Mental Models: Set Completion

September 21, 2015

THE CLOSER A COLLECTION IS TO BEING COMPLETE, THE MORE WE DESIRE COLLECTING ALL THE PIECES.

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?

When something is certain and known then we feel comfortable and in control. When something is not complete, we cannot close that item in our mind as we have to keep thinking about it. This maintenance activity adds effort and leads to predictions that might give us cause for concern. This is the basis for the need for completion, and we will, therefore, seek to close off things that we do so we can forget them and move on to the next item of interest.

Some people have a particular need for completion and in teams will be the person who makes sure all jobs are done (often doing the jobs themselves). People who compulsively tidy up are "completer-finishers" as they see untidiness as a step before the completion of tidiness. Contrast this with people who are not completer-finishers and who will happily start something but will be unlikely to see things through to the end.

How might this apply to your business?

What can people collect in your system? How can these be organized into discrete sets to provide easier, achievable goals (and the motivation to continue completing the larger collection)? This principle also applies to incomplete puzzles or pictures—we desire to see the whole image completed. Look for logical groupings (like kinds of information) that can suggest set completion.

Consider

Are you a completer or a starter? What gaps do you seek to close? How do you leave things for people to complete. Start a sentence and see if they will complete it for you -- if they do, you have put the other person into the completer-finisher position. This can be a powerful tool in changing minds.Even if they do not verbally complete the sentence, they will do so in their minds. Watch their body language for signs of what they might be thinking.Likewise, you can use completion in physical tasks. Start something and give it to another to complete. Give rewards for completion, particularly if you have no completer-finishers who will end the job for you.

See Also

Chunking, Curiosity, Achievements, Collecting, Variable Rewards, Pattern Recognition, Status, Gifting, Reputation

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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.

Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.

Mental Models: Peak End Rule

September 14, 2015

WE JUDGE OUR PAST EXPERIENCES ALMOST ENTIRELY BY THEIR PEAKS (PLEASANT OR UNPLEASANT) AND HOW THEY ENDED.

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?

What are the peaks and endings in the employee experience in the organization you have designed? Peaks may be on boarding, promotions, personal development experiences over the course of their time in the organization. Endpoints or pause-points like termination, sabbaticals, or time off can also be anchoring experiences. Identify and improve these.

How might this apply to your business?

What are the peaks and endings in the customer experience of the product or service you have designed? Peaks may be the core value you provide or a small surprise thrown into the user journey. Endpoints can be obvious (order fulfillment from an e-commerce site) or more subtle (such as a friendly or funny registration confirmation page). Identify and improve these.

Consider

How have Peaks and Ends served as valuable learning opportunities?

See Also

Humor Effect, Surprise, Story, Gifting

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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.

Mental Models: Story

September 9, 2015

ALL OUR DECISIONS ARE FILTERED THROUGH A STORY—REAL OR IMAGINED—THAT WE BELIEVE.

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?We tell a lot of stories in organizations:

How might this apply to your business?Are you creating a story that includes your stakeholders? Stories can be explicit—simple, episodic narratives. Or a story can be implied, using words that suggest conflict, a hero or other narrative elements. The most powerful stories are well-crafted visions that give significance to mundane tasks.

Consider

What story did you tell yourself about the last person you just met or came into contact with?

See Also

Commitment & Consistency, Autonomy, Authority, Affect Heuristic, Conceptual Metaphor, Priming, Framing, Periodic Events, Task Significance

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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.

Mental Models: Serial Position Effect

September 8, 2015

WE HAVE MUCH BETTER RECALL OF THE FIRST AND LAST ITEMS WITHIN A LIST.

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?

Ever had a manager that made decisions based on the last meeting they had? We need to make data-driven decisions, but common cognitive biases can skew how the information is interpreted. Letting the numbers speak for themselves is an alluring aspect of analytics, but the reality is that human bias can creep into the process if practitioners aren't vigilant.

How might this apply to your business?

E-commerce websites position products on a product page carefully as well, showing the products that they would most like to sell near the beginning. In online marketing, links presented at the top of email newsletters or on a search engine results page receive many more clicks.

Similarly, links at the beginning and end of a navigation menu on a website will also receive more clicks. Off-line marketing also employs the same principles: Restaurant menus are carefully designed with the serial position effect in mind, and when watching television, consumers are more likely to remember the first and last commercials seen during a commercial break.

Consider

This doesn't just happen with business strategy, e-commerce, or marketing metrics. Think of the impact of giving performance reviews, for example. Do people really remember ALL the data they heard or the first or last thing they were told?

See Also

Peak-End Rule, Chunking

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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.

Mental Models: Chunking

August 18, 2015

Information grouped into familiar, manageable units is more easily understood and recalled.

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?

Chunking is a tool for getting around the bottleneck of short-term memory. The average person can only manipulate seven pieces of information in short-term memory, at a time. So, we try to keep our presentations concise, our recommendations in groups of three. The more a person has to learn in a shorter period of time, the more difficult it is to process that information.

How might this apply to great products?

Breaking down long lists (actions, content items, bullet points) into smaller groups makes that information easier to understand and recall. In terms of learned behaviors, we mentally “chunk” or categorize the details of routine events such as getting ready in the morning or thinking about the priorities of our day.

Consider

What are the mental routines people develop—on your site or elsewhere in your organization—to respond to specific situations many reveal areas for improvement?

See Also

Proximity, Uniform Connectedness, Status Quo Bias, Shaping, Sequencing, Familiarity Bias

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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.

