Norms of Collaboration
Presuming Positive Intentions
Concepts & Toolsfor Practitioners
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Welcome!Thinking Collaborative –
Adaptive Schools Seminarswww.thinkingcollaborative.com
Norms of Collaboration
1. Pausing
3. Posing Questions
4. Putting Ideas on the Table
5. Providing Data
7. Presuming Positive Intentions
6. Paying Attention to Self and Others
2. Paraphrasing
Thinking Collaborative - Adaptive Schools Seminars
Outcomes for This Norm
Understanding of Presuming Positive Intentions.
Skills for reflecting on and inquiring into intentions – one’s own and those of others.
Self-assessment of Presuming Positive Intentions.
Relaxed Alertness
allows access to the
prefrontal cortex under
conditions of high
challenge and low
threat or risk
Downshift
causes loss of
resourcefulness and
flexibility as the
basal ganglia and
amygdala take charge
Action
Pyramid of Influence
Intention
Attention
Read, Recall, Retell
Activate & Engage
1. With a partner, decide A & B.
2. Silently read the first paragraph of
Presuming Positive Intentions.
3. A covers the text, pauses to recall, and
retells – or paraphrases - the text.
4. B clarifies by posing a question if necessary.
5. Reverse roles for paragraph 2.
6. Stop when you have completed
paragraph 2.Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Read, Recall, Retell
Activate & Engage
6. Silently read the third paragraph, beginning “Our
communication with others…”
7. A covers the text, pauses to recall, and retells –
or paraphrases - the text.
8. B clarifies by posing a question if necessary.
9. Reverse roles for paragraphs 4 and 5 together.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Stop when you have completedthe first page of text.
Think, Write, Pair
Activate & Engage
Given the invisibility of intentions and theneed to infer them, what strategies do you already use to support you in accomplishing this important mental work?
Jot your thoughts in your Dendwrite.
Share and explore with your partner.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The Ladder of Inference
Partners Process
Making Connections
What are some of the
connections you might be
making between Presuming
Positive Intentions and the
Ladder of Inference?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The Ladder as Conceptual Framework
Observable Data
Selected Data
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Key Phrases
1. Read silently The Ladder of Inference as Conceptual Framework, noting key phrases.
2. One partner shares a key phrase or two and their personal significance.
3. The other partner pauses and paraphrases.
4. Reverse roles and repeat.
Ladder of InferenceJamie’s Case
How the Ladder of Inference Works
Silently read the paragraph titled
A Brief Case Scenario,
the last paragraph on page 2.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Ladder of Inference
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
High level of engagement by everyone except Jamie
All invested in learning except Jamie
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
A Conceptual Framework
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
Ladder of Inference
Jamie is: disengaged looking at cell phone texting
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
A Conceptual Framework
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
Jamie doesn’t want to be in this session
Ladder of Inference
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
A Conceptual Framework
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
Jamie doesn’t value professional development
Ladder of Inference
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
A Conceptual Framework
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
Jamie will sabotage the session
Ladder of Inference
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
A Conceptual Framework
A-B Say Something
Ladder of Inference
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
1. With your partner, continue as A & B.
2. Silently read the first paragraph on page 3.
3. A says something about the text.
4. B pauses, paraphrases A, then says something
else.
5. A paraphrases B.
6. Reverse roles for the second paragraph.
7. Reverse roles again for the third paragraph.
Relaxed Alertness
allows access to the
prefrontal cortex under
conditions of high
challenge and low
threat or risk
Downshift
causes loss of
resourcefulness and
flexibility as the
basal ganglia and
amygdala take charge
What, Why, How
Presuming Positive Intentions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
We are now aware of what
we do and why we do it!
Next, how do we get out of
those “recursive loops?”
Converting Negative Energy:
Release from the
Recursive Loops of
the Ladder of Inference
Think, Write, Share
Activate & Engage
1. Reflect on your experience with groups.
2. What are some group member
behaviors that detract from
others’ learning, or from the
group accomplishing its task?
