planets

Creating Success by Learning to

Challenge Assumptions

October 15, 2009

Stephanie Nestlerode LaDonna Coy

Omega Point International, Inc. Learning for Change, Inc.

LaDonna CoyMHR, CPS, CDLAPrimary Prevention Capacity building withSocial media and liveVirtual Learning/TrainingInteractionarssm

Collaborative Partners: -Kansas AAPS-Kansas Prevention Network & SPF SIG Sector Network -Kansas Family Partnership-Eagle Ridge Institute -CADCA-Paxis, Inc-Safe & Caring Schools-Collaborative Conversations -Omega Point International, Inc.-ODMHSAS -MACMHB-MASACA

The surest way to provoke the imagination is to seek out environments you have no experience with.

--author unknown

Strategic Planner Primary Prevention Capacity Building Technical Assistance Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Prevention:Texas, Colorado, West Virginia, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, California, and Nevada

Stephanie Nestlerode, MSW

“The future we create is the legacy we leave our children.”

Getting Everyone’s Voice into the Room

NameOrganizationLocation

Agenda

11:00-1:00 • Lunch, Homework & Coaching

1:00-2:30• Homework Debrief • The Rule of Six• The Chicken Scratch Path• Social Media exploration/implications• Closing Reflections

9:30-11:00Welcome & Getting Started• The Secret to Out-of-the-Box Thinking• Foundational Tools

The Ladder of Inference

Objectives• Provide foundational tools for

challenging assumptions • Provide an opportunity to apply the

tools to each person’s unique circumstances

• Apply foundational tools to our assumptions about social media

• Identify ways to shift our conversations

Our Tool Today ContentWho’s here?

Type hereDiscussion Area

Emoticons!

Chat Poll

What is one word that captures how you are today?

Out of the Box

Thinking

Polling + chat

Debrief (why?)Why do the

numbers look like they do?

What PROMOTES it?

What STIFLES it?

The Secrets

to

Out of the Box

Thinking

Name

the

Box!

What

BOX

are

YOU

in?

A Box we Live in

An ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

Not everyone thinks this way!

Recognize this can feel scary!

Create a safe container for exploration

Invite

OTHERS

to Explore the Box

Multiple Points of View

Explore

All Angles

Integrate

ALL

Views

Both/And

Thinking

The First, grasping an ear, “It is a large rough thing,

wide and broad, like a rug.”

The Second, holding the trunk, “I have the real facts. It is a straight and hollow pipe.”

The Third, touching a front leg, “It is mighty and firm, like a pillar.”

PENCIL EXERCISE

Leveraging Diversity with The Ladder of Inference

A tool for discovering

how people

think and why they think the way they do

You must go below the surface

The Ladder

of Inference

Take Action

Actual Events

The Ladder

of Inference

Adopt Beliefs

Take Action

Actual Events

The Ladder

of Inference

Adopt Beliefs

Select Data

R

E

F L

L O

E O

X P

I

V

E

Take Action

Actual Events

Environmental Example

Once we start worrying about the polar bears in the artic,

We notice stories everywhere

Social Example

Once we become grandparents,

we see young

children everywhere

Every Day Example

Once we decide to

buy a certain kind

of car,

We notice them

everywhere

Bug is the only car for me

The quality will be better than the first time I bought one

If it looks good, it will drive well

Salesman

Consumer Reports

Neighbors & Friends

Mechanic Timely??

None

Adopt Beliefs

Select Data

Make Assumptions

Take Action

DATA

ASSUMPTIONS

BELIEFS

TAKE ACTION

Ladder of Inference Exercise

Polls about how meeting time is INVESTED

Source: margaret anne clarke

What are the

Implications

of the

survey results?

Underage Drinking

What are the divergent points of view?

Sharing your thinking is a giftThat must be

UNPACKED to be truly

Useful

Teenagers

Beliefs?

Assumptions?

Data?

Parents

Beliefs?

Assumptions?

Data?

School Teachers

Beliefs?

Assumptions?

Data?

Police

Beliefs?

Assumptions?

Data?

Community Members

Beliefs?

Assumptions?

Data?

Small Business Owners

Beliefs?

Assumptions?

Data?

Large Beer Producers

Beliefs?

Assumptions?

Data?

Prevention Volunteers and Professionals

Beliefs?

Assumptions?

Data?

DATA

ASSUMPTIONS

BELIEFS

TAKE ACTION

Ladder of Inference Exercise

What assumptions are you making (underneath your beliefs)?

What are your strongest beliefs about what will reduce underage drinking in your community?

How have your personal experiences influenced your thinking? What other data relate to how you think about underage drinking?

Sample Ladder of Inference Exercise

Divide into small groups of four to six persons.

Every person will take a few moment to reflect IN SILENCE and then to write down their answers to three questions:

What is my strongest belief (a single belief) about the issue at hand?

What are my assumptions?

What are the data underneath my assumptions and beliefs?

Using a Talking Object, there will be three rounds of sharing.

Round One: Every person will share the strongest belief. Round Two: Every person will share assumptions. Round Three: Every person will share data.

Continue the conversation. What strikes you about the differences? The similarities?

Share each group’s observations with the larger group.

Identify shared themes and any differences that need to be explored further.

What topics or issues could benefit from a better understanding of

How might you add a little

to your meetings?

Adding consideration of:

ASSUMPTIONS

CREATING SHARED MEANING

DATA

Next Steps Create a plan

What topics need conversation?

How might you begin to gently inquire more deeply into how people think?

Each person will share when we return at 1 pm!

Call with questions during the break

Call LaDonna 918-473-6789

Call Stephanie 512-847-0410

Plans for