General Leadership
  • Home
    • Home
    • Log-In or Register
    • Members Only
    • Sign-Up To Receive Our Newsletter!
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Register to become a contributor to GeneralLeadership.com
    • Let Us Publish You!
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Order of the Penguin
    • Featured Partners
    • Contact Us
  • Media
    • Media
    • The GL Team in Action!
    • Testimonials
  • Team
    • General Officer Authors
    • General John E. Michel
    • Matthew T Fritz
    • George H. Fritz
    • Catie Hargrove
    • Douglas VanWiggeren
    • Garth Sanginiti
    • Angela Maiers
    • Jean Michel
    • Jay Steven Levin
    • Chris R. Stricklin
    • Holly Michel
    • Kimberly Huth
    • Zach Stricklin
    • Taylor Fritz
  • Chats
  • Our Programs
    • MentorsMatter™
    • Vet2VetConnect™
    • LeaderView™

General Leadership

MailTwitter

3 Elements of A Shared Mental Model…The Thunderbird Way

The secret of happiness is:
find something more important
than you are and
dedicate your life to it.

Daniel Dennett, Philosopher

The U.S.A.F. Thunderbirds move in unison, seemingly thinking and acting as one…at over 1,000 miles-per-hour. Their actions and thoughts must be precisely aligned. This team, with 50% turnover each year, has built the ultimate repeatable process for aligning its team, for developing a shared mental model of precision.

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit with the C-Suiter’s of a highly-successful $7B business. The topic of discussion: The Questionable Future of the Company. Why? They were internationally recognized as an entrepreneurial giant, noted for their “Pirate” mentality consistently causing beneficial market disruption which yielded revolutionary advancements.

The discussion began with standard four questions and incredibly positive answers…with a shocking #5.

Q1 : Do we have the right people?
A1: Yes.

Q2: Are the people doing the right thing?
A2: Yes.

Q3: Are they intrinsically motivated?
A3: Yes, extremely.

Q4: Do they finish what they start?
A4: Yes, usually before planned completion date.

Let us Turn to the U.S.A.F. military for an example. The United States Air Demonstration Squadron, more commonly known as the Thunderbirds, are an amazing assemblance of talent. The Thunderbirds are assembled to showcase the U.S. Air Force, the capability of Airmen and the power of our military. Little known is the fact all Thunderbirds undergo a specified period of indoctrination before earning the “right” to wear the suit. Each member shows daily at the Red, White and Blue “office” before the sun rises. As a team of “newbies,” they enter the majestic Thunderbird hanger, with pristine white painted floors and a glowing oversized patch emerging from the center. In a choreographed ceremony the public will never see, they don booties with rags and polish and, on hands and knees, spend the opening hours of the day polishing the patch emblazoned in the floor and discuss the weight of being a Thunderbird. From the 300,000 Airmen they are privileged to represent to the millions of Airmen who have forged the path to where our Air Force and the Thunderbird Team are today, from the first airshow to the last, they understand every ounce of history, of dedication, of reason, of purpose behind the patch. This develops a pride of ownership for the future of the Team and the Air Force. Once the new group completes the syllabus of belonging, once the other team members are convinced they have adopted the shared mental model, only then are they considered for “patching.” Attention to detail such as this is what allows them to align, as the pristine jets in the photograph depict, with extreme precision.

This example leads to Q5…

Q5: What are we missing?
A5: A Shared Mental Model.

After discussion, it became obvious why the stock prices had fallen and there was concern for the future. The company had the right people, doing the right things, all intrinsically motivated to complete projects ahead of schedule. But they were all running in different directions. The “problem” with brilliant innovators, same as Fighter Pilots, is that when they are not given a clear vector on which to act, do not have a shared mental model of what the future and success should look like, they will develop their own path.

Mental Model:
“Beliefs, ideas, images, and verbal descriptions that we consciously or unconsciously form from our experiences and which (when formed) guide our thoughts and actions within narrow channels. These representations of perceived reality explain cause and effect to us, and lead us to expect certain results, give meaning to events, and predispose us to behave in certain ways.”

A quick turn to popular literature reveals “the idea is that team performance improves if team members have a shared understanding of the task that is to be performed and of the involved team work.”