3. Create a list of these group member
behaviors in your Dendwrite.
4. Choose a recorder.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Think, Write, Share
Activate & Engage
5. As a table group, share the items in round robin fashion. No crosstalk. Recorders: record items as they are shared.
…looking to the green supports the
facilitator or presenter, because when you
look to the red, one tends to get defensive
or judgmental. Looking to the green, you
can get curious. Your disposition influences
the quality of your presence, your inter-
actions, and the responses you get. By
avoiding the emotional flooding that comes
with looking to the red, one has access to
the full range of intervention strategies one
knows. Robert Garmston
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The trick in presuming positive intentions is not to predict what the intention is, but to feel confident that there is one.
– Bob Garmston
Key Words
Identify and Explore
Partners silently reflect on the
quotation on the next slide,
individually making note of key
words that stand out as significant.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
“The challenging internal work of facilitation
is to identify and explore the core values and
assumptions that guide your actions, to
rigorously reflect on how they increase or
decrease your effectiveness, and to develop
a new set of values and assumptions that you
can use to increase your effectiveness and
that of the groups you work with.”
⌘ Roger Schwarz
Reflection and Inquiry
1. Now for each word selected, partners silently inquire into their respective thinking:
“Why did I choose this word?”
“What made these particular words important to me?”
2. Partners share their thinking,
paraphrasing each other.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Identify and Explore
Two skill sets will be important here.
Reflection:
Inquiry:
How
Presuming Positive Intentions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Two skill sets will be important here.
Reflection: slowing down our thinking, becoming consciousof our mental models generally, and ourintentions specifically.
Inquiry:
How
Presuming Positive Intentions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Two skill sets will be important here.
Reflection: slowing down our thinking, becoming consciousof our mental models generally, and ourintentions specifically.
Inquiry:questioning how we constructed meaning, formed assumptions, developed conclusions, shaped our own intentions, and identified the intentions of others.
How
Presuming Positive Intentions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Looking ThroughMultiple Lenses
Ladder of Inference
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
What data are available – experiential, dispositional, situational?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Looking ThroughMultiple Lenses
Ladder of Inference
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
What data – experiential, dispositional, situational – am I selecting to focus on?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Looking ThroughMultiple Lenses
Ladder of Inference
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
What assumptions am I holding about this person or this situation?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Looking ThroughMultiple Lenses
Ladder of Inference
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
What conclusions am I drawing?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Looking ThroughMultiple Lenses
Ladder of Inference
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
What beliefs do I hold that relate to this person and situation? What are my intentions?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
1. Recall the earlier scenario where you
were a presenter and Jamie was a
participant.
2. Partners silently read the section
Applying the Ladder to the Jamie
Scenario at the bottom of p. 5.
Read and Apply
Ladder of Inference
3. Explore with your partner. As
a presenter, how might your actions now
differ from the actions you would have
previously chosen?
Ladder of InferenceRead and Apply
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions
Ladder of Inference
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Application Alternatives
4. Dialogic reflection with a partner
3. Written retrospective with revisions
2. Consideration in Retrospect
1. Consideration in the Moment
Ladder of Inference
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Organize & Integrate
3. Jot your thoughts in your Dendwrite, and identify which of the four application alternatives might best serve you.
2. Identify an actual or anticipated situation in which the Ladder of Inference might you as a tool for reflection and inquiry.
1. Reflect on your present or anticipated work in your organization.
4. Share and explore your thinking with a partner.
Ladder of InferencePocket Cue Card
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Presuming Positive Intentions
Creating a Personal Foundation
Use your Dendwrite to journal your
private thoughts and reflections
about how you view people generally.
Prompts will be provided to scaffold
your thinking and journaling.
What might be some of the assumptions you
hold for people in general?
In what ways are the conclusions you reach
with respect to people based on the accurate
processing of as much data as possible?
What beliefs do you hold about the goodness
of people in general?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Presuming Positive Intentions
Creating a Personal Foundation
In what ways do you challenge your own mental models and revise them for the purpose of shifting perspectives?
