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CI Model in Action

2 October, 2015 - 15:12
  • Acquire: First, he must determine the gaps in knowledge that he and his team members have related to different political beliefs. Many of his team members operate from one particular belief system, which they now consider a team characteristic and norm. Using cultural strategic thinking, he could assess the team’s understanding of culture, the gaps in knowledge, and create a vision or goal for what they would like to achieve around cultural understanding.
  • Build: A useful exercise for the team would be to help them change the types of questions they ask each other. Making the shift from judgment to learning can provide them with a different perspective. For example, rather than ask a judgment question like “Are you with us or not?” Scott and his team can ask learning questions such as, “Help me to understand why you agree with the other candidate.”
  • Contemplate: Using mindfulness techniques, the team can evaluate how the political conversations and belief systems “box them” into a specific way of thinking about their worlds. This would require that they are active listeners and observers of the conversation, suspending their judgments of other beliefs and norms. It would serve them well to also learn how to manage their emotions and be able to adapt their behaviors by recognizing the emotions of others.
  • Do: Finally, it would also be useful if Scott and his team took part in an exercise to identify the behaviors that are disruptive and inappropriate. Once the behaviors are called out, they could assess the thought patterns that support the behaviors and the emotions that arise because of the behaviors.