Harvard Business Review details not only the importance of a shared mental model but also the three critical components:

  • The mental model must provide an accurate reflection of your reality. A major flaw for companies, and for individuals in survival situations, is starting from faulty assumptions. There is a tendency, especially under pressure, to see the world as we wish it were, or how it used to be, rather than as it really is.
  • A realistic picture of the situation serves as the basis for a plan of action. Agreement is needed on goals and how to achieve them.
  • The group needs to work together using their shared mental model to achieve its goals.

As our situation in the C-Suite continues, the manager of the top performing sales team offered to me on a coffee break how he planned to reward his team when they hit 330% of their sales goal for this quarter. As he continued, he detailed how his team broke the record every quarter because they, collectively, thought the “low” quarterly sales goal was laughable and they rallied around the shared mental model of tripling the goal every quarter. This was not delivered with arrogance, but with confidence in the capability of his unique part of the team.

After returning to the formal discussions, new questions ensued from the coffee break chat. With representatives from every aspect of the business, Question #6 was, simply, what is your High Definition Destination?

Q6: What is your High Definition Destination*?
A6: We do not have a single High Definition Destination; we have a situation which feels like 3,000 mini-CEOs.

(*EDITOR’S NOTE: For more information on the concept of “High Definition Destination”, please reference “Afterburner Seminars” via this link.)

This was the “Ah-Ha” moment.

To be successful as a team, as a company, your innovators, workhorses and intellectual capital MUST be moving in the same direction, gaining team buy-in and driving effects-based thinking, to achieve your stated and shared Mission Objective. With the simple adoption of the sale managers mentality, this $7B company is now forecasting to grow over $10B in the next 2 years. The confidence in achieving their clear mission objectives, which supports their High Definition Destination was found in uniting the team around the intrinsic motivation always present, just left unfocused until now.

For me, the “Ah-Ha” moment was a repeat of a lesson learned so many times before…if you are interested in instigating a leadership resolution, do it one leader, one company, one employee at a time and find the shared mental model which unites individual and corporate vision, motivation and success.

How did you enjoy today’s post?
If you liked what you read, sign up for our frequent newsletter by clicking HERE — and you’ll also receive our handy Leader’s Reference List
as our free gift to you!
Chris R Stricklin
Chris R Stricklin
Senior Curator at General Leadership
Chris R. Stricklin is a leader, mentor and coach integrating the fields of negotiations, leadership skills, public relations, public speaking and complex organizational change. His unique experience as a U.S.A.F. Thunderbird coupled with Pentagon-level management of critical Air Force resources valued at $840B, multiple N.A.T.O. assignments and command-experience in the United States Air Force allow his unique synthesis of speaking, leading, management, negotiations and continuous improvement. Chris is also a Certified Manager with degrees in Economics, Financial Planning, Strategic Studies and Operational Art and Science. He authored a negotiation primer which was subsequently published and adopted as required Air Force Pentagon new action officer orientation. He and his wife, Terri, have 4 children.
Tags: HDD, Leadership, Mental Model, stricklin, Thunderbird Way, Thunderbirds
Log in

Our Authors

  • KevinBemel

    KevinBemel

    KevinBemel
    Total Post :0

  • tomdorl

    tomdorl

    tomdorl
    Total Post :1

    Recent Posts
    • Applying Leadership by the Numbers
  • philmorrison

    philmorrison

    philmorrison
    Total Post :0

  • GenPaulMcGillicuddy

    General Paul McGillicuddy

    GenPaulMcGillicuddy
    Total Post :1

    Recent Posts
    • Secret Traits Of Championship Teams
  • NikSanginiti

    NikSanginiti

    NikSanginiti
    Total Post :2

    Recent Posts
    • Intern Perspective: Overcoming Adversity
    • Intern Perspective: Enduring Excellence
  • ChristianKnutson

    ChristianKnutson

    ChristianKnutson
    Total Post :15

    Recent Posts
    • What Is Upward Leadership and Why You Need to Be Effective Doing It
    • Using Intelligence Theory to Lead and Unlock Creativity
    • How Mindset Can Affect Organizational Leadership
    • Sustaining High Performance In Your Teams
    • Embracing Stress To Lead Others Effectively
  • jkunkel

    jkunkel

    jkunkel
    Total Post :0

  • CroftEdwards

    CroftEdwards

    CroftEdwards
    Total Post :16

    Recent Posts
    • LeadershipFlow - Perfectly Square: A Story About Learning to Lead
    • Leadership: This AND That, Not This OR That
    • Can I Trust You As A Leader?
    • Hey Leader—What are You Fighting FOR?
    • Is It Time For A Leadership Break?
  • jscotheathman

