Mental Models for

Human-Centric

Leadership

Tathagat Varma, PMP, PRINCE2, CSM

Sr. Director, Business Operations

Yahoo!

16-Jun-2011, Bangalore

Disclaimer

These are my personal views, and don’t necessarily reflect that of my employer

Ideas, text and graphics in this presentation are graciously acknowledged to their respective sources in references section at the end of this presentation

A true story…

Dr. William E. Mayer studied 1,000 US POW in a North Korean camp

Despite relatively minimal physical torture, death rate was 38% - highest in US military history

Half of them died simply because they gave up! They surrendered – both physically and mentally

How did this happen?

North Koreans’ objective was to “deny men the emotional support that comes from interpersonal relationships”. They used four primary tactics:

InformingSelf-criticismBreaking loyalty to leadership and

countryWithholding all positive emotional

support

Informing

North Koreans gave prisoners rewards such as cigarettes when they snitched on one another. But neither the offender nor the soldier reporting the violation was punished

Intent was to break relationship and turn the men against each other

Self-criticism

To promote self-criticism, the captors gathered groups of 10-12 soldiers and employed ‘a corruption of group psychotherapy’

Each man was required to stand up in front of the group and confess all the bad things he had done – as well as all the good things he could have done but failed to do.

Soldiers were not confessing to their captors, but to their own peers. This subtly eroded the caring, trust, respect and social acceptance among them

Breaking loyalty to leadership and country They slowly and relentlessly undermined a

soldier’s allegiance to his superiors

A Colonel instructed a soldier not to drink water from a paddy field because it was contaminated, he shot back “Buddy, you ain’t no colonel anymore; just a lousy prisoner like me. You take care of yourself, and I’ll take care of me”. He died of dysentery few days later

40 men stood by as three of their extremely ill fellow soldiers were thrown out of the mud hut by a comrade and left to die. No one did anything to help them, because it “wasn’t their job”

Withholding all positive emotional supportPerhaps the most malicious tactic of them all

The captors withheld all letters of support and encouragement. However, all negative letters – like of a relative passing away, or on in which a wife wrote that she had given up on her husband’s return and was going to remarry – were promptly delivered. Captors would even deliver overdue bills from collection agencies back home

Soldiers had nothing to live for and lost basic belief in themselves and their loved ones

So, what really happened?“…The soldiers actually called it “give up-itis”. The doctors labeled it “mirasmus”, meaning, in Mayer’s words, “a lack of resistance, a passivity”. If the soldiers had been hit, spat upon, or slapped, they would have become angry. Their anger would have given them the motivation to survive. But in the absence of motivation, they simply died, even though there was no medical justification for their deaths!” – How full is your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Donald Clifton

What does it mean?

Negativity Kills!!!

But that was…

…in a POW Camp in 1950s

How is it relevant to today’s workplace???

Negativity at today’s workplace25m, or 19% US workers are ‘actively

disengaged’ or extremely negative – costing more than $400B in lost productivity annually

#1 Reason people leave: They don’t feel appreciated!

65% Americans got no recognition at work last year

Bad bosses could increase risk of stroke by 33%

Disengagement and low customer satisfaction seem to go hand in hand

Engagement levels by Country

Engagement levels by Industry

Engagement levels by AgeEmployees Highly

EngagedHighly Engaged or Engaged

18-29 years old 21% 62%

30-39 years old 20% 64%

40-49 years old 23% 66%

50-59 years old 22% 66%

60+ years old 31% 75%

What are the workers concerned about?

