Asking Questions ...
Conversational recipes to help clarify and bring forth
our mental models leading to productive
conversations
our mental models leading to productive
conversations
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Robert Putnam
(pg 236) Differences between mental models explain why two
people can observe the same event and describe it differently.
They shape how we act. But because mental models are usually
tacit, existing below the awareness they are often untested and
unexamined (mouse-over the diagram on the right). They are
generally invisible to us -- until we look for them.
The core task of this discipline is bringing mental models to the
surface, to explore and talk about them with minimal
defensiveness - to help us see the pane of glass, see its
impact on our lives, and find ways to re-form the glass by
creating new mental models that serve us better in the world.
(pg 237) According to some cognitive theorists, changes in short-
term everyday mental models, accumulating over time, will
gradually be reflected in changes in long-term deep-seated beliefs.
(pg 260) Here are some rules and guidelines (but for them to
be effective, they must be made to work themselves out of the
job by moving them beyond rule- and guideline-based behaviour
(see more examples here)):
Examine your own conversations later.
(pg 236) Differences between mental models explain why two
people can observe the same event and describe it differently.
They shape how we act. But because mental models are usually
tacit, existing below the awareness they are often untested and
unexamined (mouse-over the diagram on the right). They are
generally invisible to us -- until we look for them.
The core task of this discipline is bringing mental models to the
surface, to explore and talk about them with minimal
defensiveness - to help us see the pane of glass, see its
impact on our lives, and find ways to re-form the glass by
creating new mental models that serve us better in the world.
(pg 237) According to some cognitive theorists, changes in short-
term everyday mental models, accumulating over time, will
gradually be reflected in changes in long-term deep-seated beliefs.
(pg 260) Here are some rules and guidelines (but for them to
be effective, they must be made to work themselves out of the
job by moving them beyond rule- and guideline-based behaviour
(see more examples here)):
Examine your own conversations later.
 | What mental models do you carry that might affect how | |
| you see the picture? | ||
| What mental models prevent you from breaking out of | |
| this picture? |
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