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The Mobius ModelTM An introduction to coaching Marjorie Herdes and William Stockton, Ph.D.
The Sufi poet, Rumi, offers ancient wisdom about the challenge of understanding these unseen dimensions of our collective experience. In his story about a group encounter with an elephant in the dark, each individual grasped a part of the whole - a leg, trunk, ear, tusk or tail - and offered a different description of the whole. Just so, each of us offers a differing but complementary account of the larger culture that shapes us all. But unlike an elephant, our cultures remain invisible to us even in the light of day; we will always be dependent on each other to share our different experiences in order to understand the larger whole/culture of which we are a part. Still, as Rumi suggests, “if each of us held a candle there, and if we went in together, we could see it”.
When someone requests coaching he or she probably has stories about how they or others are different and flawed and need to change. The coach must listen to fully understand the situation as the other experiences it. The coach is than in a good position to offer a different perspective so that together both can see the bigger picture. From this larger perpective, both may see that no one is flawed or wrong but that there are creative ways to understand the situation that all the stakeholders would affirm. From this vantage point, new and creative possibilities for action will emerge and development can happen. The Mobius Model™ is a guide for understanding and leading the development of individuals, groups, organizations, communities and larger systems. Development refers to changes that increase human capacity. In the last century we learned that individual human development is intimately related to changes in the collective forms of human relationship. One can’t be changed without regard for the other though many leaders, to our great sorrow, have tried to do so. The most powerful leaders in any arena are those who develop effective strategies that also encourage the growth of human capacities. Gestalt theorists offer fascinating visual analogies for this relationship with their images in which figure and ground shift before our eyes. Any change in the figure (see illustration)  Whether we focus on the faces or the vases, to change one is to change the other. Just so, in a group or organization, to change individuals is to change the organization, and to change the organization requires individuals to change. Anthropologists use the term “culture” to refer to the invisible space which shapes the visible interactions of the members and objects of a group or society. Not until the 20th century did we begin to understand the processes by which individuals are shaped by their cultures. William, a cultural anthropologist, developed the Mobius ModelTM as a guide for understanding and leading development; it assumes that we also shape the cultures that shape us, and we can learn to do so by choice. As a guide for understanding our individual and collective experience - in workplaces, schools and homes - the Mobius ModelTM points to the diversity of our viewpoints as a resource. We can learn from others if we add their viewpoints to our own. The Mobius Model™ shows how to use our conversations as mirrors for recognizing developmental opportunities and as tools for leading and coaching development. In the language of the Mobius Model™, monologues refer to the familiar patterns of emotion, thought and action that signal limits to our individual or collective point of view and thus our capacity for development. Monologues can be recognized in our spoken and unspoken conversations and in the stories that we tell to explain ourselves to each other. Monologues are conversations about perceived differences between self and other, or “us” and “them”. The following four monologues are prototypes of conversations that signal an opportunity for development. (Words in BOLD can be found on the model.)
Whenever you think these thoughts or hear them spoken, the Mobius Model™ can be a guide for the transformation of monologues. Monologues always call attention to the past or the future, instead of present moment opportunities for effective action and collaborative relationships. The Mobius Model™ provides both a road map and real-time guide for coaching and facilitating development. As coaches, if we agree or disagree with the speaker about what is or isn’t working as stated in their monologues, the monologues deepen their grip.
Either response could deepen the original speaker’s distress. If ‘you’ agree, s/he night be offended. If ‘you’ disagree s/he may believe that ‘you’ don’t understand the real situation and disregard what you say. The presence of monologues is marked by some key characteristics: The following sequence of conditions of relationship is present in a dialogue for development. First, there must be mutual recognition that each participant (a) understands the challenge situation from the other’s viewpoint and (b) has another point of view to offer that will support success. When this condition is missing, advice, teaching, coaching and facilitation rarely lead to development and committed action. A dialogue for development then unfolds in the following way - as demonstrated by the Mobius Model.
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The two characters in this cartoon think that they are on separate sides. But, the intriguing quality of a mobius strip is that there is no inside or outside - only one continuous surface - so the cartoon characters are both on the same “side”. For the two characters to discover this they would each need to fully share their point of view and be willing to listen to really understand. Together they could discover the bigger truth of their situation. 
Monologues can create mine fields in which any step may bring unexpected and undesirable consequences. Monologues that are brought into dialogue contribute to the discovery of new possibilities. Monologues are not “bad”, only limited.