Leadership: Mental Models
Most of us walk around with an incomplete and outdated mental model of reality. And we keep trying to solve problems using the same model that created them. Peter Senge
Gregg’s Reflection
As my brother and I studied Peter Senge’s seminal book, The Fifth Discipline, the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, one of the disciplines was Mental Models, the lenses we use to look at the world. We all have an incomplete picture of reality, yet with the information we have, we create maps of the world we see.
Those maps are always incomplete, yet they can become rigid ways of thinking that impede our lives and our spiritual walk. One example is the idea that God is in the room on Sunday morning at church. While that is certainly true, it is also very limiting, because it may inhibit my ability to see God in the world.
Chris Argyris, developed the idea of the Ladder of Inference, in which that data I observe (which is always limited and not a complete picture) leads me to make assumptions, draw conclusions, and adopt beliefs about the world which then guide my actions. The cycle repeats over and over and a mental model is formed.
My eye site has declined, and I wear glasses for distance and for reading. When I put the glasses on, it changes the way the world works. Yet, soon I forget I’m wearing them.
Senge tells us systems thinking is The Fifth Discipline bringing all the other learning organization disciplines together. As I learned to see beneath the things that just happened to see how the systems at play were really controlling behavior, I began to see deeper into reality. Just as the riverbed determines the course of the river, systems and the structures that create them determine the path of our organizations and lives. (See the Iceberg Model)
I spent three years studying Structure with Robert Fritz, learning to see reality more clearly. I learned to see the structures guiding my life, and grew to understand they were based on a flawed mental model. I was trained to do structure sessions with people, and that has been the core of my coaching work.
All structures are built on a flawed mental model. For the Christian, the flaw often involves the misunderstanding that I must prove myself worthy to God. Even pastors who have preached Salvation by Grace often have this structure operating underneath their rational thought that is still driving them to prove themselves worthy.
I think of it as a crossed wire in our subconscious that drives much of our behavior without us consciously realizing it. Structure sessions bring that thinking into the light of day, so people can begin to live free of the lie the structure rests on. The evil one only has to cross this one wire, and people then spend decades expending tremendous energy trying to prove something that can never be proved.
The basic flaw in the mental model is a worldview of obligation that leaves us with so many shoulds, musts and have to’s that we are robbed of our freedom. I have seen many people who live their whole lives burdened by obligation. I spent nearly fifty years there myself. This helps illustrate why mental models are so powerful. (See my post on Freedom vs Obligation.)
I took my own mental models into my session today with my spiritual director, Mark Ritchie. I spoke to him about the importance of seeing reality clearly so as to be able to live the life God intends. He responded:
We get so caught up in evaluating everything to judge whether we are leading the life God intends. Those judgments actually impede our living out what God calls us to. We fill in the gaps in our understanding because our ego wants to have some control.
We are not comfortable sitting in this moment with what is. The evaluative mind makes up what those things are that God intends, when they are right there in front of us. Let go of the idea of anything being a mistake, when it was simply another experience shaping us. It causes regret and ties us into the should. Each choice is a choosing of one thing and not choosing another. Revelation is built around readiness. Letting it be OK instead of evaluating and judging is hard for ego because there’s no control.
He mentioned that people could have exactly the same gifts but choose completely different paths. I suggested that my passion emerged from my own wound. He said,
A lot of our passion comes from our shadow. We deny the pain, and it turns into a passion to heal the other when we still seek healing of our own inner child. This is how our shadow and our hidden pain turns into a passion to be a wounded healer.
In coaching work, we have to refrain from being the savior. Be their mirror to help them see the evidence that they are taking healthy steps. Our ego does need to be affirmed. When our inner picture of what we want matches the outer reality of what is unfolding, we feel good. That is the feeling of wellbeing. Shamanic journeying needs a shaman, a guide. Our ego thinks we can do it on our own.
