@RuthWeirich
When working with those that live in daily instability – well, let’s face it, with any colleague, client, student, family member or friend – it is important to frame the message in a way that is meaningful to the recipient. We are looking for a “win,” and reframing allows us to adjust behavior in a given environment. We all view the world through the lens that shaped our environment; the one built for us by family, friends, community, and life experiences.
Whether it is college professionals, K-12 educators, business leaders, or social service professionals, one of the things we spend time talking about in @ahaprocess workshops is reframing. Simply put, we do this because it is important for real change
When we are working with under-resourced students living in daily instability, these are some patterns that we recognize:
- The employee, client or student from daily instability views the world through frameworks shaped by environments of daily instability.
- Some of their views are effective in the classroom/workplace; others are not.
- Those views, or the lens of the environment, might limit their chances of survival in the middle class world of achievement (from the workplace to formal schooling). We can reframe skills and behaviors into meaningful messages that can often shift how a person will view or understand a situation.
When reframing a person’s individual identity, it is often helpful to use phrases or questions using the “adult voice.” The adult voice, as defined by Eric Berne, is not judgmental, doesn’t include negative non-verbals, is factual in content, has an attitude of win-win (our objective), and is often spoken as a question.
We want to give our students, employees, and clients the choice not to live a life of daily instability. By using the reframing technique, we are offering them an opportunity to view situations through a lens of stability. We are offering choice.
How have you successfully used #reframing in your interactions? Join us at @ahaprocess #ahaBridges to continue the discussion.
