If we
can learn how to share our perspectives, we can see the whole picture. That may sound easy, but as a practical
matter, it involves figuring a way out of our own minds…with practice and the
right methods, we can learn to see the way in which attention limits our
perspectives. After all, we learned how
to pay attention in the first place. We
learned the patterns that convinced us to see in a certain way. That means we can also unlearn those
patterns. Once we do, we’ll have the
freedom to learn new, collective ways that serve us and lead to our success.
Cathy N.
Davidson. Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the
Way We Live, Work and Learn, Viking Penguin, 2011. p. 5.
You
are choosing your focus and so is everyone else. Your attention is being drawn
in lots of directions. What do you want to focus on?
As a
leader, how do you “see” the people you work with? From what frame do you
direct the attention of your team? What
criteria are you using to choose a focus?
What questions are you asking? The single greatest tool we have at our
disposal to craft our frames is the ability to ask powerful questions,
questions that illuminate a situation, the context, the stakeholders, our current
place in it, and what future we want to create.
Here is a framing chart I have pulled
together over the past years that helps me choose how to look at something. I’m
sure it’s not complete. If you think of
other ways to help us frame a situation, please share them in the comments
section below. I’d love to make this more even more useful and to have more
dialogue with you.
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