Think

When I graduated as a clinical psychologist, my dissertation looked at the psychological consequences of a devastating  fire on a rural community in South Africa.  The focus of the study was to understand how people and communities not only rebuilt their lives following such a tragic event but also their psychological understanding of their new world around them.  Nearly 15 years later as I watched the £1.7 trillion ($2.8 trillion) near implosion of the global financial system, the memories of that traumatised community came flooding back to me. Like them, I find that the ‘mental models’ that I used to interpret and make sense of the world around me have been shaken to the core – and in some cases proven to be wholly inadequate.  Everywhere old certainties are being torn up: what counted for safe and conservative economic models are now found wonting; free marketers are calling for state regulation and ownership of banks; previously rock solid institutions are fighting junk bond relegation; and profitability now seems like a distant dream for most organisations.

I now find myself wondering how organisations are going to navigate through this new era and what new mental models will evolve to replace the old. Clearly, ‘fixing the roof’ will be the first priority to most organisations. Yet in doing so, most companies are now re-evaluating their business models through new eyes.  Inevitably, what it means to work in these new organisations and the psychological contracts that define the employee-employer relationship will change as well.

As each individual begins the arduous task of working out what the current conditions ‘really mean for me’, they will begin rebuilding the mental models that they will use to navigate the new economic world order.  This can be an intensely anxiety provoking experience – and people will go to significant lengths to avoid this anxiety.  For some, this will involve a retreat into what has gone before and a determination to fit current experiences into existing models.  For others, it will involve the abandonment of existing models and a process of rapidly trying to work out the rules of the new order.  Either way, it’s exhausting and feels risky – which simply reinforces the emotional intensity of it all. This can drive behaviours that are, at worst, dysfunctional and divisive.  Or this same intensity can be the catalyst for innovation and inspiration.

In her work with traumatised communities, Ronnie Janoff-Bulman (1992) suggests that people’s mental models comprise the following factors:

• Whether they perceive the world as a largely habitable and co-operative place
• Whether they perceive the world as a place of meaning, logic and predictability
• Whether they perceive themselves as having worth and the skills to make a meaningful contribution to the world.

When these models fail us in the face of a dramatic, new experience, we start rebuilding them. Typically, this involves emotional processing of the event through:

• Denial and emotional numbing
• Persistent intrusive thoughts, and reliving of the experience
• Interpreting new experiences and their impact on us through:
  • Comparing our fate to that of others
  • Interpreting our own role in the experience and the extent to which we had control over it
  • Finding meaning, logic, explanation or positive consequences in the new experience
• Seeking interactions with others to enlist support and to normalise feelings and experiences
• Developing an evolving personal story or narrative around the experience that helps us put it ‘on record’
• Experimenting with new ways of doing things to demonstrate our mastery in the new world

Within this context, all over the world, people and organisations are rebuilding their mental models. Already, the first books are appearing that document some or other aspect of this crisis.  New theories and policies are being formulated that will shape the recovery of our economy for years to come. These will be the maps that will guide us through the largely unchartered waters over the next 2 – 3 years. What astounds me most as a human being and a psychologist is how rapid the process of rebuilding mental models can be.  I often think that this is a matter of self preservation. I say this because out of the gloom of every crisis the new shoots of optimism and innovation are seldom far behind. Just as I witnessed this in the fire ravaged community, so too am I confident in seeing it emerge from this current crisis.

Aedrian

Janoff-Bulman, R. (1992). Shattered Assumptions: towards a new psychology of trauma. New York: Free Press