Mental Models: Visual Imagery

August 17, 2015

VISION TRUMPS ALL OTHER SENSES AND IS THE MOST DIRECT WAY TO PERCEPTION.

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?

People can be impacted by the negative stories attached to stereotypes, both through identification, or just labeling others. Stereotypes influence not only hiring, but also performance, appraisals, and feelings of belonging. These biases can be unconsciously triggered with visual imagery that reinforces stereotypes, or by asking people to identify certain characteristics, like race or age. In addition, exposure to positive or negative portrayals of people of a particular identity will unconsciously impact the way that people of that identity perform under pressure. Further research has shown that even background images will affect people’s behavior, both toward others and subconsciously on their own ability to perform.

How might this apply to great products?Are there opportunities to use visuals to create an emotional response or to speed up response time? If you blur all text, does the imagery convey what you want to communicate? Asking “Can a 5 year old understand this?” is a great way to uncover where text can be replaced or reinforced with an image. Use images to elicit emotions, to make literal associations (an icon or avatar) or suggestive associations (see “Priming”).

Consider

Think about the language and imagery used inside your organization for internal communications. Do they highlight inclusion rather than exclusion, and opportunity rather than limitation?

See Also

Aesthetic-Usability Effect, Juxtaposition, Priming, Conceptual Metaphor, Proximity, Uniform Connectedness, Contract, Recognition over Recall, Affect Heuristic

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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.

Mental Models: Surprise (Good & Bad)

August 12, 2015

WE REMEMBER AND RESPOND FAVORABLY TO SMALL, UNEXPECTED AND PLAYFUL PLEASURES.

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?

When what happens is not what I expect, I have to rethink my understanding of the world. Spontaneous awards that reinforce the company values, or making a usually-difficult interaction unusually-easy makes a fantastic delighter.

How might this apply to your business?

Maybe it’s through fun editorials, a link to an amusing video, or a compliment. Perhaps it’s an “Easter egg” such as a coupon, virtual gift or humorous image that’s hidden within your site. Even the satisfaction of discovering connection or solving a mental puzzle can help form a favorable and memorable impression.

Consider

How can you add surprise and delight? Do you intend these surprises?Nice surprises lead to exchange: Nice surprises will predispose the other person towards you, setting up the exchange effect. Make them feel good and they'll be happy to return the favor. You can create nice surprises by:

Promising them something, then giving them more than promised.
Not promising them anything, just giving them something pleasant.
Praising them.

Neutral surprises lead to interest. You can intrigue people by being, saying or doing something different. A neutral surprise can be an effective hook that pulls people in, leaving them wanting more. You can create neutral surprises by:

Being different from other people.
Being different from how you normally are.
Being different from what they expect.

See Also

Surprise, Pattern Recognition, Humor Effect, Gifting, Appropriate Challenges

Bad Surprises

WHEN OUR FORECAST DOES NOT MEET REALITY, WE ARE SURPRISED THE FIRST TIME, AND ADJUST OUR EXPECTATIONS.

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?

If the other person is surprised, it should be because you want them to be. It should be because you have a pretty good idea as to how they are going to react to the surprise.

Surprise causes learning: When our forecast does not meet reality, we may be surprised this time, but we won't be caught out next time! So we change our forecasting to account for the new things we have learned about how the world works.
Surprise causes inner change: When we change our forecasting, we seldom do it by changing the actual process. Instead, we change such things as our models of how the world works, and our beliefs about ourselves and other people.
Surprise causes denial: 'Well, I'm not surprised!' is a common retort by people to whom all kinds of surprisingly different things happen. A simple way we avoid embarrassment is to pretend that we are not surprised and that we had expected the surprising event to happen after all. The danger of denial is that we are so good at it that we convince ourselves that we were not surprised and hence don't change!

How might this apply to your business?

Human nature has a tendency to put aside unpleasant realities in favor of more palatable or convenient narratives. We ignore the obvious at a certain moment because we simply don't want to confront it. It is the unconscious calculus to avoid pain. Denial allows us to live in a convenient world we create as long as it lasts. However, we, no doubt, fail when we deny hard truths in front of us.Denial is simultaneously the safe and the wrong way to handle a problem. Denial is a process over which we sometimes can exercise some measure of control. When we're not in control, it is denial. Our sense of urgency might be easily blunted by the business upturn. We might miss the strategic inflection point by denying the needs from the market.

Consider

We can arm ourselves against denial through self-knowledge, openness to criticism, receptivity to facts and perspectives that challenge our own. With our own efforts, we can improve our ability to perceive the danger of denying. There are no mature markets, only tired marketers. How can you better manage expectations and reality for others?Managing expectations means:

Understand what their current expectations are.
Understand how they predict the future, including their mental models and beliefs around the area of interest.
Subtly guiding their expectations.
Creating a reality that is different from what they expect.

Bad surprises move people. Bad surprises can be used to shake people out of complacency. When they are clinging to their current comfortable position and refusing to see another point of view, a short shock can be effective at awakening them from their slumbers. Use bad surprises with care, because they rebound on you. A fight reaction can easily get out of control and a flight reaction can make them run away from you. Play the bearer of bad news, but beware of being that bad news.You can create bad surprises by:

Telling them they cannot have what they want.
Shouting at them (when you are normally timid).
Telling them the awful truth.

See Also

Surprise, Pattern Recognition, Humor Effect, Gifting, Appropriate Challenges

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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.