4.1 Reframing
Resilient people have been shown to use reflection to reframe difficulties and challenges – this means looking at a situation from a different angle. For example, they might reframe problems or challenges as ‘learning opportunities’.
Everyone reframes some events without difficulty – for example, coming to see the funny side of an event, such as locking yourself out of the house, which might have felt like a disaster at the time. But reframing is also a frequent tactic used by career coaches, because individuals frequently draw inaccurate conclusions, over-personalising what has happened.
Useful questions to use to reframe difficult events can be:
- What do you think other people in that situation might do?
- What do you think the person you were talking to thought?
- What would you say or think if you saw someone else in that situation?
- What would your best friend say to you about this?
- How do you think you’ll see this five years from now?
Czach gives an example of how reframing works in her Forbes article ‘How to practice reframing during stressful situations at work’. She asks you to:
Reading _unit6.5.1
Imagine that you received an email from a co-worker full of exclamation [marks] and even a few capitalized words. They are “checking in” on your progress on a project and close the email with, “I need to know what’s happening now!”
Naturally, your first reaction might be frustration, defensiveness, impatience or even anger. You might interpret this email to mean they believe you are doing a poor job or that they feel you are incapable of delivering the project on time.
In a situation like this, you would want to reframe your perspective. Before you fire back, ask yourself a few reframing questions such as, “What else might be going on?” or, “What is another way to interpret this email?” Take a moment to come up with several possibilities. Maybe your co-worker is under a lot of stress, or perhaps they have been given an assignment that depends on the completion of yours, so their boss is putting pressure on them. The fact is, there are a variety of equally plausible reasons for the email’s tone.
Reframing allows you to choose how you would like to respond, rather than instinctively react. It puts some distance between your reaction and your response, which helps you see more possibilities.
With this example, you can see straight away how your career resilience is stronger if you use the distance that Czach refers to and take the time to see more possibilities.
In the next activity, you’ll have an opportunity to put reframing into practice.
Activity _unit6.5.2 Activity 8 Reflection in practice
In the timeslot you identified in the last activity (writing some early morning artist’s pages, or reflecting while walking the dog), reflect on one new situation or challenging experience you have recently had. Briefly describe the experience and make a note of how it made you feel.
Now try to reframe your thinking about that experience – look at it from a different perspective. Use the reframing questions suggested just before this activity.
- What do you think other people in that situation might do?
- What do you think the person you were talking to thought?
- What would you say or think if you saw someone else in that situation?
- What would your best friend say to you about this?
- How do you think you’ll see this five years from now?
Comment
- How did that process work for you in reframing the situation and how do you feel about it?
- Which aspects worked well?
- Which aspects worked less well?
- To what extent did that help you feel more positive?
- Is this something you might be willing to try out regularly over the next week?
Seeing the situation from a different perspective can help you to feel better and discover new ways to deal with it the next time it arises.