Three Facets for Surfacing and Testing Mental Models
Senge identifies three connected supports for testing mental models: personal reflective skills, regular organizational practices, and a culture of inquiry. Each helps the others work in practice.
THE IDEA
WORKING WITH MENTAL MODELS IN PRACTICE
The Shell and BP stories suggest three facets to developing an organization’s capacity to surface and test mental models:
- Tools that promote personal awareness and reflective skills
- “Infrastructures” that try to institutionalize regular practice with mental models
- A culture that promotes inquiry and challenging our thinking
It is hard to say which is most important. Indeed, it is the connections among them that matter most. For example, it is one thing to espouse cultural norms like “openness” but practicing them requires real commitment and skills that many managers lack, and developing those skills requires regular opportunities to practice, the whole point of infrastructures that embed reflection in the work environment.
When to use it
A leadership team wants to improve strategic decision-making by identifying hidden assumptions. They could implement reflective tools (e.g., journaling) and set up regular strategy review meetings (infrastructure) while modeling inquiry behaviors (culture).
An organization facing rapid change uses scenario planning as a structured practice to challenge collective mental models, supported by training in critical thinking and a norm of psychological safety.
A manager notices that team members avoid raising dissenting views. She works on personal skills to invite challenge, introduces a weekly 'assumption check' meeting, and openly praises those who question the status quo.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Shell's Scenario Planning
A leadership team uses scenario planning to question assumptions about energy markets. Managers need the skills to examine their beliefs, a recurring process for doing so, and permission to challenge the prevailing view. A scenario exercise alone cannot supply all three.
Peer Review of Assumptions
A team invites colleagues to review a project’s assumptions. Scheduled review meetings provide the structure; careful questions and listening provide the skills; leaders’ responses to disagreement help establish whether challenge is welcome.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Think of an organization you know. How might it currently address each of the three facets (tools, infrastructure, culture)? Which facet is most lacking?
What personal skills do you need to develop to better surface and test your own mental models? How could you practice those skills regularly?
How can an organization build a culture that genuinely encourages inquiry and challenging thinking, without creating defensiveness or paralysis?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Fifth Discipline The Art Practice of the Learning Organization (Peter M. Senge)