A632.3.4RB_SeabournBeau

Frame blindness can be a decision maker's worst enemy. In our reading this week, we learned ways in which we can successfully deal with frame blindness and how we can apply this to our daily encounters and to our leadership traits. This week we are to address three ways we can avoid "framing traps". My examples this week are:

1) Understanding the frames of others - It is important to understand your coworkers perspectives and to understand what they're associating certain situations with the problem solving solutions they might be using. Sometimes people will weed out certain topics or simply not mention things that you might, in that case you need to understand that maybe they're framing something differently then you are. When I began working at my current facility, I never understood why a particular coworker was handling decisions differently then I was. I though the way I was handling these situations was the correct way and that there couldn't be another way of doing that. As time went on and I got to know this person and her habits, i understood why she was doing what she was doing. It took me just stepping back and understanding her frames. Had I been more eager to do this immediately, we could have avoided some debates and confrontations.

2) Identify and change inadequate frames - In this matter, you want to ask yourself a series of questions that may help your direction and understanding. The reading this week mentions that we should ask, is our change adaptable to change?, In which case did your frame allow you to see the forest for the trees?, and is our frame sufficiently simple?.There is a need for us to determine if our frames are actually serving our needs and if they're  effective for our current needs. When I changed jobs, I ran into this very issue. I moved from a military environment to a civilian environment and from handling military aircraft to civilian ones. I didn't have the correct tools or frames. It actually took me a while to deal with that situation. Things were happening that I wasn't up to speed on and that I couldn't grasp. I had to (I didn't know it then) change my frames and ask myself a lot of the question outlined in our reading (page 146-147).

3) Recognize Key Assumptions - Th reading outlines that we should research and determine what our organizational frames are. Once you have determined that, you can try and see if you and your organizational are on the same page. Assumptions can play a huge role in the way things get done in a business and if you have one assumption and your company has a different one, you could see potential issues arise. For me, I had a hard time finding out what my assumptions were and what assumptions my company )and my manger) had made about me. There was an understanding of my duties but no real outlining of how I was to complete them and move forward effectively. There was a breakdown between my manager and I because he was expecting one thing and I assumed another.

This exercise has taught me a lot this week. I didn't know anything about framing until this week and it shed new light on how people might be on different wave lengths or think different things and not know it. This has taught me to try and understand those differences and how to tear down the barriers that prevent me/us from being effective together. Moving forward, it'll be interesting to see how I utilize these tools in my work environment. This week opened my eyes to a new way of thinking and understanding.