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    The Power of Framing: Creating the Language of Leadership
    The Power of Framing: Creating the Language of Leadership
    The Power of Framing: Creating the Language of Leadership
    Ebook408 pages4 hours

    The Power of Framing: Creating the Language of Leadership

    By Gail T. Fairhurst

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    Praise for The Power of Framing

    "The primary work of leadership involves managing meaning through framing. Fairhurst shows that the way leaders use language to frame people, situations, and events has important consequences for the way individuals make sense of the world and their actions. The Power of Framing is an accessible and inspirational read for leaders who want to shape their organizations in ethically responsible ways."
    —J. KEVIN BARGE, professor, Texas A&M University

    "An ideal book for MBA students and business professionals who are interested in specific tools for constructing leadership in their professional worlds. By focusing on the language toolbox of leadership, the book empowers anyone to construct leadership through talk and interaction."
    —JOLANTA ARITZ, associate professor, Center for Management Communication, USC Marshall School of Business

    "Building on her earlier acclaimed work, and written in a highly accessible style, Fairhurst's thoughtful study provides us with a practical and highly relevant analysis of the power of framing language from a leadership perspective. This is a must-have book."
    —DAVID GRANT, professor of organizational studies, University of Sydney

    "Communication is the most important element of leadership, and framing of the subject and situation is one of the most powerful tools available to leaders. Gail Fairhurst has created the handbook to help leaders do this right. A must-read for anyone in a leadership capacity."
    —RICH KILEY, venture capitalist, and retired Procter & Gamble marketing and HR executive

    "To be an effective global manager, there is nothing more critical than understanding how to frame an issue so that you are effectively communicating and motivating in a culturally sensitive manner. This book will tune you into these issues and show you how to make certain your communication is properly interpreted by your audience."
    —OLGA JACOB, general sales manager (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg), American Airlines

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWiley
    Release dateOct 26, 2010
    ISBN9780470901328
    The Power of Framing: Creating the Language of Leadership

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      Book preview

      The Power of Framing - Gail T. Fairhurst

      001

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      WEB CONTENTS

      Dedication

      PREFACE

      Who Should Read This Book

      Overview of the Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Chapter 1 - The Reality of Framing

      The Rules of Reality Construction

      Test Your Framing Style

      Framing Through Pictures?

      A Backward Glance at Chapter One

      Chapter 2 - The Skill of Framing

      Culture and Its Discourses

      Mental Models

      Core Framing Tasks

      A Backward Glance at Chapter Two

      Chapter 3 - The Science of Framing

      Priming for Spontaneity

      Building Complex Mental Models

      A Backward Glance at Chapter Three

      Chapter 4 - The Art of Framing

      Framing as a Craft

      The $1,000,000 Question: Combining Framing Devices

      A Backward Glance at Chapter Four

      Chapter 5 - The Emotion of Framing

      Emotional Intelligence and Framing

      Emotional Contagion and Framing

      Emotional Regulation and Framing

      A Backward Glance at Chapter Five

      Chapter 6 - The Ethics of Framing

      Ethical Codes and Why We Need Them

      Creating Mindfulness

      Moral Positioning

      On Crucibles and Teaching Moments

      A Backward Glance at Chapter Six

      Chapter 7 - The Leadership Context of Framing

      Context, Leadership and Framing

      Now It Is Your Turn

      A Backward Glance at Chapter Seven

      Chapter 8 - The Applications of Framing

      Conversations

      Framing for Campaigns

      GLOSSARY OF FRAMING TERMS

      NOTES

      REFERENCES

      THE AUTHOR

      INDEX

      001

      Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

      Published by Jossey-Bass

      A Wiley Imprint

      989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

      Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.

      Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

      Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572- 3986, or fax 317-572-4002.

      Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Fairhurst, Gail Theus, date.

      The power of framing : creating the language of leadership / Gail T. Fairhurst.

      p. cm.—(The Jossey-Bass Business & management series)

      Revised ed. of: The art of framing.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-470-49452-3 (hardback)

      1. Leadership. 2. Communication in management. 3. Interpersonal communication.

      I. Fairhurst, Gail Theus, date. Art of framing. II. Title.

      HD57.7.F356 2011

      658.4’092014—dc22

      2010032118

      HB Printing

      WEB CONTENTS

      002

      Framing Tool 1.1: Designing Leadership

      Framing Tool 1.2: Critical Incident Framing

      Framing Tool 1.3: Communications Style Inventory

      Framing Tool 1.4: Communications Style Meshing

      Framing Tool 2.1: Critical Incident Framing

      Framing Tool 2.2: Identifying Your Mental Models

      Framing Tool 2.3: Critical Incident Framing

      Framing Tool 2.4: Your Core Framing Tasks

      Framing Tool 3.1: Critical Incident Framing

      Framing Tool 5.1: Critical Incident Framing

      Framing Tool 6.1: Critical Incident Framing

      Framing Tool 7.1: Failed Leadership

      Framing Tool 7.2: Successful Leadership

      Framing Tool 8.1: Framing Involving Big Projects or Campaigns

      The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series

      To Verne, Katie, Tom, and Kelsey

      PREFACE

      There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, Morning, boys, how’s the water? And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, What the hell is water?

