[Ailist] Examining mental models

[Proteus Communications]

Hello, I just want to add my appreciation for this conversation and list
serve too.  Bobbi, I just love this kinesthetic approach to helping people
"see" that they operate from different mental models. It's brilliant and I'm
looking forward to trying it out.  

I have an idea, but I'm not sure it gets precisely to the idea of mental
models so much as highlights the assumptions we carry that everyone shares
OUR mental models.  The simulation is called Barnga and the fellow who
created it is Thiagi. 

You tell the group they're going to play a simple card game.  You pass out
the rules and give people a few minutes to acquaint themselves with the
rules and play a few rounds at their home table.  Then you take the rules
away and impose silence on them for the rest of the game.  People move to
different tables after each round. (depending if they "won" or "lost" at the
previous table).  What people don't know (and many never realize as they
play the game) is that the rules are subtly different at each table.  It's a
short way of getting at the assumptions we carry about other people's mental
models and leads to rich discussion afterward. 

Cheers,

Kathryn
 

Kathryn Thomson
--------------------------
Proteus Communications
proteus at shawbiz.ca
 
Some doors open only from the inside  Hafiz                            

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Bobbi Bilnoski
~ Concinnity
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 8:09 AM
To: 'Nick Heap'; 'Esther Ewing'
Cc: 'Appreciative Inquiry'
Subject: RE: [Ailist] Examining mental models

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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_______________________________________________
The Appreciative Inquiry Discussion List is hosted by the David Eccles
School of Business at the University of Utah. Jack Brittain is the list
administrator. For subscription information, go to:
http://mailman.business.utah.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/ailist