Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

One of the more beneficial techniques I have learned is how to reframe a situation or turn it around backwards or upside down.

Is it

• (1) the donors aren’t giving enough money or
• (2) the leaders aren’t inspiring the donors.

I hate my boss, so I should

• (1) become my own boss or
• (2) stop hating people.

These are “reframes.” The situation is changed, sometimes changed to its opposite. What good are these things? They help me understand how to consider something else. Sometimes they point me to a simple and far more effective course of action.

How do you reframe? I’m not sure. Here are some tips that may help:

Consider above and below the level of abstraction you are using. For example, the donors have leaders. Should the leaders be doing something else? The donors have recipients. Should the recipients be doing something else?

Consider the verbs in your statement of the situation. For example, “I HATE my boss.” Forget about the boss and how to be your own boss, think about hating people.

Consider the nouns in your statement of the situation. For example, “I hate my BOSS.” If I start my own business, do I really become my own boss? Perhaps in a business, the customers are the boss. If my business is really successful, I will have millions of customers. I have gone from hating one person to hating millions of persons. Now what?

As with most advice about advising, proceed with caution.