Mental Models Exercise LO10310

Bill Harris (billh@lsid.hp.com)
Thu, 3 Oct 96 8:06:01 PDT

Replying to LO10303 --

Margaret Smith-Lewis wrote:

>understanding Facts vs. Interpretation (Ladder of Inference per Senge)

and

>has a structured form to assist the debrief (similar to "left and right
>side of the page per Senge) where the left side of the page has the

Not to downplay Senge's contribution or to be overly pedantic, but
(hopefully) merely to help give credit where credit is due and to make it
easier for people to follow up on the concepts, those two (as far as I can
tell) come from Chris Argyris, not Senge (and he credits Argyris with
them, too).

I've found them very helpful, but it took me a bunch of reading of
Argyris's material and transcripts of his interventions to understand what
this was all about. (It was worth the time.)

>In the facilitator mode, I have done "asides" (deviated temporarily from
>the main subject/issue being facilitated) to debrief an exchange that is
>entrenched in entangled facts and inferences. This has worked really well
>either before or after the concept of "ladder of inference" was introduced
>and it has forwarded progress or jump shifted progress on the main issue
>at hand. I think that the power of this lies in the use of a real example
>in real time and the group gets to see (in real time) how it can make a
>difference in getting unstuck or offering new options/depth of
>understanding to a problem.

Yes!

>I'm also interested in anything that anyone has tried that has even sort
>of worked. I'm in the midst of using the Native American principles of a

You might look at pp. 262-263 of Argyris's book "Strategy, Change and
Defensive Routines" for a new way of looking at traditionally accepted
values. I've found it interesting and helpful to discuss that with the
group I'm working with.

You might also look at Peter Block's book "Flawless Consulting". It gives
some recipes to follow as people are getting going in this area.

Bill

--
Bill Harris                             Hewlett-Packard Co. 
R&D Productivity Department             Lake Stevens Division 
domain: billh@lsid.hp.com               M/S 330
phone: (206) 335-2200                   8600 Soper Hill Road
fax: (206) 335-2828                     Everett, WA 98205-1298 
                    
 

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