      —David Foster Wallace, commencement

      address at Kenyon College, 2005¹

      SINCE The Art of Framing was published in 1996, I have spoken with many in the United States and abroad on the role of communications in leadership. Some really seem to grasp its importance. Too many others still do not. For them, as for Wallace’s young fish, the most profound realities of life are those most difficult to see and talk about, and one of those realities is the remarkable gift of human communication. Substitute communication for water, and What the hell is water? wonderfully describes many leaders in organizations today. They take their communication for granted, dismissing it as something they just do automatically.

      If I am talking, I must be communicating, right? Many leaders (and others, of course) make that assumption, because communication looks like a simple act of transmission. The Sender → Message → Receiver model, which describes communication in terms of a message passing over a channel subject to noise, is still commonly taught.² And our language is full of expressions that reinforce it—as when we say, I got my message across, or I can’t seem to get through to this employee. The transmission model is not incorrect, but it is woefully inadequate when considering the tasks facing today’s leaders.

      A better way to view communication is to emphasize the way it creates a shared reality. Consider the global economic crisis that began in 2008, which according to Newsweek writer Daniel Gross created a whole new genre of linguistics: financial linguistics. In a 2009 article, he recalled George Orwell’s 1946 essay Politics and the English Language, in which Orwell decried political rhetoric used to make lies sound truthful and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.³

      Indeed, Gross makes an excellent case that the captains of Wall Street have had a boundless energy for repackaging discredited financial products with new legit-sounding names like legacy loans, legacy securities, nonprime mortgages, high-yield debt, and the like. Framing alone didn’t produce this crisis, but communications played a central role. To add insult to injury, Harry Truman’s maxim—If you can’t convince them, confuse them—appears to have become the modus operandi of leaders asked to account for their firm’s performance.⁴ Whether these leaders are speaking to Wall Street, Congress, or everyday citizens, they often explain their firm’s actions in accounting doublespeak. If we are not left wondering just what it is they said, we are left questioning their capacity for corporate responsibility.

      So the financial crisis reminds me that there is a large group of generally smart and articulate leaders out there who need to reflect on their communications and ethics a great deal more. They need to not take their communications for granted quite so much. They need to understand how our financial realities (and those of others) are created through their communications. They need to understand that untrustworthy leaders already understand all of this—and are betting that most others don’t.

      French philosopher Michel Foucault had it right when he said—and I’m paraphrasing here—that people know what they say, and they usually know why they say what they say. What they do not understand is what what they say does.⁵ Most of us fail to understand the context-shaping features of our language and the meanings for events that we have had a hand in creating. It is easier to attribute those harsh realities to someone else’s doing. However, I would be lying if I did not also acknowledge that the transmission model of communication, the meaning-lite model, is far easier to understand. How we create meaning with others is among the most elusive aspects of leadership communications.

      With this mind-set, I am tackling the subject of framing once again as the means by which leaders and students of leadership, and not just those in the financial sector, learn to manage meaning. However, this time around my task has been made both a little easier and more difficult. What makes writing about framing easier today is that the terms frame and framing are not as foreign as they were in 1996. In part, this is because a tremendous amount of research on framing has been done in a wide range of disciplines, including communication and media studies, linguistics, economics, psychology, sociology, psychiatry, and management.

      Moreover, we have seen the language of framing enter the vernacular of everyday speech with the 2006 and 2008 U.S. political campaigns. Professional pollsters like Frank Luntz have begun to use it as a campaign tool, and media outlets like the New York Times feature articles about the framing wars to analyze key campaign messages.⁶

      What is a little more difficult this time around is that framing is turning out to be what the German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein describes as a blurred concept.⁷ Like the terms leadership and communication, frame and framing can be used in several different ways as people play language games. For example, does framing denote a cognitive process—a way of seeing—or an act of communication? Is a frame narrow and lens-like, or is it broad and schema-like? Do frames organize and can they expand, or are they neat little self-contained packages?

      Chapters One and Two are largely devoted to answering these questions, but whichever way you slice the framing pie, it is clear that frames have consequences. After 9/11, the United States was not attacked again on its soil under the tough-talking language and action of the Bush presidency, but the coalition of the willing also grew perilously close to a coalition of one in the war in Iraq.⁸ As mentioned, the consequences of irresponsible framing (among other irresponsible actions) can be seen in the near meltdown of the world’s financial system. Even the financial industries themselves, according to Gross, believed so fervently in their own rhetoric that they bet their financial houses on it.⁹

      And so this book is for leaders or students of leadership who want to have a greater impact on the world through their communications. Echoing David Foster Wallace, it is for the fish who want to know about the water.

      Who Should Read This Book

      I have written The Power of Framing for three specific audiences. Carrying on the tradition of The Art of Framing, the first audience consists of practicing leaders and managers. If you fall into this category, you are likely battle-worn and tested in your everyday communications on the job. I am hoping that my book gives you a renewed set of ideals for communications effectiveness, a better communications vocabulary, and a means by which to analyze the many challenges that you face.

