Ladder of Inference and Advocacy/Inquiry Copy

Meetings are an integral part of organizational life and, for many people, they are inefficient and a waste of time. Think of a meeting you attended where there was apparent agreement among the participants. After the meeting individuals expressed frustration at the outcome. This is a situation where the real conversations took place elsewhere. What is the cost of behaving this way? In Time? In money? Lost ideas? The effect of suspicion and mistrust on productivity?

The problem with this is that meetings are actually essential to integration and coordination of effort within a group or team. Secondly, a team or a group can only find its identity when it meets and the members are acting in relationship to each other. In the last section we talked about how The Left Hand column can impact an interpersonal conversation. In a meeting it is very likely there is a lot of “toxicity” in the left hand columns of participants. In this section we are going to introduce two more tools to help process the left hand column which will lead to more productive conversations and meetings.

Before looking at the next video reflect on the following scenario.

Your meeting is scheduled for 8:30 this morning. When you arrive at 8:25, everyone else on the team is there, except for Terry. Terry walks into the room, with the meeting already in progress. Terry offers no explanations, just pours a cup of coffee, takes a seat and begins to join in on the discussion underway. A few people roll their eyes, as the conversation continues.

Please reflect for a moment on the following questions before viewing the video.

What would you think and why?

What would you say (if anything)?

Did you form an opinion about Terry based on facts? Or did you interpret facts, draw conclusions and make assumptions?

This video clip will introduce the Ladder of Inference. The model describes how we climb the ladder from observable data to forming beliefs and assumptions that will govern our actions and decision making moving forward.

As you watch, think about how you formed your opinion about Terry in the scenario.

Let’s take a moment to review the Ladder and how it impacts our interactions with others. Keep in mind that this process is tacit and it happens in seconds. In the following graphic we will start by going up the right side of the ladder and then moving down the left side.

Let’s start with the Pool of all Observable “Data.” We are always surrounded by more information than we can consciously process. We tacitly register some data and ignore other data. We tend to observe selectively based on our mental models. For example, remember when you purchased a new car. Did you begin to notice how many other people were driving the same make and model of car you were driving? This is an example of selective attention.

Once we have taken in that data we don’t realize we add meaning to the selected observations and then make assumptions based on meaning assigned. Our conclusions feel obvious, so we have no need to test our views. We then morph those conclusions into beliefs which then guide future actions.

The implications of this is that by climbing the ladder and not testing our views we create misunderstandings. Disagreements arise as people hurl their conclusions at each other. It makes it harder to resolve differences and learn from each other.

Take a look back at the difficult conversation that you documented in The Left Hand Column exercise.

Reflect on the following questions:

• How much of your Left-Hand Column is observable data?
• If it is not observable data, what is it?
• If you’re entrenched in your beliefs and assumptions, how open to listening are you to what the other person has to say?
• If you’re high on the Ladder of Inference and can’t listen attentively, how open are you to changing your mind or opinion about the other person or issue at hand?
• If these observations are all true, what can you do to have the real conversation?

In the next video we will introduce the next tool to help us manager The Left-Hand Column and The Ladder of Inference: Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry.

Effective Advocacy – making your reasoning process explicit and subject to public examination.

To improve Advocacy:

• Make your thinking process visible.
• Walk up the ladder of inference slowly
• Publicly test your conclusions and assumptions by inviting others to offer alternatives

Effective Inquiry – Inviting others to express their views and describe their reasoning process

To improve inquiry:

• Ask others to make their thinking visible
• Gently walk others down the “Ladder” to observable data on which you can agree
• Use non-aggressive language
• Compare your assumptions with theirs

The value of high-quality inquiry

•  Slows the pace of a conversation while increasing the rate of learning
•  Maintains the focus of the conversation, reducing tangents
•  Increases understanding, lowering the risk of communication
•  Enables discovery and correction of mistakes (particularly your own)
•  Generates new information for more informed choice and increased commitment
•  Facilitates shifts in mindsets and the adoption of new perspectives

Key Point to Remember: As we move through this program one of the skills we are going to emphasize is the importance of asking more questions. We have a cultural bias to Advocacy that is at the root of a lot of our problems in conversation. If you take anything away from this – more effective leaders ask more questions.

Please comment or ask any questions about this segment below. You have to post something to close out the lesson and move on. Feel free to respond to other people’s comments as well.