[Ailist] Examining mental models

[Bobbi Bilnoski ~ Concinnity]

Hi everyone,

I just love "listening" to the conversations on this list serve. I don't
contribute very often, and will try to do more of that this year. 

I live in Dallas and facilitate large, multi stakeholder collaborations. I
use a quick but effective exercise to introduce Mental Models, as follows:

Close your eyes and take 1 minute to imagine a map of the US, laid out in
this room. Visualize the west coast, the east coast, the Canada and Mexico
borders, how about Hawaii? 

Now, stand up. Got your mental map in mind? Everyone go stand on California,
now go to Washington DC, now go to Canada, how about Texas, Idaho, etc ?
(Pick any state you like)

Stop at each point and ask people why is your California "here" and others
are "over there?" Why isn't everyone in the same place? This helps people
see that they have different Mental Maps, which is a seque into different
Mental Models - which Nick's drawing exercise is a great way to introduce in
a more detailed way. 

It's energizing and fun, people enjoy the exercise. 

Thanks,
Bobbi Bilnoski
 
Concinnity Network
214 . 293 . 8696 work/cell
214 . 821 . 9149 home office

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Heap
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 9:54 AM
To: Esther Ewing
Cc: Appreciative Inquiry
Subject: RE: [Ailist] Examining mental models

Dear Esther

I have done some work on "Experience Transfer" that might be helpful. There
is a link here http://www.nickheap.co.uk/articles.asp?ART_ID=22 This gives
some ways to transfer mental models form one person to another. When you
understand someone's mental model, it is much easier to learn from them.

I also wonder if you could ask the people to tell some stories about some
work or interaction that went well. Then they could interview each other to
discover why they did what they did. Would this give you what you are after?
They would be more open about successful work than failures and this might
also give some common ways of thinking that lead to success.

Please contact me if you want more.

Best wishes

Nick

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