- Combine Mental Models!
- Communicate your Mental Models!
- Methods: Exploring Shared Mental Models' Impact on Team Performance
- Results: Results: Shared Mental Models Enhance Team Performance
- Quiz: What can you remember? True or False?
- Sources (alphabetically ordered)
Combine Mental Models!
„You cannot really know anything if you just remember isolated acts and try to bring them back. If the facts do not hang together on a latticework of theory, you don’t have them in a usable form. You have got to array your experience – both vicarious and direct – on this latticework of models.” — Thinknetic. (2022)
It is not enough to simply remember facts in order to truly understand and apply knowledge. Instead, you must organize your knowledge and experiences into an interconnected framework of theories and models. This broad understanding enables you to make sense of a subject. It is critical to learn various models and connect them together while gaining experience. (Rockwood, R. M. (2011)).
When different mental models are combined in your thinking, they can have a powerful impact known as the "lollapalooza effect." This happens when multiple models collaborate to achieve the same result. Understanding how sets of models relate to one another is critical for harnessing this effect. You can predict the combined effect of using those models in a given situation once you understand this relationship. (Rockwood, R. M. (2011)).
Example: Let's say you want to learn how to invest your money. You begin by using first principles thinking and breaking down the idea of investing into its foundational ideas, such as the relationship between risk and reward and the time value of money. Next, you examine the possible effects of various investment strategies using second-order thinking. As an example, you think about how your investments might perform in various economic situations and how you can rebalance your portfolio to reduce risk and increase returns. Finally, you use the Feynman Technique to further your comprehension of the previously learned ideas. To make sure you fully comprehend the material, you might make flashcards with definitions of important investment terms or write out explanations of investment strategies in your own words. By combining first principles, second-order thinking, and the Feynman Technique, you develop a deeper understanding of investing and are better equipped to make informed decisions about your finances. (Rockwood, R. M. (2011) and own thoughts).
Want to know even more? Have a look that the following video clip.
Communicate your Mental Models!
When working in teams, it is important for the team members to have so-called shared mental models. That improves the team effectiveness and task results. Shared mental models are like a team's shared set of ideas and knowledge. It's what they all know and understand about their tasks, the tools they use, how they work together, and the different situations they might face. It's like having a common picture in their minds.
How to build shared mental models in a team? Teams learn together and interact to build shared models. They develop, change, and reinforce their mental models by understanding and agreeing. Shared mental models are created when everyone accepts agreed meanings and uses them to work together. But, an important factor to get to a shared mental model are constructive conflicts. That is why discussing and exchanging different opinions is very important. (Van Den Bossche et al. (2011)).
Read about the study “Team learning: building shared mental models” by Van Den Bossche et al. from 2011, that tests among others the hypotheses that teams with greater levels of shared task mental models will be more effective than teams with lower levels of shared task mental models.
Methods: Exploring Shared Mental Models' Impact on Team Performance
Participants: The study included 81 first-year bachelor students enrolled in an International Business Economics program. The participants had a mean age of 21 years and 6 months, with a standard deviation of 2 years. Among the participants, 27.2% were female. The students were randomly assigned to 27 teams. (Van Den Bossche et al. (2011)).
Task: The teams engaged in a business simulation game called "Steer the Economy" that required making management decisions based on available information. (Van Den Bossche et al. (2011)).
Data Collection: Two open-ended questions were used to collect data on team members' mental models. Shared mental models were identified by finding concepts and statements that were identical in at least two out of three individuals’ mental models. (Van Den Bossche et al. (2011)).
Measuring Shared Models: A so-called “Carley's (1997) automated approach” is used to extract individual mental models from texts and combine them into a representation of the team's shared mental model. They visualize ideas as connected dots, determining their relationships based on how close the dots are to each other. (Van Den Bossche et al. (2011)).
Evaluation: In order to determine how shared mental models within teams affect their effectiveness, the researchers conducted a regression analysis. They examined two indicators of shared mental models, namely shared concepts and statements, and analyzed their impact on various aspects of team performance, such as equity and goodwill of the business they managed in a simulation game. (Van Den Bossche et al. (2011)).
Results: Results: Shared Mental Models Enhance Team Performance
The study's findings indicate a significant and meaningful relationship between shared mental models and the performance of the team-managed company in the economy game. The number of shared statements is positively related to equity and goodwill, while the number of shared concepts is strongly related to both equity and goodwill. The findings support the hypothesis that teams with higher levels of shared task mental models would be more effective. It was indeed demonstrated that the performance of the "company" improved when the student management team had a higher level of shared mental model. (Van Den Bossche et al. (2011)).
Quiz: What can you remember? True or False?
- Combining different mental models in thinking can lead to a powerful impact known as the "lollapalooza effect.”
- Shared mental models in a team enhance team effectiveness and task results by aligning members' understanding of tasks, tools, collaboration, and potential situations.
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Sources (alphabetically ordered)
- Feynman, R. [@ProfFeynman]. (2012, January 8). "Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible." [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/ProfFeynman/status/1559207085078114305
- Rockwood, R. M. (2011). The Munger Network of Mental Models. The Focus Investing Series Part 3. http://csinvesting.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Munger-Mental-Models.pdf
- Thinknetic. (2022). Mental Models In A Nutshell: Practical Thinking Frameworks To Amplify Your Decision Making And Simplify Your Life.
- Van Den Bossche, P., Gijselaers, W., Segers, M., Woltjer, G., & Kirschner, P. A. (2011). Team learning: building shared mental models. Instructional Science, 39(3), 283–301. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-010-9128-3
- Williamson. (2019, May 7). Mental Models 101 - How To Make Better Decisions | George Mack | Modern Wisdom Podcast 069 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_56L8EGLIk