AGC of Washington Team 2001 Leadership Academy Mental Models

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Mental models: deeply held beliefs, images, and assumptions we hold about ourselves, our world, and our organizations and how we fit in them.

Mental models are the way we see the world

Plato’s The Republic “We are all misguided cave dwellers, operating under incomplete or distorted perceptions of reality…and violently resistant to having those perceptions challenged.”

What do mental models have to do with AGC? They limit the way we see the world. E.g. Swiss watch models What about AGC membership ?

Different sets of assumptions are at the heart of highly politicized conflicts. Mental models are the culprits.

Seven principles of mental models

Principle #1 Everyone has mental models. Groups and organizations also develop mental models.

Principle #2 Mental models determine how and what we see.

Principle #3 Mental models guide how we think and act. …limiting our range of behaviors for better or worse

Principle #4 Mental models lead us to treat our inferences as facts. Our beliefs remain closed to challenge.

Principle #5 Mental models are always incomplete. Our instinct to protect our worldview can be very aggressive.

Principle #6 Mental models influence the results we get, thereby reinforcing themselves. E.g. Coca cola

Principle #7 Mental models often outlive their usefulness.. E.g. In organizations, “way it has been” vs. “change or die”.

Insight alone does NOT produce change. Learning takes place in a realm of action.

So…the way we see the world affects our experience of the world. When the way we see the world changes, we can then change our actions and get very different results.

We form mental models by climbing the Ladder of Inference. 1 “Data” from the “pool” of observable data. 2. Add “meaning” to data we’ve selected. 3. Make assumptions based on the meaning 4. Draw conclusions from the assumptions 5. Adopt beliefs.

The Ladder of Inference I observe data and have experiences I select data from my observations I add personal and cultural meaning I make assumptions based on the meanings I draw conclusions I adopt beliefs about the world I take action based on my beliefs

The Reflexive Loop reinforces our mental models. 6. Based on our conclusions and beliefs, we take action. 7. We get results, and those results influence the data we select in the future - - reinforcing our original mental model -- regardless of reality.

What mental models does AGC hold about the association? What does our decision-making process tell us about AGC’s mental models? How will our mental models need to change in the future? Or how might they change? Forced change or planned change?