Leo,
Thanks for the efforts to define useful terms for us as we think about
problem solving. I, too, am a proponent of what deBono calls "parallel
thinking." I thought you might like to know one way I facilitate a group
to do it.
First I conduct a poll on some issue of interest. (I actually use a
computer program called OptionFinder and hand-held keypads to conduct the
poll -- it displays the results immediately and anonymously.)
Then, we look at the (anonymous) results together -- OptionFinder can
display a graph that shows each individual response without identifying
from whom it came. If there is any disagreement I move on to parallel
thinking.
I say, first, "I don't know how you responded, but there were a group of
you who were over here (pointing to a cluster of responses on the graph.)
Whether you are one of them or not, how might you have to be thinking in
order to respond that way?" We spend several minutes exploring the
point(s) of view of people who would respond in that particular way.
Then I say, "Okay, but others of you responded over here. How might
someone who would respond that way be thinking? What would they have in
mind?" And we spend another few minutes exploring those mindsets.
Let me say that from having done this countless times over the past 15
years with all kinds of groups that, when there is significant
disagreement in a group and I investigate it using parallel thinking, I
consistently find that about 85% of the time (this is just a rough
estimate) the disagreement arises from a communication or language problem
-- that is, some people interpreted the issue in one way and others
interpreted it in another. When we agree to use one interpretation and
repoll the group, it's amazing how much agreement we find! [Of course in
the other 15% of the cases the interpretation is similar enough and we
have a genuine difference of perception or opinion. We just have to use
dialogue and, especially, the "Ladder of Inference" to think things
through.]
John W. Gunkler
jgunkler@sprintmail.com
--"John Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>