How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 64

3.6 REFRAMING
Everyone sees things differently — knowledge often lies in
the eye of the beholder. To reframe means to change the
conceptual and/or emotional setting or viewpoint in relation
to which a situation is experienced and to place it in another
frame which fits the ”facts” of the same concrete situation
equally well or even better, and thereby changes its entire
meaning. (Watzlawick et al.)
The reframing matrix enables different perspectives to be
generated and used in coaching and management processes.
It expands the number of options for solving a problem.
“Wise people,” wrote M. Scott Peck, “learn not to dread but
actually to welcome problems.” You know why that’s wise?
Because you’re going to get problems. If you welcome them
and embrace the challenge, you will be better at solving
them. And you will be less upset or depressed by problems
when they come along (which they will).
We can learn to welcome problems by getting in the habit of
framing problems as "opportunities in disguise." We can
learn to welcome problems by deliberately trying to see
what’s good about the problem — by deciding right up front,
“This is good,” and then working to make it so.
Rationale
Perspective is a mental view, an ingrained way of perceiving
the world. Different people have different experiences and
see in different ways: understanding how they do expands
the range of solutions that one might devise to address a
question or problem.

372