Building Capacities for School Improvement
Adaptive Schools Seminars
Norms of Collaboration
Presuming Positive Intentions
Concepts & Tools
for Practitioners
Presenter
Welcome!
Thinking Collaborative –
Adaptive Schools Seminars
www.thinkingcollaborative.com
Norms of Collaboration
1. Pausing
2. Paraphrasing
3. Posing Questions
4. Putting Ideas on the Table
5. Providing Data
6. Paying Attention to Self and Others
7. Presuming Positive Intentions
Thinking Collaborative - Adaptive Schools Seminars
Outcomes for This Norm
 Understanding of Presuming Positive
Intentions.
 Skills for reflecting on and inquiring into
intentions – one’s own and those of others.
 Self-assessment of Presuming
Positive Intentions.
Relaxed Alertness
allows access to the
prefrontal cortex under
conditions of high
challenge and low
threat or risk
Downshift
causes loss of
resourcefulness and
flexibility as the
basal ganglia and
amygdala take charge
Pyramid of Influence
Action
Attention
Intention
Activate & Engage
Read, Recall, Retell
1. With a partner, decide A & B.
2. Silently read the first paragraph of
Presuming Positive Intentions.
3. A covers the text, pauses to recall, and
retells – or paraphrases - the text.
4. B clarifies by posing a question if necessary.
5. Reverse roles for paragraph 2.
6. Stop when you have completed
paragraph 2.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Activate & Engage
Read, Recall, Retell
6. Silently read the third paragraph, beginning
“Our communication with others…”
7. A covers the text, pauses to recall, and retells
– or paraphrases - the text.
8. B clarifies by posing a question if necessary.
9. Reverse roles for paragraphs 4 and 5 together.
Stop when you have completed
the first page of text.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Activate & Engage
Think, Write, Pair
Given the invisibility of intentions and the
need to infer them, what strategies do you
already use to support you in
accomplishing
this important mental work?
 Jot your thoughts in your Dendwrite.
 Share and explore with your partner.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The Ladder of Inference
Making Connections
Partners Process
What are some of the
connections you might be
making between
Presuming Positive
Intentions and the Ladder
of Inference?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The Ladder as Conceptual Framework
Key Phrases
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
1. Read silently The Ladder of
Inference as Conceptual
Framework, noting key phrases.
2. One partner shares a key
phrase or two and their
personal significance.
Assumptions
Selected Data
Observable Data
3. The other partner pauses and
paraphrases.
4. Reverse roles and repeat.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Ladder of Inference
Jamie’s Case
How the Ladder of Inference Works
Silently read the paragraph titled
A Brief Case Scenario,
the last paragraph on page 2.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Ladder of Inference
A Conceptual Framework
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
High level of
engagement by
everyone except Jamie
All invested in learning
except Jamie
Ladder of Inference
A Conceptual Framework
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Jamie is:
 disengaged
 looking at cell phone
 texting
Ladder of Inference
A Conceptual Framework
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Jamie doesn’t want
to be in this session
Ladder of Inference
A Conceptual Framework
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Jamie doesn’t value
professional development
Ladder of Inference
A Conceptual Framework
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Jamie will sabotage
the session
Ladder of Inference
A-B Say Something
1. With your partner, continue as A & B.
2. Silently read the first paragraph on page 3.
3. A says something about the text.
4. B pauses, paraphrases A, then says
something else.
5. A paraphrases B.
6. Reverse roles for the second paragraph.
7. Reverse roles again for the third paragraph.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Relaxed Alertness
allows access to the
prefrontal cortex under
conditions of high
challenge and low
threat or risk
Downshift
causes loss of
resourcefulness and
flexibility as the
basal ganglia and
amygdala take charge
Presuming Positive Intentions
What, Why, How
We are now aware of what
we do and why we do it!
Next, how do we get out of
those “recursive loops?”
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Converting Negative Energy:
Release from the
Recursive Loops of
the Ladder of Inference
Activate & Engage
Think, Write, Share
1. Reflect on your experience with groups.
2. What are some group member
behaviors that detract from
others’ learning, or from the
group accomplishing its task?
3. Create a list of these group member
behaviors in your Dendwrite.
