“Leadership and learning,” according to John F. Kennedy, “are indispensible to one another.” And yet over and over again, we as leaders think that `what we know’ is our greatest asset. It is not. ‘What we know’ provides a robust frame through which to interpret new information; it provides the structural support on which new things can rest. But without learning, there is nothing new. There is no growth at all.
Leadership then is not a role or a pre-existing skill set but a practice. It is the practice of asking good questions, of learning from our environment and the people around us. One way to deepen this practice is to train in the art of shifting frames. Frames are the way we see the world, the borders we put around life experiences so that we can focus on the content therein. But the process of framing is reductive and thus limits what we can see. As a leadership practice, take a moment to ask yourself “what is the meaning I am constructing about this situation, person, challenge? What solutions or actions am I leaning towards?” This will give you a sense of the frame you are in. But to shift the frame, you must actually see an alternate point of view. Stand up. Walk to the other side of the room. What do you notice here?
There are a multitude of frames, as many frames as there are people. Bolman and Deal, in their book Reframing Academic Leadership point to four core leadership and organizational frames: structural, human resources (people development focused), political and symbolic (cultural). Each of these frames is associated with a particular kind of situational analysis. In the structural frame, leaders often ask, “what are the critical rules, roles and policies? How can I establish effective procedures, lines of authority, and technologies to ensure the best possible outcome?” In the human resource frame, leaders attend to people’s needs, developing skills and growing capacity, enhancing relationships between individuals and teams, and ensuring the overall health of the system. In the political frame, leaders focus on power as displayed through conflict, resource constraints, constituency interests and agendas and group alliances. In the symbolic frame, leaders ask themselves, “what are the cultural beliefs being displayed by this person, team, department? What stories would be most compelling to them? How can I create practices, celebrations, rituals that would effectively bring them together around a shared vision? Which symbols best convey this vision?”
The next time you find yourself facing a situation that is all too familiar and yet the outcome you are seeking eludes you, shift your frame and see what new focal areas, new solutions become available to you. The more attention you pay to the diversity of frames, the more effective you will be as a leader. Learning is the key to enlarging your sphere of influence.
