Reframing is a powerful technique to generate energy and discover new perspectives on familiar problems. To reframe a situation is to make a conscious choice to look at it from a different point of view. Many long-standing conflicts can be resolved when the combatants are able to reframe their differences and encompass more of the other’s point of view.

Reframing can also lead to totally new points of view and new insights when we allow our minds to play with possibilities.

• What if the complaining customer is not viewed as a pain in the rear, but as an opportunity to improve our products and services?
  
• What if the staff meeting in which we’re not on the agenda is not seen as a waste of time, but as a chance to observe team processes more closely?
  
• What if we stop viewing people as employees and think of everyone in the organization as associates who have virtually unlimited ability to learn and who want to make a meaningful contribution?
  
• What if strong differences of opinion are not seen as inevitably producing a winner and a loser, but as rich opportunities to learn and produce better solutions and decisions in which everyone wins?
  
• What if diversity is not seen as a problem, but as a source of competitive advantage?
  
• What if change is not viewed as the enemy, but as a friend?