- “If I let go of this current truth, what else feels like a loss?”
- “Can I truly be objective here?”
Written by Michelle Doerr (AI used for no other portion than the title).