Continuing from my earlier posts pertaining to developing an opportunity-sensitive mindset, building on what I have had learned from Dr Maxwell Maltz in the late seventies, and then throughout the ensuing years while riding on the shoulders of other giants before me, here's my next Viewpoint Strategy:

VIEWPOINT STRATEGY ~ SEEING THROUGH DIFFERENT LENS:

Albert Einstein, acknowledged by Time Magazine as the Smartest Person of the 20th Century, demonstrated to us in the early twentieth century that if we look at anything through a different lens, what we perceive will be different.

It's actually called REFRAMING!

Although reframing may have its origins in neuro-linguistics programming or NLP, it is actually just a simple process of changing the context or representation of a problem or issue at hand.

In reality, it is "shifting the meaning of" or "changing the way we think about" the problem or issue at hand.

That is to say, the meaning of anything is found essentially in the mental frame within which we view it.

According to NLP experts, when we perceive something as a problem, that's the message we send to our brain.

Then, the brain produces states in our body that make it a reality.

When we change our frame of reference by looking at the same problem from a different viewpoint, we can change our response to it.

More precisely, we can change our perception and/or representation about anything – object, event or process, situation, circumstance, people, idea – by according it a different meaning, and thus, allowing us to take a different approach & giving us new possibilities for the actions that we might take & the responses we might execute.

This is what reframing is all about.

For a better understanding, I like to point out that reframing is about changing perception.

However, since I am not an NLP junkie, I will approach reframing from a slightly different perspective.

I want to use reframing as a strategy for problem solving and opportunity discovery.

Over the years, I have learned more than a dozen possible ways – remember, I rode on the shoulders of giants before me - to see an issue or a problem or a challenge through diffferent lens or reframing, and would like to share them with readers:

1) Personality Frame:

- Just imagine that you are the issue or problem or challenge and adopt the personality of a particular person, and then explore how you would feel and act exactly within the issue or problem or challenge;

- In Synectics brainstorming methodology, we call this the 'personal analogy' approach;

2) Opposite Frame:

- Look at contrasting possibilities of the issue or problem or challenge;

- Our mind tend to look at only "similarities", and often "contrasts" can add another dimension to our viewpoint;

3) Flex Frame:

- Change the attributes of the issue or problem or challenge to see how you can flex it at will, say with the help of the well-known SCAMPER methodology;

- Explore the problem by shifting from pessimistic to optimistic, and then back to neutral standpoints;

4) Future Frame:

- Play with futuristic scenarios to see how the issue or problem or challenge can be addressed, especially when you have unlimited power, money, time, and resources;

- Your futuristic scenarios can take the form of global, regional, industry, market, product, organisational or personal levels;

5) Failure Frame:

- Approach the issue or problem or challenge from the standpoint of “failing forward faster”, by viewing the potential consequences as "opportunities";

- Our mind tend to look at "success" only, whereas looking at "failure" brings many possibilities to the issue or problem or challenge, often not recognised from looking the other way;

6) Fun Frame:

- Approach the problem from the standpoint of a curious child, with awe, joy and wonder at your disposal;

- Just imagine: When we could see the world through the eyes of a child, we would see the magic in everything!

7) Friends Frame:

- Get as many viewpoints as possible about the problem from your friends, especially those who aren't afraid to be honest with you, or even family members or colleagues;

- This approach will certainly help to remove some of your own blind spots;

8) Fame Frame:

- Imagine you are Einstein or Edison or Tesla, & explore how your new self would solve the problem;

- You can also include celebrities &/or renowned thought leaders like Peter Drucker or even MM Lee Kuan Yew;

9) Fiction Frame:

- Imagine your are Sherlock Holmes or Dick Tracy or Columbo, & then explore how they would
tackle the problem;

- Try MacGyver;

10) Fantasy Frame:

- Go to the extremes, or out of this world, into 'Fantasyland', to explore the problem;

- Just imagine how 'Alien' &/or 'Predator' would tackle the problem & come up with a solution;

11) Flip-side Frame:

- Look at the upside & the downside or reverse side of the problem;

12) Whole-Brain Frame:

- Explore the problem by walking around the 'rational bottom-line', 'conservative procedural', 'emotional people-oriented', & 'intuitive big-picture', viewpoints;

13) Five Senses Frame:

- Explore the problem using all the five physical senses, e.g. seeing, listening, smelling, tasting & touching;