From the NBMBAA Leadership Institute®: Re-Shape Your Mental Models for Effective Thinking
By Robin Farmer
You can change the subjective "mental models" that shape how you frame the world if you believe you can. So said author and in-demand speaker Elizabeth R. Thornton, who taught participants how to develop new mental models during a five-hour Leadership Institute® session titled Objectivity: Rethinking the Way You Think for Greater Effectiveness.
It is human nature to make assumptions based on perceived actions and then react, said Thornton, professor of management practice, Babson Executive Education and adjunct lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Babson College. Doing so can result in misperceptions, which psychologists call cognitive errors. But this "inherent subjectivity" impacts your ability to lead and communicate effectively.
"Today, objectivity is a core competency for effective leadership. Objectivity is the ability to question our mental models, the capacity to identify and transform unproductive mental models, and incorporate diverse perspectives into problem-solving and decision-making," she said.
The five common mental models, which each have positives and negatives, are: the validation seeker; the perfectionist; the competitor; the controller; and the person who always feels inadequate.
"All five are rooted in a feeling of 'I’m-not-good-enough'. They are all inter-related," she said. Thornton said this is important to note because "Many of our perceptions are wrong. Is it possible that we have also made a mistake about ourselves, which is the reason why we all have this insecurity?"
Many of the attendees nodded their heads in agreement.
"If any of these mental models interfere with your leadership, tweak it. Keep the positives and eliminate the negatives. Most of you have good mental models or you wouldn’t be here," Thornton said.
To stay objective under pressure, first recognize your tendency to react in a negative way and then do the reverse. "Be aware of your triggers, what is going on in your body," Thornton advised. Stop the behavior you want to do. Regroup with deep breathing or by physically leaving. If you cannot exit, ask questions for a clearer understanding or get the person to repeat what was said.
Be present in the moment in order to handle a situation more objectively under pressure. So many people are on auto-pilot. To illustrate how easy it is to miss something, she played a video showing two teams passing a basketball. She asked session attendees to count the passes made by the team dressed in white. While many correctly counted 13 passes, very few saw a moonwalking bear in the center of the players. Mindfulness occurs when you pay attention to the present on purpose, Thornton says.
To identify limiting mental models:
"Always ask yourself two questions: Do I have past experience with this, and is there another way to look at this problem or situation clearly," Thornton said.
It’s never too late to change.
"We used to think the brain did not change after age five, that is not the case," Thornton said. |
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