Building A New View: Removing Blocks to Misunderstandings

Have you noticed how quickly assumptions are made about what we have seen or heard?!!  It is as if there is an on-call Reporter or Story Teller in our heads making up a tale about the other person or the circumstances!

The Ladder of Inference is one tool that helps us slow down this inner chatter and to check out the details of the story being told.

• What did the person ACTUALLY say, and why did I assume...?
• How did the person ACTUALLY look at me, and what internal tape became activated? 
• Why did I respond with anger or frustration when my supervisor gave this assignment, and what does this work ACTUALLY mean?

Ladder of Inference, Chris Argyris (current view courtesy of Bread of Life Center)

The Ladder reminds me that my view is one of many views.  For instance, when I look at a structure made of building blocks, I will have a view based on where I am standing or what I am focusing on.

Building a New View: Looks like I see the whole, right?

If I were to move slightly to the right or to the left, I may gain a different perspective.  The new view may give me a depth I did not see originally.  I cannot take in all perspectives by remaining in one place.

If I move to the side, I begin to see more depth

Dialogue work invites us to move around and realize there may be different ways of looking at a situation.  Noticing where I am standing on the Ladder of Inference has a similar invitation: to notice where I began; to move down the Ladder to understand what occurred along the way up the Ladder; and to be in conversation with the other person or people: what are you experiencing?

But even a side view limits what I can see in front...

Depending on how we are looking at the block structure, we may also notice other things about ourselves:

• What distracts us (e.g., why is there a fish on the cloth?)
• Where is there misalignment, something we may consider "wrong" (e.g., did you notice the blocks are not straight?)
• What dominates (e.g., is the focus on the colored or non-colored blocks?)

And moving to a top view means I cannot see front, back or sides!

The Ladder invites us to consider that our view -- so long held -- might be one-view-of-many.  

And thus, a question arises: am I looking at the situation a little skewed?  By seeing other perspectives, maybe we will gain depth and a new understanding.  This may not mean changing our position or view, simply gaining an understanding of a possible alternative explanation.

Does this mean I have a skewed view?

Whether beginning at the top of the Ladder or with a fixed Structure-of-My-Views, maybe we are called this week to start anew.

Here are the blocks: let's build together a society where all views and perspectives are valid; where the placement of the blocks is at our joint discretion; and where the goal is understanding.

The invitation is to begin building together!

Happy building this new week!

Larry Gardepie