    Scot

    jscotheathman
    Total Post :1

    Recent Posts
    • Authenticity Is The Secret Sauce
  • KenMcQuiston

    KenMcQuiston

    KenMcQuiston
    Total Post :0

  • JeffreySmith

    JeffreySmith

    JeffreySmith
    Total Post :1

    Recent Posts
    • Values-Based Leadership
  • BobGaylor

    BobGaylor

    BobGaylor
    Total Post :3

    Recent Posts
    • About Saying "I Love You"
    • I Like Hot French Fries
    • Cubs and Aspirations - Humor from Section 220
  • KimberlyHuth

    KimberlyHuth

    KimberlyHuth
    Total Post :1

    Recent Posts
    • Encourage TRUST in Your Workplace
  • DavidESpector

    DavidESpector

    DavidESpector
    Total Post :2

    Recent Posts
    • Are you Chewing Your Way Through Life?
    • Watch your Step
  • JoeThornell

    JoeThornell

    JoeThornell
    Total Post :29

    Recent Posts
    • It's Time for a Leadership Checkup!
    • Effective Leadership requires Key Ingredients
    • Leadership is Representation
    • Leadership in Stasis
    • Leadership Can Be Destructive
  • ColToddHirneisen

    ColToddHirneisen

    ColToddHirneisen
    Total Post :15

    Recent Posts
    • The Leadership Experience
    • It’s your stage, what do you do with it?
    • Opportunity: Don't Do Anything
    • Anarchy in the Workplace
    • Faking Your Way to Authenticity
  • CRStricklin

    CRStricklin

    CRStricklin
    Total Post :35

    Recent Posts
    • 3 Elements of A Shared Mental Model...The Thunderbird Way
    • The Passion of Leadership
    • Lead at the Speed of Trust
    • 4 All-Encompassing Effective Leadership Styles
    • Perfection Found in a Fighter Debrief
  • JasonMBrown

    JasonMBrown

    JasonMBrown
    Total Post :4

    Recent Posts
    • Creating a Problem-Solving Team
    • Every Team Needs A Coach
    • Think Twice Before Going Back to the Basics
    • The Two Most Important Questions In Leadership
  • kentlandreth

    kentlandreth

    kentlandreth
    Total Post :2

    Recent Posts
    • Train Your Replacement... Not Your Clone!
    • Lead with Your Feet
  • maddison

    Mickey Addison

    maddison
    Total Post :29

    Recent Posts
    • Leaders Are Readers
    • High Performing Leaders Live a Balanced Life
    • What is Synchronized Leadership?
    • Continuing the Mission - Your First 30 Days
    • Continuing the Mission - The First 100 Days
  • johnalbers

    johnalbers

    johnalbers
    Total Post :12

    Recent Posts
    • Credibility: Do you have it?
    • Experience - Is It Really the Best Teacher?
    • Passionate Leadership
    • Lessons on Leadership from Fishing (part II)
    • Lessons on Leadership from Fishing (part I)
  • SHIP

    SHIP

    SHIP
    Total Post :3

    Recent Posts
    • Priorities: A Different Approach
    • 6 Rules Learned in Afghanistan
    • Performance or Potential
  • dmcohen01

    Dave

    dmcohen01
    Total Post :2

    Recent Posts
    • Frozen Leadership
    • Forget Big and Flashy: Go For the Little Wow!
  • jokercarey

    jokercarey

    jokercarey
    Total Post :2

    Recent Posts
    • A Mother's Day Perspective
    • A Mother's Day Perspective
  • AngelaMaiers

    AngelaMaiers

    AngelaMaiers
    Total Post :4

    Recent Posts
    • The 5 C's of Passion Driven Leadership
    • A “To Be” List for Aspiring Leaders
    • Passion-Driven Leadership
    • Tactical Serendipity: Is Randomness Part of Your Leadership Strategy?
  • Geno Redmon