What are your beliefs about positive intentions, even in those situations that you struggle to understand?
What are your beliefs about the proposition that every person acts in a way that is guided by some degree of positive intent, from their personal point of view?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Presuming Positive Intentions
Creating a Personal Foundation
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Table Groups Debrief
1. Take a few moments to re-read your
thoughts.
2. Identify the M.I.P. and jot it in your
Dendwrite.
M.I.P. – T.G. M.I.P.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
3. One person shares their M.I.P. with the Table Group.
4. The person on the right pauses and paraphrases, and then offers their M.I.P. (no crosstalk).
5. The pattern continues until all have shared.
6. Table Groups craft a paraphrase that captures your T.G.M.I.P.
7. Be prepared to share whole group.
Table Groups Debrief
M.I.P. – T.G. M.I.P.
Tools for PresumingPositive Intentions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
➫ Go for the Green
➫ The Ladder of Inference
Conceptual Framework
Reflection & Inquiry
➫ Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Read and Respond with your partner:
“[Expectancy] theory emphasizes the
needs for organizations to relate rewards
directly to performance and to ensure that
the rewards provided are those rewards
deserved and wanted by the recipients.”
⌘ Victor Vroom Work and Motivation
Expectancy Theory
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Read and Respond with your partner:
“External motivation can actually result
in diminished intrinsic motivation, lower
performance, less creativity, and short-
term thinking.”
⌘ Daniel Pink Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Motivation
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Hmm, a dichotomy? A polarity?
Activate & Engage
Positive Presuppositionsas Motivators-------------------
Vroom:Expectancy
Theory
Positive Presuppositions asCounter-Motivators
-------------------Pink:
Internal Motivation
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Sentence Share
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
1. Partners read silently the first 4 paragraphs of
…Congruent Positive Presuppositions.
2. After reading, each partner selects one
sentence that stands out.
3. Partners take turns sharing sentences,
explaining the personal significance.
Paraphrase and inquire to
explore thinking. Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
A-B Each Teach
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
1. Partners decide A & B.
2. Partner A reads Grounding
in Expectancy Theory.
3. Partner B reads Alignment
and Authenticity.
4. When both are done,
each teaches the other.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Positive Presupposition Traps!
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
The Internal Congruence Trap
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Internal Congruence
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
What is the internal work that
must be done in order for a
speaker’s beliefs, language, and
actions to be congruent?
Action
Intention
Attention
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The Work of Internal Congruence
1. Earlier you journaled responses to six prompts to establish a personal foundation for Presuming Positive Intentions.
2. Return to this journaling, and jot your reflections about how your thinking might apply to developing internal congruence for positive presuppositions.
Personal Reflection
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The Work of Internal Congruence
3. Share and explore with your partner your thinking about how your personal foundation thinking might apply to establishing Internal Congruence.
Partner Reflection
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Positive Presupposition Traps!
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
The External Congruence Trap
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
The External Congruence Trap
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Vroom:Expectancy
Theory
Pink:Intrinsic
Motivation
External Congruence
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
External Congruence
If the positive presupposition
is in hollow words –
not grounded in the
listener’s beliefs –
then it will be ineffective!
Ladder of Inference Revisited
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Observable Data
SelectedData
Assumptions
Conclusions
Beliefs
Actions1. Internal Work 2. External Work
Enter at any step; move
up and down the double
arrow as needed:★ Reflect;★ Inquire.
Now return to the
step where you
select data and re-
climb the ladder.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Taking Action…
Next Steps
Organize & Integrate
As I continue to
think about my
use of positive
presuppositions,
a next step
for me
will
be…
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Organize & Integrate
Stop Light Self Assessment
To develop your mindset and tool set for Presuming Positive Intentions…
…what might you stop doing?
…what might you be alert to?
…what might you start doing?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The trick in presuming positive intentions is not to predict what the intention is, but to feel confident that there is one.
– Bob Garmston