On the same page: The value of paid and volunteer leaders sharing mental models in churches

Abstract We examine the idea that mental models shared among paid and volun-teer leaders are associated with improved financial performance in non-profit organizations. Our empirical analysis of thirty-seven churches yields evidence that organizations are more effective if paid and volunteer leaders have a shared task mental model—that is, if they report similar conceptual-izations of organizational goals and decision-making processes. These find-ings suggest that the extent of leaders’ agreement on organizational goals and the processes of how decisions are made matter for organizational per-formance. We argue that it is as important to ensure that everyone is on the same page with regard to goals and how decisions are made as it is to have the “right” goals or right decision processes in place. Implications for prac-tice and future research on shared mental models are discussed. “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” —Anais Nin G etting people “on the same page” means having people see an issue the same way, and share the same reference points, the same images, the same vocabulary. Such cognitive unity is believed to facilitate understanding, communication, decision making, and ultimately effective operations. Yet a number of re-search studies suggest that achieving this cognitive unity is diffi-cult because individuals tend to rely on their own idiosyncratic rep-resentation of an issue. For example, managers’ perceptions differ among one another (Mezias and Starbuck, 2003) and people’s or-ganizational roles affect what they see (Mezias, Grinyer, and Guth, 2001; Payne and Pugh, 1976)