    Geno Redmon

    Geno Redmon
    Total Post :14

    Recent Posts
    • Lessons in Top Gun Leadership: The Fine Art of Delivering Corrective-Action
    • Top Gun Leadership: The Fine Art of Delivering Corrective Action.
    • Top Gun Leadership: Butt-Chewing 101 (pt 1 of 3)
    • Top Gun Leadership - Part 6
    • Top Gun Leadership Series - Part 5
  • ChrisPLevy

    Christopher P Levy

    ChrisPLevy
    Total Post :36

    Recent Posts
    • Construction or Demolition
    • Leading Leaders - How to be Successful
    • Go Ahead and Quit!
    • Self-Discipline, a Must for Team Success
    • Bridging the Divide
  • chrisrstricklin

    Chris_Stricklin

    chrisrstricklin
    Total Post :1

    Recent Posts
    • Monday Quote
  • dvanwig

    dvanwig

    dvanwig
    Total Post :4

    Recent Posts
    • You Are Free To Choose
    • Working For A Higher Purpose
    • Your Glass Can Be More Than Half Full
    • Prepare for the Future with a Completed Bucket List
  • khinparadise

    Mike Klintworth

    khinparadise
    Total Post :3

    Recent Posts
    • From Technical Expert to Successful Leader
    • 7 Essentials for Building a Dream Team
    • The Bridge To Your Big Dream
  • GenAllenJamerson

    General Allen Jamerson

    GenAllenJamerson
    Total Post :3

    Recent Posts
    • Social Media: A Professional’s Best Tool Used Wisely!
    • Leading with Moral Courage
    • Leading with Moral Courage
  • GenRogerBrady

    General Roger Brady

    GenRogerBrady
    Total Post :2

    Recent Posts
    • The One Reason Why We Still Insist on Honesty
    • The One Reason Why We Still Insist on Honesty
  • jslevin

    jslevin

    jslevin
    Total Post :15

    Recent Posts
    • Business Wisdom Learned From Bomb Squad Experts And Their Commanders
    • How Well Are You Leveraging The Different Thinking Styles Of Your Teams
    • Business Management Lessons from a San Francisco Bus Driver
    • DeCluttering - Your Way To Brilliance
    • Talent Stars - Don't Burn Your Shine!
  • GenGaryHughey

    General Gary Hughey

    GenGaryHughey
    Total Post :3

    Recent Posts
    • Any Job Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Right the First Time
    • Work is Honorable
    • Leadership and the Work Ethic
  • GarthStl

    GarthStl

    GarthStl
    Total Post :2

    Recent Posts
    • Time Waits for Nobody
    • Emotional Intelligence and A Call-Up to the Big Leagues
  • GenMichaelDiamond

    General Michael Diamond

    GenMichaelDiamond
    Total Post :4

    Recent Posts
    • What Happened to Long Term? - Pt 1
    • Leading the Right Team
    • Can Leaders be Heroes?
    • Generalship: 10 Traits Needed by Every Leader
  • GenJerryMartinez

    General Jerry Martinez

    GenJerryMartinez
    Total Post :2

    Recent Posts
    • Simulated Leadership
    • Simulated Leadership
  • GenJamesVechery

    General James Vechery

    GenJamesVechery
    Total Post :10

    Recent Posts
    • Passing the Baton: Leadership in Transition
    • Leadership Can Be Measured In Inches, Not Just Miles!
    • N is for Never Setting Your Goals Too Low
    • A Positive Attitude is Contagious
    • V is for Visionary Leadership: Move the Ball Down the Field
  • GenKathleenGainey

    General Kathleen Gainey

    GenKathleenGainey
    Total Post :1

    Recent Posts
    • The 3 Simple Rules of Effective Feedback
  • ColMattFritz

    Matthew Fritz

    ColMattFritz
    Total Post :15

    Recent Posts
    • A Tribute To Veterans - Solemnly Remember
    • A Day Short of Missing History
    • Why We Write...
    • Ask GeneralLeadership
    • Tune in Tonight! - 9pm Eastern - SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125!
  • GenJohnMichel

    General John Michel

    GenJohnMichel
    Total Post :92

    Recent Posts
    • Why Less is Best
    • Influence: Never Underestimate Your Impact
    • Seize the Moment
    • Vetrepreneur: Perpetual Payback
    • The Dual Pillars of Character: Strength & Honor