Activate & Engage
Think, Write, Share
4. Choose a recorder.
5. As a table group, share the items in
round robin fashion. No crosstalk.
Recorders: record items as they are
shared.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
…looking to the green supports the
facilitator or presenter, because when you
look to the red, one tends to get defensive
or judgmental. Looking to the green, you
can get curious. Your disposition influences
the quality of your presence, your interactions, and the responses you get. By
avoiding the emotional flooding that comes
with looking to the red, one has access to
the full range of intervention strategies one
knows.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
 Robert Garmston
The trick in presuming positive
intentions is not to predict what
the intention is, but to feel
confident that there is one.
– Bob Garmston
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Identify and Explore
Key Words
Partners silently reflect on the
quotation on the next slide,
individually making note of key
words that stand out as significant.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
“The challenging internal work of facilitation
is to identify and explore the core values and
assumptions that guide your actions, to
rigorously reflect on how they increase or
decrease your effectiveness, and to develop
a new set of values and assumptions that you
can use to increase your effectiveness and
that of the groups you work with.”
⌘ Roger Schwarz
Identify and Explore
Reflection and Inquiry
1. Now for each word selected, partners
silently inquire into their respective
thinking:
 “Why did I choose this word?”
 “What made these particular words
important to me?”
2. Partners share their thinking,
paraphrasing each other.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Presuming Positive Intentions
How
Two skill sets will be important here.
Reflection:
Inquiry:
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Presuming Positive Intentions
How
Two skill sets will be important here.
Reflection:
slowing down our thinking, becoming conscious
of our mental models generally, and our
intentions specifically.
Inquiry:
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Presuming Positive Intentions
How
Two skill sets will be important here.
Reflection:
slowing down our thinking, becoming conscious
of our mental models generally, and our
intentions specifically.
Inquiry:
questioning how we constructed meaning,
formed assumptions, developed conclusions,
shaped our own intentions, and identified the
intentions of others.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Ladder of Inference
Looking Through
Multiple Lenses
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable
Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
What data are available –
experiential, dispositional,
situational?
Ladder of Inference
Looking Through
Multiple Lenses
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable
Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
What data – experiential,
dispositional, situational –
am I selecting to focus on?
Ladder of Inference
Looking Through
Multiple Lenses
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable
Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
What assumptions am I
holding about this person
or this situation?
Ladder of Inference
Looking Through
Multiple Lenses
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable
Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
What conclusions
am I drawing?
Ladder of Inference
Looking Through
Multiple Lenses
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable
Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
What beliefs do I hold
that relate to this person
and situation? What are
my intentions?
Ladder of Inference
Read and Apply
1. Recall the earlier scenario where you
were a presenter and Jamie was a
participant.
2. Partners silently read the section
Applying the Ladder to the Jamie
Scenario at the bottom of p. 5.
Ladder of Inference
Read and Apply
3. Explore with your partner.
As a presenter, how might your actions now
differ from the actions you would have
previously chosen?
Ladder of Inference
Application Alternatives
Actions
Beliefs
Conclusions
1. Consideration in the Moment
2. Consideration in Retrospect
3. Written retrospective with
revisions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
4. Dialogic reflection with a
partner
Observable Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Ladder of Inference
Organize & Integrate
1. Reflect on your present or anticipated work
in your organization.
2. Identify an actual or anticipated situation in
which the Ladder of Inference might you as
a tool for reflection and inquiry.
3. Jot your thoughts in your Dendwrite, and
identify which of the four application
alternatives might best serve you.
4. Share and explore your thinking with
a partner.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Ladder of Inference
Pocket Cue Card
Presuming Positive Intentions
Creating a Personal Foundation
Use your Dendwrite to journal your
private thoughts and reflections
about how you view people generally.
Prompts will be provided to scaffold
your thinking and journaling.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Presuming Positive Intentions
Creating a Personal Foundation
 What might be some of the assumptions
you hold for people in general?
 In what ways are the conclusions you reach
with respect to people based on the accurate
processing of as much data as possible?
 What beliefs do you hold about the goodness
of people in general?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Presuming Positive Intentions
Creating a Personal Foundation
 In what ways do you challenge your own
mental models and revise them for the
purpose of shifting perspectives?
