So welcome back! How did you find that activity? And while you were there, out in your surroundings, trying to do a different frames and looking at things from different perspectives, we did our bit of experiential activity as well. So we took on different frames, we went into our familiar, sometimes not so familiar surroundings to test it out, to see how it feels. And we'd be glad to discuss our experiences with you. I'd love to hear from all of you. >> It was difficult. I took on the frame of being a person in a wheelchair, a disabled person. And I realized just how my whole view of my surroundings changed. So for example, when I try to come into the building, the reception's desk was so high that I couldn't see who was behind there. And then, when I came down the hall, a little bit I was thinking what if there's a fire in the building, how would I let other people know? And I tried to see if I could reach the fire alarm and I couldn't reached it. So it would have to call down the hall and say, Alan, can you come and rescue me? >> [LAUGH] >> Well, that's fascinating. I did the same wheelchair frame and it was so eye opening. First of all, when I just thought about the frame I said, well, okay, I'm going to run into stairs. I'm going to have problems with stairs. I knew that just thinking about it. But what I didn't know is when I was really thinking about is just getting through doorways. Opening doors and getting through or how wide the door is in my wheelchair. All of these things became obstacles and then there was a really amazing moment when somebody in a wheelchair, in my office space, was moving across a carpeted floor. And it was difficult for them to get the wheelchair across a carpeted floor compared to a tile floor. I would have never thought of that. But because I was thinking that way, and I saw this person, I was beginning to observe them more carefully than I would have otherwise. So that's the wheelchair frame, but I suppose the architect or the interior design frame too. What materials do you use to furnish the office? And there's decisions to be made but it affects people in different ways. >> Yeah. >> Yes, I agree and I took on the role of a five year old. >> I did too. >> You did? Wow. >> We can match now. >> Let's share notes. >> Yes, okay. >> So I went to my office space that I normally go to, as a five year old who is going along with his or her mommy for a bring my kid to work day. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So the same office spaces that I go to and I visit every other day. It looks so different. People are very busy. There are tall desks and chairs, and people are buried in their laptops. I felt last, I didn't know where to go to, who to talk to. I didn't know why people were so serious. Our mom and dad is so serious at one place? >> [LAUGH] >> I'm boring. >> [LAUGH] >> They constantly serious. >> So it was amazing to really look at the same space that you've seen time and again from a different frame and then look at it from the frame of a five year old. >> That brings back an incredible memory. I had a boss who everybody was a little afraid of, but one day my five or pre schooler came, I had to pick him up early and being him into the office. And he just walked into the bosses office, attracted by all the little model trucks and heavy construction equipment that a client had given. And my son thought he was in the sand box. He was going to have a great time playing with these trucks. And I wanted to get him. And the boss said, hey, hey, he's fine. And it broke the ice. It was just an amazing experience because everyone else was afraid of this man but my son connected with him because of the modelled truck in his office. >> Wow. >> That is fascinating. It's almost as if your son, he did not even think of permission. He granted himself permission, saw the trucks, and it's so natural for a five year old to get attracted to that. And that is what I discovered, as a five year old, when we decided to take the assignment on, I popped out into the building, and what is it as a five year old I was not allowed to do? Go into the lifts alone. So I went into the lift. Pressing all the buttons that I could. I did appear a little wired to other people in that lift, but I did explain that I'm doing an experiential exercise. So I got off one floor and realized that as a child I had the impulse to run along the corridor, and the things thrown at the corridor. There was dustbin which was almost as tall as me. I could sneak under the receptionist's place, and then there was food. Somebody was having a meeting. I snuck in and I went to the president and said, I'm doing an experiential exercise as a five-year-old. >> [LAUGH] >> And lo and behold, the reaction which is to notice, she said, would you like some candy? >> Really? >> So even the frame of the person who's looking at me, making explicit that I am looking at it at a five year old her reaction changed which is fascinating. And I did come back and she said come back for more. And that is something that stayed with me. >> Yeah, one of the things that's so impressive every time I do this exercise is that we see things, there are things that we pass every day that we see, or don't see. And then, when we take on a different frame they either come more into the forefront or more into the background. >> So it even influences I think the reaction like your bosses reaction to your son. The latest reaction to me, clearly I look like an adult. I do not look like a five year old, hopefully not. >> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] I wouldn't be here. But look at the influence of that frame. >> What I'm struck by too is the fact that this exercise causes us, gives us permission to change frames. But how easily we do it, and how people change their frames. Yes, it's reframing but we flip our frames often times and it's instantaneous many times. You just say that as someone and all over sudden it's a different situation. So it is something we all know how to do and yet we don't do it often times in our meetings and in our business transactions and meeting space. >> You know that's very interesting. So if say I was trying to apply it in a meeting and I never done this before, what are some of the ways I would frame my questions? So that I enable the other person listening to me to understand that I'm taking multiple frames. I'm being elastic, I'm being tolerant and I'm learning. How do I begin to frame those questions? How do I communicate that? >> I think that's a great question. One of the ways that immediately comes to mind, I'm sure you have others, is that, if you're working on an issue, you could say, I wonder how our customers would view this problem or issue. Or I wonder how someone in legal department could view this issue. So that we begin to get to take on in a meeting those different perspectives. >> Absolutely. So tieing it back to the scenario that we just watched, what if the meeting started with a discussion on the changing market scenario. And the cost pressures faced by the organization. That could have probably changed the dialogue, the conversations that happen and so could have really helped the team members who are present in that meeting to come out of their frames. So framing and reframing can be very useful tools to understand how learning gets locked in teams and how to unlock this learning process. >> I can think of a simple expression I've heard now and it's pertinent to this, and it's in the organisations and people are being explicit. They're saying things like, take off your management hat and put on your customer hat. Take off your lawyer hat and put on your operator hat, or employee hat. So the fact that there are figure of speech we use like, what hat are you wearing? I think being explicit in our meetings and say, call attention to how we're looking at it and ask people to reshape that, reframe that. We can do that. >> So let's take some time to think about it. And here's an assignment two for this module. So why don't we think about times that we we're in the meeting or in the next meeting that you attend. Observe people, observe the team members that come to the meeting. What are the frames that they bring to the meeting? Are they able to understand others' perspectives? Are they willing to explore others' ideas, or are they stuck to their frames? So what are the ways in which you think that reframing this situation can really help this team become more productive and understand each other's viewpoints? Let us know. Share your story. More details about this assignment is available in the Resources section. We'd love to hear from you. >> That is true, because when you do what she's described in the assignment, you will see and begin to experience how framing, reframing, and applying systems thinking, and I think you will have a little more theoretical underpinnings as you go along in this course. You will see that the first opportunity at work in your role that you apply, you would see they allows you to understand the issues from an individual level, one on one interpersonal level, at a group level, they're on a multiple number of members, there is a customer, there is legal. There's different departments, you'd see at a system level, at an organization level, at a market level, it just keeps building on. Well, you can't include all the factors of the universe in it. But it is a good time to start looking at what are you a part of? How do you directly or indirectly are either influenced by, or you influence them? So look at this module. In that light and tied all together as you work your assignments.
