Have your encountered situation you knew what is the right thing to do, but you end up doing differently? Or you are so sure of what needs to get the results and it has worked in the past, but the same actions aren’t giving the results now?
Let me share what happened similarly to me when I started my journey to Entrepreneurship. During my 16+ years of the professional life of working for startup’s as well MNC’s, I had developed certain mental models which helped me succeed to a fair level.
When I started on my own, I had hoped even in business I could apply some of those. But alas, things didn’t work like that. But before I explain what didn’t work for me, let me give a brief of what the mental model I mean by.
Mental Model (also called mindset/barrier) is a set of assumptions, beliefs, values, and perceptions which we carry. How these mental models are formed is a different subject, but the fact is each of us has our own mental models for everything we do.
Mental Model (also called mindset/barrier) is a set of assumptions, beliefs, values, and perceptions which we carry
So, let me share an example of this, one of the beliefs I strongly had was avoiding mistakes and keen to get things right the first time!
Knowing vs doing – the mental model
When I started my entrepreneurship journey that too in the online market, I had to learn a lot of new things. It required also to test things out in the market. This belief of avoiding mistake meant I wanted a perfect design for the website, developing a foolproof sales script or coming up with the best advertisement.
The result was all this was too time-consuming. I generally spent a lot of time on rework to get the best versions. But little did I realize that the best versions I considered didn’t give the results.
The key to success of what I had got in my professional life of perfecting and not making mistakes, was becoming an impediment in my entrepreneur life. What I had to do was try things out and learn from the market.
Instead, I was trying to force fit my employee mindset of being perfect, working long hours into a business which demanded a totally new way of working!
I realized after quite a bit of reflection that my current mental model doesn’t work in the start-up phase. Here it is about doing things quickly, learning from mistakes. But the fact is, it is not that I didn’t know this.
It is not that I had not read about Lean method, Fast failing, etc but here I was even after knowing I was doing what I had been hardwired myself with. The old paradigm of not committing mistakes is a good thing wasn’t serving in my new role and I had to overcome my mental barrier.
These mental models can be-be seen as espoused theories and theories-in-use. The espoused theory relates to what we say we do while theory-in-use is what we actually do (based on our own mental models).
For instance, in the context of organization we can say, teamwork and collaboration is a primary value (this can even be included in the company’s official vision or mission statement).
Here an espoused theory is that collaboration and teamwork are beneficial, although, in reality, the same organization may create blocks for collaboration efforts and silo information, only sharing part of the information available.
The relevance of mental models
Now why I am referring to questioning our mental models is, today markets are dynamic and fast changing. If you are an entrepreneur or leader in the organization than it is very likely that not all things which worked for us will serve us again in the future.
A leader must be able to break the old paradigm which had helped in the past and be willing to step outside the preconceived mental models to keep pace with an ever-changing reality
Because if mental models are left unchallenged, they will cause us to see what we have always seen: the same results, the same needs, and the same opportunities. We won’t be able to see things the way it should be seen.
Simply because, we see what our mental models permit us to see, and we can only do what our mental models permit us to do.
For this reason, we must first learn to discover what our internal assumptions, beliefs are and how to rewire new models. This is very much possible and science has proven. Even some of the beliefs which existed for ages we can overcome with new beliefs, perceptions, and values!
“Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein
5 Mental Models for today’s entrepreneurs, leaders
I am listing below in the context of organizations, leadership the 5 barriers we should overcome or another way 5 models we must be willing to develop!
- Doing everything alone: This is a mental model which really served many individuals before they became leaders. You might be technically very sound or could work with a small team and deliver. But this fails as you start managing complex projects and involves multiple expertise. The mental model required now is to trust others, build a strong team and rely on teamwork.
- Taking risk is not good This would have generally worked for many during the initial part of the career. Why take risks and unnecessarily get into trouble. Also taking a risk means putting managers, bosses, the organization in jeopardy. But this paradigm won’t serve anymore if you are playing the role of a leader. As you enter the leadership role by managing P&L, R&D Team, or owning a business, one must learn that taking moderate risks are an inherent part of any business and one must embrace it.
- Work with full understanding This generally worked in an environment where we had all the time. Our past success in schools, colleges, even initial days of employment relied on our completeness of knowledge. But in today’s work, there is no way to know everything. The mental barrier of knowing everything by yourself has to be overcome and one must learn to rely on other others and master art of 80:20 rule (Pareto principle).
- Working longer results better results Working longer has served us definitely. No doubt when you are assigned to code 10K lines or prepare for the exam, anyone who puts more effort or works longer is rewarded better. But in the leadership or business, just more effort is not enough. You must also be smarter and many times doing less actually helps us getting better results. Be more result oriented than just being busy!.
- Following rules diligently We have made to believe this from our school, college days this is practiced unconsciously even where they should question. Savvy businessmen, leaders know that breaking existing rules is what sets them apart! When I say break rules, it is not to do with ethical rules! It means developing an attitude to question the existing processes, systems, techniques which have served organization but no more relevant in the future. As a leader, one must be willing to challenge existing rules and develop new rules where necessary!
Conclusion
“Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” Albert Einstein
Leadership effectiveness is strongly connected with the ability to learn and change and by thus challenging our own mental models. Only after discovering our internal assumptions, we can create future different than the past.
Peter Block, the best selling author covering the topics in organizational development, proposes an invitation that promises something different: „if we want to create something new, we have to invert our thinking: followers create leaders, students create teachers. It doesn’t even matter if that’s true or not.
Charlie Munger popularized the theory of Invert-Always Invert ( Carl Jacobi’s maxim “Invert, always invert). The idea is to turn the problem upside-down. Instead of saying I want to ensure that we deliver the product in 100 days, we can ask what can go wrong in delivering the product in 100 days and list all the things and address the same.
According to Peter Senge (A systems scientist), managing mental models involves identifying, clarifying, and changing one’s mental model and its component assumptions. It is only through such a process of deconstruction our mental models and by challenging them we will be able to identify new ways of looking at an old problem.
Hope this article helped you understand the need for questioning our mental models and given the slightest perspective to see things differently.