 What are your beliefs about positive intentions,
even in those situations that you struggle to
understand?
 What are your beliefs about the proposition
that every person acts in a way that is guided
by some degree of positive intent, from their
personal point of view?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Table Groups Debrief
M.I.P. – T.G. M.I.P.
1. Take a few moments to re-read your
thoughts.
2. Identify the M.I.P. and jot it in your
Dendwrite.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Table Groups Debrief
M.I.P. – T.G. M.I.P.
3. One person shares their M.I.P. with the Table
Group.
4. The person on the right pauses and
paraphrases, and then offers their M.I.P.
(no crosstalk).
5. The pattern continues until all have shared.
6. Table Groups craft a paraphrase that captures
your T.G.M.I.P.
7. Be prepared to share whole group.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Tools for Presuming
Positive Intentions
➫ Go for the Green
➫ The Ladder of Inference
 Conceptual Framework
 Reflection & Inquiry
➫ Congruent Positive
Presuppositions
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Expectancy Theory
Read and Respond with your partner:
“[Expectancy] theory emphasizes the
needs for organizations to relate rewards
directly to performance and to ensure that
the rewards provided are those rewards
deserved and wanted by the recipients.”
⌘ Victor Vroom
Work and Motivation
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Motivation
Read and Respond with your partner:
“External motivation can actually result
in diminished intrinsic motivation, lower
performance, less creativity, and shortterm thinking.”
⌘ Daniel Pink
Drive: The Surprising Truth
About What Motivates Us
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Activate & Engage
Hmm, a dichotomy? A polarity?
Positive
Presuppositions
as Motivators
------------------Vroom:
Expectancy Theory
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Positive
Presuppositions as
Counter-Motivators
------------------Pink:
Internal Motivation
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Sentence Share
1. Partners read silently the first 4 paragraphs
of …Congruent Positive Presuppositions.
2. After reading, each partner selects one
sentence that stands out.
3. Partners take turns sharing sentences,
explaining the personal significance.
 Paraphrase and inquire to
explore thinking.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
A-B Each Teach
1. Partners decide A & B.
2. Partner A reads Grounding
in Expectancy Theory.
3. Partner B reads Alignment
and Authenticity.
4. When both are done,
each teaches the other.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Positive Presupposition Traps!
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
The Internal Congruence Trap
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Internal Congruence
What is the internal work that
must be done in order for a
speaker’s beliefs, language, and
actions to be congruent?
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Action
Attention
Intention
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The Work of Internal Congruence
Personal Reflection
1. Earlier you journaled responses to six
prompts to establish a personal foundation
for Presuming Positive Intentions.
2. Return to this journaling, and
jot your reflections about how
your thinking might apply to
developing internal congruence
for positive presuppositions.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
The Work of Internal Congruence
Partner Reflection
3. Share and explore with
your partner your thinking
about how your personal
foundation thinking might
apply to establishing
Internal Congruence.
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Positive Presupposition Traps!
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
The External Congruence Trap
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
The External Congruence Trap
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
External Congruence
Vroom:
Pink:
Expectancy Intrinsic
Theory
Motivation
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
External Congruence
If the positive presupposition
is in hollow words –
not grounded in the
listener’s beliefs –
then it will be ineffective!
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Congruent Positive Presuppositions
Ladder of Inference Revisited
1. Internal Work
Actions
2. External Work
Beliefs
Enter at any step; move
up and down the double
arrow as needed:
 Reflect;
 Inquire.
Conclusions
Assumptions
Selected
Data
Observable
Data
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Now return to the
step where you
select data and reclimb the ladder.
Taking Action…
Organize & Integrate
Next Steps
As I continue to
think about my
use of positive
presuppositions,
a next step
for me
will
be…
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars
Organize & Integrate
Stop Light Self Assessment
To develop your mindset and tool set for
Presuming Positive Intentions…
…what might you stop doing?
…what might you be alert to?
…what might you start doing?
The trick in presuming
positive intentions is not to
predict what the intention is,
but to feel confident that
there is one.
– Bob Garmston
Thinking Collaborative – Adaptive Schools Seminars