Manila, 9 December 2020 — What’s happening in your life under the surface?

That’s a mental model to work with. 

“Essentially all models are wrong, but some are useful.” — George Box

Models Help

George Box, a statistician, explained that all models are approximations and will always fall short of the complexities of reality. They don’t show the whole truth. Yet they can be of use. The only question of interest, he said, is whether a model is ‘illuminating and useful.’

I thought of that question when I opened a map of Tokyo’s subway system. How to find the way to my destination in this mega city where most people travel underground? And, to start with, which color of subway line would take me in the right direction?

Now, did the map capture Tokyo’s terrain 100%? No, it didn’t. It’s just a schematic to help travelers like me make their journey. But by holding on to that map, I felt more confident that I could travel to where I wanted to go. 

And I realized that I could easily get lost without such a map. So, how did I find out if the map was illuminating and useful for me? Well, by using it! The experience showed me that we use models to our advantage by taking action, not just thinking about it.  

In this post, I ask you to think of the mental models you use in your life. Especially the models you use subconsciously, the ones you use under the surface of your awareness.

Iceberg of Ignorance

To get off to a good start, I invite you to use a tool called the Iceberg Model. As shown in the photo, there is much more to icebergs than what meets your eye. Most of the iceberg is… under the surface.

The purpose of the model is, therefore, to show you what you are ignorant of. What you had not seen. Business coaches call it the iceberg of ignorance, implying that your ignorance comes at a high cost.

Simply put, they say that senior management is only aware of 4% of the organization’s problems. As you move down the hierarchy, you will find that the knowledge of the organization’s problems increases when you talk to the managers, the team leaders, and the staff. 

In short, bad news doesn’t travel upward, it seems. How does that work in your business? Can you see that using this model to expand the conversations you have at work can help you uncover more about what’s really going on?

And there is a lot to discover in the line of business.

Take, for example, seeing a smile on someone’s face. Where I live in Southeast Asia, it’s often said that a smile can mean many things. You need to look deeper, under the surface, to find out what the smile means.

Eluding Awareness

That’s only the beginning of the story. The Iceberg Model is used to explain many other phenomena that elude your conscious day-to-day awareness. For example, it will help you when you are: 

• using systems thinking for innovation in your business

• double-clicking on cultural issues in the workplace

• discovering what drives you, explained by Anthony Shave, a fellow coach.

Please take a few minutes to watch the three short clips I linked for you. Are you with me that they show how illuminating and useful the Iceberg Model can be? I bet that you can think of another situation where it can help you.

Upon reflection, making the distinction between what you see as the proverbial ‘tip of the iceberg’ and what lies ‘under the surface’ becomes a powerful tool to expand your self-awareness, which is our theme this month of December.

It matters what mental models you consciously use, like the Iceberg Model, to grow your leadership. And which models you use subconsciously, including the parts of your mental programming that you want to update after you shine a light on it with awareness.

Systemic thinking is about seeing patterns that you were not, or insufficiently, aware of. That’s where the Iceberg Model helps you to get going with your look Under the Surface.

A Question of Becoming

Alex Carabi, a fellow leadership coach, refers to the tip of the iceberg as what you are ‘Doing,’ and what’s under the surface as what you are ‘Being.’ That’s another powerful way to frame the distinction, and I agree with him.

However, I like to go a step further. The Iceberg Model shows a static image. It’s frozen. And what matters most to the leaders I work with is who they are ‘Becoming’ and where they are ‘Going.’ From frozen, they want to get dynamic, warm, and moving.

By taking a deep look under the surface, you discover what has formed you into who you are today, and how some of your mental programming is holding you back in your next steps on your leadership journey. Marshall Goldsmith, an executive coach, refers to this as “What got you here won’t get you there.”

To respond to Marshall’s challenge, you will need more than the Iceberg Model. You need tools that help you navigate the dynamic of where you’re coming from, who you want to become, and how you’re going to get there. We will get to that dynamic picture — and your challenge — in another post.

Summing up for now, here are three points you can reflect on,  together with some exercises to get you started.

1. Your Behaviors Matter

The behaviors and actions you show to others are what is visible to them about you and your leadership. They can give people clues about who you are and what drives you. It’s the tip of your iceberg for them, so to speak. 

Everything ‘underneath’ is not visible, such as how hard you worked to prepare for an event, and also your way of thinking and feeling, your beliefs, values, etc. There are patterns there, under the surface, and they can be blindspots for you too.

Exercise: write 3 or more invisibles that people cannot see about you and that made you the leader you are today.

2. Your Invisibles Matter

The Iceberg Model, as illustrated by the three short video clips that you watched just now, can help you see that there’s a lot more going on under the surface than you thought. In you, in your growth as a leader, and in the people and situations that you deal with. 

What is your insight so far about using the Iceberg Model on yourself and your leadership?

Exercise: describe a pattern of belief that has been under the surface and is not helpful to the leader you are becoming.

3. Your Journey Matters 

There is a great sense of freedom to be found in the metaphor of the leader’s journey. Who you are becoming as a leader is important. It’s about dynamic change, movement, about navigating one transition after another as you keep growing. 

Your journey includes your past, yet your future isn’t fixed. Every next chapter in your book of life is one that you can write after carefully reading the previous chapters and doing your homework on what’s under the surface. That will allow you to live and lead from an expanded self-awareness.

Exercise: what have you learned about yourself from your most valuable experiences this year, and what does that show you about who you can become as a leader?

Practice

Want to take on a challenge to practice together with other leaders how to expand your self-awareness and apply that to influence positive changes in your workplace? Then invite three colleagues to join you in our Grow3Leaders community.