% of workers ‘Frequently’ or ‘Nearly Always’ concerned about

Work-life Balance

Levels of stress at work

Job Security

Pressure to long work hours

Resources to do job effectively

Personal Health

18-29 39% 40% 33% 31% 34% 32%

30-39 34% 38% 31% 26% 31% 26%

40-49 30% 36% 26% 23% 30% 25%

50-59 28% 34% 27% 23% 32% 27%

60+ 24% 28% 24% 17% 22% 22%

Non-engaged employeesLack spirit and vitality

Offer excuses and “can’t do” attitudes

Look to others to fix solutions

Avoid risk taking

Do the absolute minimum to get by

Leave work exhausted

Take neutral to negative company positions

Actively disengaged employees Sabotage the organization

Seek our flaws and focus on problems

Resist solutions

Blame, moan and whine

Find pleasure in failures

Take resistant and cynical company positions

Why this disengagement? Top-down, outmoded authoritative model of

management which places little value on relationships that develop and maintain a sense of community that emphasizes intimacy, trust, and mutual support

Leaders and managers are out of touch with human nature and how it impacts working relationships

Misalignment between people’s natural drive to develop their personal and group identities through informal relationships, and the ways that most organizations operate, by primarily focusing on formal goals and the bottom-line

A failing system of leadership that is outdated and suited for the Industrial Age, not the current Knowledge Age

Towers Perrin Study (2005) 59% of workers thought that their senior managers did

not support new ideas and new ways of doing things

60% thought that senior managers acted in a way which was inconsistent with their values

63% thought that senior management did not make enough effort to be visible and accessible to employees

64% thought that senior managers did not effectively communicate the reasons for important business decisions

Around 66% believed that senior managers did not communicate openly and honestly with their employees

Other research

BlessingWhite’s research in 2008 showed that while 75% of workers trust their immediate managers, only 53% trust senior management, despite the fact that these are the people who should be spearheading the drive towards organizational commitment and high performance.

Gallup’s research also comes to the same conclusion, that bad management is the main culprit, showing quite clearly that engaged workers are very satisfied with their managers, while disengaged employees are extremely dissatisfied with theirs.

Other reasons for disengagement… Work pressures, especially in post-recession times, are

seen impacting work-life balance and health

Breakdown of ‘psychological contract’

“…levels of employee engagement tend to be high during the first six months to a year after joining an organization, at this point they begin to drop off up until the five year mark.  Much of the reason for this is also attributed to poor management and leadership.  With insufficient guidance, very little clarity and often very little interaction with managers, workers not only quickly come to feel confused, but they also become highly distrustful of management and the information that managers are feeding them.” – Todd Bavol,

So, what’s the solution?

You must genuinely create mutually beneficial relationships that embrace sharing, belonging and professional intimacy (aka “human connectedness”) between and among you and your team members where your employees feel that they’re a part of the team, feel that they’re respected and valued, and feel that they’re learning and growing.

“…engaged employees are so emotionally and intellectually committed to their jobs that they want to give “discretionary effort.” Georgie Sherill, Sr. Director of HR Integration, Walmart

What does “Human Connectedness” look like? Employees are trusted by you and their co-workers.

Are listened to and know that their options count

Know that their work and contributions are valued

Feel that their work is meaningful

Help each other out

Know that you and their co-workers fundamentally care for them as human beings

Actively engage in discussions with you plus receive encouragement from you regarding their professional progress, growth and development

…Human Connectedness

Understand how their jobs contribute to your organization’s success

Have the tools that they need to deliver quality results

Truly believe that their co-workers are committed to and equally accountable for delivering quality results

Are assigned to work that allows them to leverage their skills and strengths

Receive performance feedback on a regular basis

Have been given opportunities to learn and grow

How to build ‘Human Connectedness’? People, specifically senior leaders who model world-class

behavior such as listening, calling people by name, communicating and recognizing people openly

Work that creates connection to the organization, and resources available to support task

Total remuneration and recognition programs that attract employees

Opportunities that include career development and training

Quality-of-Life issues that include benefits and work schedules

Company practices, such as diversity, sustainability, company reputation, etc.

Look, we know it all…Right? That’s right, we know it all !!!

But why don’t we do it then ??? Why do we make people suffer and even ourselves in that process, but don’t make any radical changes?

What stops us from making the workplace a fun place to work, a place where people feel valued, energized and productive?

It is the system, or your company culture, or your boss, or your job description that stops you?...or something else…???

