understanding: the pathway to better results

THE PATHWAY TO BETTER RESULTS

UNDERSTANDING

Phillip Thomas

“EVERYONE HAS A PLAN UNTIL YOU GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE.” MIKE TYSON

WE DON’T UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER

WE DON’T UNDERSTAND OURSELVES

& OFTEN

ALAN GREENSPAN American Economist / Former

Federal Reserve Chairman

“I know you think you understand … what you thought I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”

PROBLEMS THIS CREATES

PROBLEMS …PRETTY BIG

“PROBLEMS CANNOT BE SOLVED BY THE SAME LEVEL OF THINKING THAT CREATED THEM.” ALBERT EINSTEIN

UNDERSTAND WHAT IF WE COULD

EACH OTHER

THE OTHER PERSON AND WHAT

WANTED

NOW THAT WOULD BE PRETTY COOL NOT ALBERT EINSTEIN

THREE CONCEPTS

MENTAL MODELS

LEFT HAND THINKING

LADDER OF INFERENCE

SOME QUICK DEFINITIONS

MENTAL MODELS

Mental models are images, representations, or schemes of how we perceive and understand the world around us. Like all models, mental models are abstractions of reality. The model is less complex than the real world. No matter how well constructed, all models are wrong in some context or time.

how do you see the world?

What factors help you choose what to see

…and how to give it meaning

…and how to interpret it

…and how to respond

…and how would your feelings influence it?

LEFT HAND THINKING

Think of your mind in 2 parts:

•  Part 1: what you say this is your right hand column

•  Part 2: what you think, but do not say this is your left hand column

LEFT HAND THINKING

What if each of you could understand what was

in each others

left hand column?

LEFT HAND THINKING

…communication would be easy …wouldn’t it?

….and sometime, embarrassing! (we won’t deal with that for now!

LET’S TRY AN EXERCISE

…in order to understand our left hand column (lhc),

and other people, lhc,

we can use the….

LEFT HAND THINKING

We live in a world of self-generating beliefs which remain largely untested.

We adopt those beliefs because they are based on conclusions,

which are inferred from what we observe, plus our past experience.

LADDER OF INFERENCE

Our ability to achieve the results we truly desire is eroded by our feelings that:

– Our beliefs are the truth. – The truth is obvious. – Our beliefs are based on real data. – The data we select are the real data.

LADDER OF INFERENCE

LADDER OF INFERENCE

The above image is the property of Peter Senge (Taken from the Fifth Discipline)

Understanding is a creative process and not a prescriptive one.

Communication is like soccer – how you manage the space decides the

effectiveness of the outcome – and space control is a team effort! (with credit to David Brooks)

Closing Thoughts

“IN ORDER TO CHANGE AN EXISTING PARADIGM YOU DO NOT STRUGGLE TO TRY AND CHANGE THE PROBLEMATIC MODEL. YOU CREATE A NEW MODEL MAKE THE OLD ONE OBSOLETE.”

BUCKMINSTER FULLER

YOU THANK

QUESTIONS?