Assessing minute-by-minute choices is a key aspect of the discipline of reflective leadership. But building a true picture of how we act turns out to be surprisingly difficult.
Part of the difficulty stems from the way we think about our behavior.
We all act in accordance with mental “maps” of what we believe to be true about the world. These maps allow us to plan, implement, and evaluate actions.
But for all their value, they have one very significant catch: the maps that shape our behavior are often not the ones we think shape our behavior.
Take, for example, the manager of a body purification center we once heard being interviewed in a bustling morning diner.
The woman spoke eloquently and with conviction about the benefits of restoring systemic balance, releasing flows of energy, and ridding the body of toxins.
But at one point the interviewer noted that, even as she spoke, she was smoking a cigarette and eating a plate of greasy sausage. “What does that square with ridding the body of toxins?” he asked.
The woman paused a moment, then laughed and said, “Well, you gotta wake up somehow, right?”
The beliefs, values, and views this woman consciously championed centered on alternative, holistic health. Her behavior, however, suggested a more complex set of mental models.
Chris Argyris and Donald Schon, of the Harvard Business School and MIT, explored mental dichotomies like this at length. In particular, they focused on ideas they termed espoused theories and theories-in-use.
Espoused theories, they said, are those values and beliefs to which we consciously subscribe. They are ideas we talk about, think about, and express to others.
Theories-in-use, on the other hand, are the things that actually determine our behavior. They are the worldview and values that are revealed by our actions.
As illustrated above, espoused theories and theories-in-use can be identical, but often are not.
Such differences could be mistaken for hypocrisy. But Argyris and Schon were clear that espoused theories and theories-in-use are equally sincere expressions of genuine belief.
We truly and legitimately believe in both sets of theories. One simply determines our behavior, while the other does not. And the problem, the real challenge, is that it is very difficult for us to tell which of our theories are which.
Part two of this series will present some practical examples of how these dynamics can play out in the workplace. It will also explore ways that we can see past our espoused theories and identify those theories-in-use actually shaping our choices and actions.