As a woman in a leadership position have you ever wondered if your thoughts and beliefs are limiting your success or affecting how you show up in your workplace? Do you question what’s behind the way you respond in certain ways, why some things push your buttons and other things/people don’t?
It’s all about something called a mental model, the concept of which goes back as far as the 1920’s. Also referred to as ‘ mindset’, mental models simply defined are the beliefs or filters that underlie our thinking. Peter Senge, states that they “are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action.”
So what’s that got to do with me?
These beliefs or filters affect the way that we see ourselves; how we see others, view situations, and the world around us. They form our perspective, cause us to behave in certain ways; they can block us from learning, hold us back from success, or aid us in our personal or professional growth. Only you can shift your mental model. When you are aware of your mental models you open the door to understanding and possibilities for yourself.
How can knowing this information help change or improve things at work?
Try this quick exercise: Pick a situation at work that is really bugging you, it could be your interactions with your boss, a colleague, or your work life balance. Ask yourself these questions as a way to dig deeper:
What’s the recurring pattern or behaviour that is bothering me?
What is my underlying mental model or thinking?
How does it serve me?
How does it block me?
Where does this belief come from?
Is it true? Or, what else can be true?
Am I willing to change it and break the pattern?
What could be a new mental model that serves me?
What needs to change? Am I willing to embrace the change?
As you reflect on these questions, ask yourself: What do I know about myself now that I didn’t know before? How will your newly discovered mental model serve you as you walk through the door of your office tomorrow?