So there is some mental model work for you. Come along as we journey beneath the surface of our thinking to make explicit the mental models that are guiding our path and sometimes controlling our lives. Bringing your mental models into the light and examining them to see if they are really true is incredibly powerful in bringing us to health and giving us the ability to live the life God has for us. Blessings
Journaling Prompts
What are the “glasses” I’m wearing right now—unconscious assumptions that shape how I see God, myself, or others? (Think about beliefs you’ve never questioned—especially about success, worth, or truth.) Can I recall a time when someone challenged my mental model and I resisted? What did that reveal about my inner attachments? What practices (e.g., contemplation, honest dialogue, scripture reading) help me see more clearly and question old lenses?
Scripture
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8. A direct reminder of the difference between divine and human mental models.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Psalm 119:105
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
Matthew 6:22
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:32. Mental models often bind us in false narratives; truth liberates.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2
Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.
1 Corinthians 13:12
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5. The inner discipline of reframing and submitting our interpretations to a higher truth.
Ancient Writings
Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them.
Epictetus, Enchiridion, Section 5, 1st century AD, translated by Elizabeth Carter
The things we see are not what they are, but what we are.
Plotinus, The Enneads, translated by Stephen MacKenna, V.3.11 (c. 270 AD)
Remove the cataract of the mind, and you will see the divine light in everything.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Mystical Theology, The Divine Names VI.3
Modern Writing
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Albert Einstein
Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions or generalizations that influence how we understand the world and how we take action.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 8
Because mental models are usually tacit, existing below the level of awareness, they are often unexamined. They are generally invisible to us—until we try to communicate with someone who sees the world differently.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 8
The discipline of working with mental models starts with turning the mirror inward; learning to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to the surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 9.
Reality is made up of circles but we see straight lines.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 73
Most of us walk around with an incomplete and outdated mental model of reality. And we keep trying to solve problems using the same model that created them.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 163
New insights fail to get put into practice because they conflict with deeply held internal images of how the world works—images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 174
The problem with mental models is not that they are right or wrong—by definition, all models are simplifications. The problem comes when the models are implicit and unexamined.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 175
The most effective way to deal with mental models is not to deny or attack them, but to surface them and hold them open to inquiry.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, p. 175
Until we surface and examine our mental models, they remain invisible—and we walk around wearing them like glasses we forgot we put on.
Charlotte Roberts, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, p. 67.
The power of a learning organization lies in its ability to question assumptions and create a safe space for examining shared thinking.
Charlotte Roberts, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, p. 202.
Transforming mental models requires both courage and humility—courage to confront ingrained beliefs and humility to admit they may be flawed.
Charlotte Roberts, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, p. 204.
We do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.
Robert Fritz, Your Life As Art, p. 61.
Structure determines behavior. If the underlying structure includes distorted mental models, no matter how much effort we exert, the results will conform to the structure.
Robert Fritz, The Path of Least Resistance, p. 20.
When people become aware of their assumptions, they gain the power to alter the structures they live by.
Robert Fritz, Creating, p. 34.
Key Team Mental Model Exercises from The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
Left-Hand Column Exercise
This classic exercise helps individuals and teams surface their mental models about a conversation or event:
Fold a piece of paper in half vertically. On the right-hand column, write what was actually said in a conversation.
On the left-hand column, write your thoughts and feelings during that conversation—what you didn’t say.
Reflect on the gap between the two columns. This helps reveal hidden assumptions and mental models that affect how you interact with others.
Source: The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, p. 246
Balancing Inquiry and Advocacy
Encouraging open dialogue by balancing:
Advocacy: stating your views clearly.
Inquiry: genuinely exploring others’ views.
Teams can practice asking clarifying questions (inquiry) and sharing their reasoning (advocacy) to improve understanding and challenge mental models.
Source: The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, p. 252-253
Surfacing and Testing Assumptions
This exercise involves asking:
What am I assuming?
What if that assumption is wrong?
What would it look like to test this assumption in a safe way?
It helps teams become aware of hidden mental models that might block learning.
Source: The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, p. 237-238
Most human actions arise out of the images we have of the world, our life in the world, of ourselves and our companions. We do not act out of ideas and rational conclusions nearly so often as we act our of our images.
Beatrice Bruteau, The Grand Option, p. 4