Part one of a two part workshop on Creating Success by Challenging Assumptions with Stephanie Nestlerode, Omega Point International, Inc. and LaDonna Coy, Learning for Change, Inc. for the Texas SPF SIG community grantees. All materials are located at http://bit.ly/xQSu9

1. Creating Success
by Learning to
Challenge planets
Assumptions
October 15, 2009
Stephanie Nestlerode LaDonna Coy
Omega Point International, Inc. Learning for Change, Inc.

2. LaDonna Coy
MHR, CPS, CDLA
Primary Prevention
Capacity building with
Collaborative Partners:
-Kansas AAPS Social media and live
-Kansas Prevention Virtual Learning/Training
Network & SPF SIG
Sector Network Interactionarssm
-Kansas Family
Partnership
-Eagle Ridge Institute
-CADCA
-Paxis, Inc
-Safe & Caring Schools
-Collaborative The surest way to provoke the
Conversations imagination is to seek out
-Omega Point
International, Inc.
environments you have no
-ODMHSAS experience with.
-MACMHB-MASACA --author unknown

3.  Strategic Planner
 Primary Prevention
 Capacity Building
 Technical Assistance
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Prevention:
Texas, Colorado, West Virginia,
Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma,
Stephanie Nestlerode, MSW California, and Nevada
“The future we create is the
legacy we leave our
children.”

4. Getting Everyone’s Voice into
the Room
Name
Organization
Location

5. Agenda
9:30-11:00
Welcome & Getting Started
•The Secret to Out-of-the-Box Thinking
•Foundational Tools
The Ladder of Inference
11:00-1:00
•Lunch, Homework & Coaching
1:00-2:30
•Homework Debrief
•The Rule of Six
•The Chicken Scratch Path
•Social Media exploration/implications
•Closing Reflections

6. Objectives
• Provide foundational tools for
challenging assumptions
• Provide an opportunity to apply the
tools to each person’s unique
circumstances
• Apply foundational tools to our
assumptions about social media
• Identify ways to shift our
conversations

7. Who’s here? Our Tool Today Content

8. Discussion Area
Type here

9. Emoticons!

11. Chat Poll
What is one word that
captures how you are today?

12. Out of the
BoxThinking

13. Polling + chat

14. Debrief (why?)
Why do the
numbers look
like they do?

15. What PROMOTES it?

16. What STIFLES it?

17. The Secrets
to
Out of the Box
Thinking
Name
the
Box!

18. What
BOX
are
YOU
in?

19. A Box we Live in
An ounce of
Prevention
is Worth
a Pound of Cure
Not everyone
thinks this way!

20. Recognize this can feel scary!

21. Create a safe container for exploration

22. Invite
OTHERS
to Explore
the
Box
Multiple
Points
of View

23. Explore
All Angles

24. Integrate
ALL
Views
Both/And
Thinking

25. The First, grasping an ear,
“It is a large rough thing,
wide and broad, like a rug.”
The Second, holding the
trunk, “I have the real facts.
It is a straight and hollow
pipe.”
The Third, touching a front
leg, “It is mighty and firm,
like a pillar.”

26. PENCIL EXERCISE

27. Leveraging
Diversity
with The
Ladder of
Inference
A tool for
discovering
how people
think and why
they think the
way they do

28. You must go below the surface

29. Take Action
The
Ladder
of
Inference
Actual Events

30. Take Action
The
Adopt Beliefs Ladder
of
Inference
Actual Events

31. Take Action
R The
Adopt Beliefs E Ladder
F L
of
L O
Inference
E O
X P
I
Select Data V
E
Actual Events

32. Environmental
Example
Once we start
worrying
about the
polar bears
in the artic,
We notice
stories
everywhere

33. Social
Example
Once we become
grandparents,
we see young
children
everywhere

34. Every Day
Example
Once we
decide to
buy a
certain kind
of car,
We notice
them
everywhere

35. Take Action
Adopt Beliefs Bug is the only car for me
The quality will be better than
Make the first time I bought one
Assumptions
If it looks good, it will drive well
Select Data Salesman
Consumer Reports
Neighbors & Friends
Mechanic Timely??
None

36. Ladder of Inference Exercise
TAKE ACTION
BELIEFS
ASSUMPTIONS
DATA

37. Polls about how meeting
time is INVESTED

39. What are the
Implications
of the
survey results?
Source: margaret anne clarke

40. Underage
Drinking
What are
the
divergent
points of
view?

42. Sharing your thinking is a gift
That must be
UNPACKED
to be truly
Useful

43. Teenagers
Beliefs?
Assumptions?
Data?

44. Parents
Beliefs?
Assumptions?
Data?

45. School Teachers
Beliefs?
Assumptions?
Data?

46. Police
Beliefs?
Assumptions?
Data?

47. Community Members
Beliefs?
Assumptions?
Data?

48. Small Business Owners
Beliefs?
Assumptions?
Data?

49. Large Beer Producers
Beliefs?
Assumptions?
Data?

50. Prevention
Volunteers
and
Professionals
Beliefs?
Assumptions?
Data?

51. Ladder of Inference Exercise
TAKE ACTION What are your strongest
beliefs about what will reduce
BELIEFS underage drinking in your
community?
What assumptions are you
ASSUMPTIONS making (underneath your
beliefs)?
How have your personal
DATA experiences influenced your
thinking? What other data
relate to how you think about
underage drinking?

52. Sample Ladder of Inference Exercise
Divide into small groups of four to six persons.
Every person will take a few moment to reflect IN SILENCE and then to
write down their answers to three questions:
What is my strongest belief (a single belief) about the issue at hand?
What are my assumptions?
What are the data underneath my assumptions and beliefs?
Using a Talking Object, there will be three rounds of sharing.
Round One: Every person will share the strongest belief.
Round Two: Every person will share assumptions.
Round Three: Every person will share data.
Continue the conversation. What strikes you about the differences? The
similarities?
Share each group’s observations with the larger group.
Identify shared themes and any differences that need to be explored further.

53. What topics or
issues could
benefit from
a better
understanding of

54. How might you add a little
to your meetings?
Adding consideration of:
ASSUMPTIONS DATA
CREATING SHARED MEANING

55. Next Steps Create a plan
What topics need
conversation?
How might you begin to gently
inquire more deeply into how
people think?
Each person will sharewhen
we return at 1 pm!
Call with questions
during the break
Call LaDonna
918-473-6789
Call Stephanie
512-847-0410

56. Plans for