Purpose

Clarify different points of view, overcome information asymmetry, and promote understanding and convergence by uncovering parties’ unconscious thought processes: how each person selects data, attributes meanings, draws conclusions, and consequently takes action.

When to Use

We can apply the Ladder of Inference in all kinds of situations. Ideally, we’d always have it turned on. Being aware of it, we will start spotting more instances where we (or, more easily, others around us) are operating at the conclusions level.

References

Peter M. Senge et al, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization (Currency, 1994), pp. 242-246; original tool by Chris Argyris