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Framing, or reframing, situations simply provides a neat and tidy way of changing your view of a particular situation.
We all view things from different perspectives based on our upbringing, experiences, and education. Since many of life's experiences are common to all of us, we can sometimes see things in a manner similar to others --- which is actually a "joint perspective". However, more times than not, we are unable to understand the perspectives of others because they either cross our own or are too far outside of our understanding to grasp their view. This is where "framing" comes into play.
--- What is framing? ---
Hold your thumbs and forefingers out and make a square in front of your face. Now, move that square out to arms length --- like movie directors do on television. Look through that square and describe what you see. Now, move it around and observe the changing image through this "frame".
Framing allows you to wrap your arms around a situation by slicing out a piece of the big picture and changing your perspective. By changing your "frame of reference", situations and ideas take on new light. You can then see things that you could not see earlier.
For example, one simple way to reframe your view is to find out what the other people are thinking. Embedded thoughts at any given time greatly affect how a person sees anything. Once you determine their thoughts, through further conversation, take a look through "their eyes" to obtain a better understanding of the situation. From here, you can change your mind or converse to change their mind by logically "bridging" the gap between their current view and the desired view.
--- Framing at the Office ---
Many of my clients approach me about framing issues at work. They tend to see the effects of framing such that their managers are "ignorant", "don't listen", or are "blowing them off". Grant it, there are some situations where managers try to avoid conflict; however, many such situations appear to occur because of framing.
Let's consider that you present a problem to your manager. They ponder for a moment, or a week, and they come back with reasoning that seems far off of the situation that you provided. It makes them look as though they never heard your original comments. However, they heard everything, as it is their job, yet they are reframing the situation into something that they can understand and solve.
Management does this so that they can easily and gracefully handle employee issues. They only understand how to effectively deal with certain classes of issues and, in some cases, subset issues due to human resource related regulations and the potential for additional problems and litigation.
The best way to deal with this situation is to determine a union between their framing and your issue so that not only can you find resolution, but indeed management would have an opportunity to grasp hold of at least part of the problem. This allows you the opportunity to provide a bridge between their solution and the overall problem.
--- Using Framing ---
I recall during one coaching session that the client argued that if he were to reframe situations, he is "selling out" to avoid an argument. Actually, this is not the case. Reframing allows you to get a better understanding of the other party's ideas and information without "selling out".
Framing can be used anywhere and at anytime, especially when it comes to dealing with others. Of course, it is essential to accept the fact that we all have a different view of things; however, we don't have to adopt everyone else's view just to "get along". Simply change your framing of the situation to provide a basis for discussion and understand.
--- What's next? ---
Obviously, in such a short article we cannot discuss every possible aspect of this interesting approach. However, this should give you a basic idea as to the use and benefits of framing in your interactions. Framing, or reframing, situations simply provides a neat and tidy way of changing your view of a particular situation. This approach can minimize confrontation by providing a bridge between distinctively different points of view. Not only can you better your communications skills with this tool, but you can also open new doors for broadening your perspective.
About the Author
Edward B. Toupin is an author, life-strategy coach, counselor, Reiki master, remote viewer, and technical writer living in Las Vegas, NV. Among other things, he authors books and articles on topics ranging from career success through life organization and fulfillment. For more information, e-mail Edward at etoupin@toupin.com or visit his sites at http://www.toupin.com or http://www.make-life-great.com.