What do you see here?

Different people, different perspectives "Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first

man who touched his leg.

"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail.

"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.

"It is like a big hand fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.

"It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.

What is a Mental Model?

Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the worlds and how we take action. Very often, we are not consciously aware of our mental models or the effect they have on our behavior - The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge,

Mental models…

…an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about their own acts and their consequences. Our mental models help shape our behavior and define our approach to solving problems (akin to a personal algorithm) and carrying out tasks - Wikipedia

Mental Models…

Mental models are subtle but powerful. Subtle, because we usually are unaware of their effect. Powerful, because they determine what we pay attention to, and therefore what we do.

Mental models are strongly conservative: left unchallenged, they will cause us to see what we have always seen: the same needs, the same opportunities, the same results. And because we see what our mental models permit us to see, we do what our mental models permit us to do.

Are Mental Models real?

“What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can hear, what you can smell, taste and feel then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain” – Morpheus, Matrix (1999)

Are Mental Models right or wrong? “Essentially all models are wrong, but some are

useful” – George Box

“…The problems with mental models lie not in whether they are right or wrong – by definition, all models are simplifications. The problems with mental models arise when they become implicit – when they exist below the level of our awareness…because we remain unaware of our mental models, the models remain unexamined. Because they are unexamined, the models remain unchanged. As the world changes, the gap widens between our mental models and reality, leading to increasingly counterproductive actions” – The Fifth Discipline

Can Mental Models impact organizational practices?“…Mental models of what can or cannot be

done in different management settings are no less deeply entrenched. Many insights into new markets or outmoded organizational practices fail to get put into practice because they conflict with powerful, tacit mental models” – The Fifth Discipline

“…the most crucial mental models are those shared by key decision-makers. Those models, if unexamined, limit an organization's range of actions to what is familiar and comfortable.”

Let’ examine some common mental models

All Chinese look alike

Spare the rod, spoil the child

Women make bad drivers

The problem will go away if I ignore it

If I try to run away, the rope will hurt!

Connect 9 dots with just 4 straight lines without lifting pen

Long-standing and unquestioned mental models at GMGM is in the business of making money,

not cars

Cars are primarily status symbols. Styling is therefore more important than quality

American car market is isolated from rest of the world

Workers don’t have an important impact on productivity or product quality

Everyone connected with the system has no need for more than a fragmented, compartmentalized understanding of the business

Ladder of Inference

The "ladder of inference” - a term coined by Professor Chris Argyris - is a metaphor that shows how rapidly we can leap to knee-jerk conclusions with little data and no intermediate thought process, as if rapidly climbing up a ladder in our minds. You start at the bottom with the observable data, which is so self-evident that it would show up on a videotape recorder (Larry has yawned at a meeting), and within the space of a few seconds, leap up to assumptions (Larry is bored), to more generic conclusions (Larry doesn't care about this project). Since most of these conclusions are never discussed openly, there is no way to check them.

The ladder of inference explains why most people don't usually remember where their deepest attitudes came from. The data is long since lost to memory, after years of inferential leap

Ladder of Inference

Examples

Examples

How to use Ladder of Inference?Reflection: Becoming more

aware of your own thinking and reasoning

Advocacy: Making your thinking and reasoning more visible to others

Inquiry: Inquiring into others' thinking and reasoning

Mental Models at Workplace

Gen Y is irresponsible

Boss should have more

experience

People leave for money

It’s ok to reach late for meetings

My software has NO bugs

Projects are always late and overbudget

Work should be serious

Sitting late in office shows commitment

They all want to be managers

We will make up for this delay by …Working overtime

Adding more people

New tools

Re-architecture

New programming language

…New Silver Bullet!

What did we learn?

Share your perspective…

How can we use Mental Models for positive results?If mental models can impede learning – freezing companies and industries in outmoded practices – why can’t they also help accelerate learning?

