Understanding beyond your own context with the Ladder of Inference

In the Leadership Practitioner Program we tap into our experiences coaching highly effective leaders, and teach that practicing leadership is creating a context where people can show up as the best version of themselves, trusted and supported to do what they need to do in the best way.

Only once we understand the needed context can we create it

To begin understanding that needed context, we first need to be able to distinguish our own context from that which is needed by the other person. Easier said than done, because we are actually wired to do the opposite. Jonathan Rozenblit and I have found the Ladder of Inference to be powerfully helpful with the challenging inner work that is needed to offset the tendency to project our own assumptions and beliefs.

The Ladder of Inference¹ is a model of the process people use to make sense of situations in order to act. It’s a model for how we learn and master skills, and it’s also a model for how we form cognitive bias. We can use the model to better connect with others, through better understanding the shape and process of our own thinking and perceiving, in order to distinguish what we need from what others need.

The version of the ladder of inference I like to use looks like this:

The Ladder of Inference is a model of learning, developing expertise and also cognitive bias

If you couldn’t retain what you discovered from doing an activity from one time to the next, your brain would expend a huge amount of energy to get anything done. To cut corners, your efficient brain learns. The Ladder of Inference is a model for how this happens.

Think about when you were learning to do something complex. Wasn’t it difficult to figure out what, in the sea of data coming at you, was important? There are, by many magnitudes, more objective facts in the world than we can pay attention to at any one time. When we learn, over time and with practice, we unconsciously create efficiencies for selecting from the pool of objective facts: we derive meaning from those experiences, create assumptions and, from these assumption, generate beliefs, which next time we’ll use to make faster decisions.

We call this expertise.

And when it blinds us to relevant data because of, typically unconscious, beliefs, assumptions, meanings, and fact selection that steer us wrong, it is also bias.

Two people look at the same data and “see” it differently — because they are looking down from two separate ladders of inference, due to their different beliefs, assumptions, meanings and fact selections that came into being due to their different learning histories.

Develop awareness of where you are on the ladder

Prior to an interaction with another person, check your self-awareness. Starting from the rung that you feel you have the most answers for, fill in the entire ladder by asking yourself “what”-type questions. For example, “What are some assumptions I’m making about these facts?” and “What conclusions am I drawing from my assumptions?”

It’s normal to find ourselves further up the ladder than we were aware. For example, you might notice that your inner voice is using the language of objective facts, but upon self-examination, you might realize that you are actually making assumptions. A good way to validate your awareness is by filling in the rungs above and below the rung you think you’re “at.”

If something doesn’t feel right, or if you get stuck, it’s likely because you’re thinking you’re at one rung and could instead be higher up the ladder.

Improve your connection with other people

After you better understand your context (your biases), you are better equipped to connect with and curiously explore the other person’s needs in their context (rather than project your own).

Word of warning

While it might be tempting to take all you have learned about the Ladder of Inference and “help” another person find their way down their ladder, unless you are practiced in appropriate techniques, doing this can come across as manipulative.

This could backfire, reducing trust and damaging the relationship.

You’ll get the most mileage with this tool by focusing on deepening your own self awareness, so that you can be more open to understanding another’s context — so that you can help create the conditions they need to show up as the best version of themselves.

For deeper exploration of this topic, including more insight into how creating connection is tied to context, join us (no cost) in the Leadership Practitioner Connection — our professional network dedicated to equipping and empowering anyone, regardless of job title, with practical skills and tools to practice leadership.

¹The Ladder of Inference was first put forward by organizational psychologist Chris Argyris and used by Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Senge, Peter. M. (1990). New York: Doubleday.