Mental models: Team pulling together & #8211; Workshop retro with Echometer

Again, the two colleagues somehow talked past each other. They have made such an effort. This always leads to conflicts … Why doesn’t it just work? 

Maybe we can help. People look at the world from different filters. If you looked at a picture, many would look at it from different angles & #8211; and talk about it differently. Depending on the filter.

Psychological background

But everyone also has different perspectives on what is actually good work, for example. From a psychological point of view, one could also say that the colleagues have different ones mental models the reality.

And that’s exactly why you sometimes communicate with each other. Because you perceive the world differently and therefore talk about it differently. The following video makes it very clear what a mental model actually is (3 minutes are enough): Draw toast.

You already thought it: the closer your mental models are to each other, the better you can communicate. So & #8211; let’s adjust them!

Exercise & discussion in retro

We recommend the following exercise:

1. 5 & #8211; 10 minutes: Do the “Draw Toast” exercise in a team (without prior explanation) as explained in the video. Make sure that you do not exchange or inspire each other.
2. Everyone can present their work to the group for 20 seconds.
3. Watch the first few minutes of the Draw-Toast video & #8211; so that everyone can understand what a mental model is. It should also become clear that it happens that different people can have very different mental models.

For the next step you should use the retro following Echometer items have queried:

• As a team, we share a common understanding of what “good work” is.
• I know how much influence and responsibilities I have and how I can use them in different situations.
• I can understand how my work contributes to team and company success.

If you get the retro feedback from the team in advance, you have an “unbiased” opinion of the team and can use an objective basis to tackle the next step of the workshop.

• Look at the results of the retro.

  • Discuss the results one after the other and discuss how your mental model looks like.
  • In conclusion: What do you spend most of your time on in team communication? Do you all have the same mental model to communicate effectively?

The aim of this exercise is to align the mental models here. At the same time, it also helps to clarify a goal of the items of Echometer: The items, i.e. statements of Echometer, also always serve to compare the mutual mental models (also independently of today’s retro).

One step further

And if you start to notice that your mental models really differ, you can of course actively compare them and help each other to new insights through your different perspectives.

1. Everyone writes down what their own mental model (for example, what “good” work is) actually looks like & #8211; if possible in a rough drawing or visualization.
2. The results are discussed again in small groups.
3. The findings of the discussion are discussed in the entire team. 
4. Possibly. measures are derived based on this & #8211; eg clear terminology in the team or similar
5. The results should of course be checked regularly again & #8211; the whole thing is always work-in-progress.

You can find more information on the subject of “mental models” in  our blog text  . 

Let’s hope that your mental models are now similar. And then hallelujah. Everything will be so much better! Hopefully.