Skills

Skills of reflection concern slowing down our own thinking processes so that we can become more aware of how we form our mental models and the ways they influence our actions

Inquiry skills concern how we operate in face-to-face interactions with others, especially in dealing with complex and conflict issues.

Tools

Facing up to distinctions between espoused theories (what we say) and theories-in-use (the implied theory in what we do)

Recognizing “leaps of abstractions” (noticing our jumps from observing to generalization)

Exposing the “left-hand column” (articulating what we normally do not say)

Balancing inquiry and advocacy skills (skills for effective collaborative learning)

Left-hand Column

Powerful technique for beginning to “see” how our mental models operate in particular situations.

It reveals ways that we manipulate situations to avoid dealing with how we actually think and feel, and thereby prevent a counterproductive situation from improving.

Example

Me: How did the presentation go?

Bill: Well, I don’t know. It’s really too early to tell. Besides, we’re breaking new ground here.

Me: well, what do you think we should do? I believe the issues you were raising are important.

Bill: I am not sure. Let’s just wait and see what happens.

Me: You may be right, but I think we may need to do more than just wait.

Example with Left-hand columnWhat I am thinking What is said

Everyone says the presentation was a bomb!Does he really not know how bad it was? Or is he not willing to face up to it?

He really is afraid to see the truth. If only he had more confidence, he could probably learn from a situation like this. I can’t believe how disastrous that presentation was to our moving ahead.

I’ve got to find a way to light a fire under this guy.

Me: How did the presentation go?Bill: Well, I don’t know. It’s really too early to tell. Besides, we’re breaking new ground here.

Me: well, what do you think we should do? I believe the issues you were raising are important.

Bill: I am not sure. Let’s just wait and see what happens.

Me: You may be right, but I think we may need to do more than just wait.

Balancing Inquiry and AdvocacyWhen operating in pure advocacy,

the goal is to win the argument.

Pure inquiry is also limited.

When inquiry and advocacy are combined, the goal is no longer to “win the argument” but to find the best argument.

When advocating your views…Make your own reasoning

explicit

Encourage others to explore your view

Encourage others to provide different vies

Actively inquire into other’s views that differ from your own

When inquiring into others’ views…If you are making assumptions

about other’s views, state your assumptions clearly and acknowledge that they are assumptions

State the ‘data’ upon which your assumptions are based

Don’t bother asking questions if you are not genuinely interested in other’s response

When you arrive at an impasse…As what data or logic might

change their views

Ask if there is any way you might together deign and experiment (or some other inquiry) that might provide new information

Conclusions

Today’s workplaces suffer from “disengagement epidemic”

No change can be everlasting and self-sustainable unless there is a change within

Unfortunately, our deeply entrenched “mental models” stop us from changing

Individual mental models, especially those of decision-makers, can affect organizational practices

It is critical to examine our mental models for a true “human-centric leadership”

References

http://www.algodonesassociates.com/planning/Mental%20models.pdf

http://techedgellc.com/the-disengagement-epidemic/

http://www.unmanagement.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60:workerdisengagement&catid=41:umapresskit&Itemid=58

http://www.solonline.org/aboutsol/

http://www.right.com/country-sites/nz/thought-leadership/research/organisational-effectiveness-and-employee-engagement-discovering-how-to-make-them-happen.pdf

References

http://www.hrninjablog.com/?p=1760

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/paradigm_dissonance_a_significant_factor_in_design_and_business_problems

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/A-Disengaged-Generation-Young-prnews-3668084470.html?x=0&.v=1

http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/employeerelations/articles/Pages/LongViewonEngagement.aspx

My forthcoming presentations… “Strategic Alignment of

Horizontal and Vertical PMO Goals” at PMI National Conference, Bangalore, 8-10 Sep 2011 (abstract accepted)

“Orchestrating Excellence – The Yahoo! India Way”, at PMO Symposium, Florida, 6-9 Nov 2011

Thanks!

Blog: http://managewell.net

Mail: tathagat.varma@gmail.com

Twitter: @TathagatVarma

Presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/managewell