      My second intended audience is MBA students. I am hoping that The Power of Framing supplants your usual training in public speaking and Power Point presentations as your primary introduction to communication in the workplace. This is because framing is a skill that underlies all others.

      My third intended audience is communications students in upper-level undergraduate and graduate programs worldwide. You already possess a special affinity for the communications process. I am hoping that my book adds depth and understanding to your knowledge of this skill.

      Given the potentially wide-ranging interests of these audiences, I have taken a different approach in this book as compared to The Art of Framing, which focused on routine conversations on the shop floors of the manufacturing division of a multinational consumer goods firm. The purpose there was to draw attention to framing as an everyday skill, not one reserved for special occasions in need of soaring rhetoric.

      This time around I draw communication examples from a variety of sources: business, politics, sports, academia, the arts, and many more. I am hoping that the diversity of examples I supply demonstrates the widespread relevance and utility of this skill. But please do not read between the lines—I am not advancing a particular political point of view in this book, for example, as an American, whether Republican or Democrat. I try to view my role as an equal-opportunity critic!

      Overview of the Contents

      After an introduction to the realities of framing for leaders (Chapter One), I address the idea of framing as a skill (Chapter Two), a science (Chapter Three), an art form (Chapter Four), an emotional connection (Chapter Five), an ethical commitment (Chapter Six), a context for leadership (Chapter Seven), and a set of applications (Chapter Eight).

      In addition, four other features of the book should be mentioned. First, each chapter contains a set of practice exercises designed to help you build your skills at framing. Second, each chapter ends with a chapter summary for a quick review. Third, each chapter has an extensive set of notes at the back of the book for those wishing to pursue a particular aspect of framing in greater depth (though the book can easily be read without consulting the notes). Finally, there is a glossary at the end of the book should you want to remind yourself of the definition of one or more framing terms.

      More specifically, Chapter One begins with six rules for framing communications in leadership situations. Collectively, they show that when you lead, your communications help create realities to which you and others must respond. This is not to explain away the constraints that you face in your job. It does, however, underscore the importance of how you choose to respond to these constraints. Chapter One also shows you how to diagnose your sensitivity to the framing concept and your style of communicating, and it discusses ways to meet the challenges of your framing style while not losing any of the benefits.

      Chapter Two concerns itself with framing as a skill, which is your underlying ability to be articulate and persuasive more or less on demand. The skill sets in this chapter correspond to three concepts that are the foundation of framing:

      • Cultural Discourses, which are where the content of your communications comes from

      • Mental models, which are how you regulate that content

      • Core framing tasks, which are the chief communication requirements of your job

      In this chapter you will learn how to use the linguistic tool bags that accompany cultural Discourses, develop awareness of your mental models, and diagnose your core framing tasks.

      Chapter Three explores the science of framing—in particular, the conscious and unconscious learning processes that contribute to the development of frames. As Bob Sarr and I argued in The Art of Framing, you can exert a measure of control over your spontaneous communications when you store your memories. We called this priming for spontaneity, a label that I will continue to use for this deceptively simple concept. This time around, however, my emphasis is on understanding what exactly priming does inside the human brain and what builds complexity into your mental models for the best framing possible. Current research supports the idea that the more you notice the better your framing.

      Chapter Four concerns itself with the art form of framing. Even though many people are inclined to dismiss communication as something of an automatic process, this chapter challenges you to see framing as a craft. It deemphasizes the idea of framing as a natural ability and focuses on the work involved in honing your skills. You will discover a number of ways to create more memorable messages. For example, metaphorical frames breathe life into your communications; master frames offer great organizing potential; simplifying frames give you needle-like precision in your framing; while believability frames show you how to be a more credible communicator. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how to combine frames for maximum effect.

      Chapter Five addresses the emotional connections that you can make through framing. It begins with a discussion of emotional intelligence and why you must join reason and emotion to frame effectively. Emotional contagion or contagious emotions in a work or team context is the second major topic with framing implications. Here the key topics include the mirror neurons in the brain, the human tendency to mirror the behavior of others, and the importance of nonverbal communications in framing emotions. The third and final topic addresses two framing techniques necessary for regulating your emotions as a leader: priming for spontaneity and reframing.

      Chapter Six addresses questions of ethics and morality. It begins with a discussion of ethical codes and how to use them to morally position yourself and others in your communications. Moral positioning is a form of framing and is crucially important when you must justify certain means-end relationships or the kind of leader you claim to be. Your moral positioning may be contested by those who view you differently, so it is an important framing topic to explore. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ways in which crucibles—events that pose great stress and require difficult choices—if properly used, can be important framing moments for leaders who mean to shape ethical organizational cultures.

      Chapter Seven emphasizes the overall leadership context of your framing communications. It stresses that framing may be just one element among many in an attribution of leadership. This chapter also proposes four key questions as a way to understand how leadership, context, and framing all fit together to create an outcome. The bulk of the chapter then exposes you to a variety of leadership situations to gain practice in deciphering the ways in which framing factors into a leadership context.

      Chapter Eight is about applications; it builds on the framing exercises of the first seven chapters in two ways. First, I don my hat as your executive coach and answer a number of common framing dilemmas that you might encounter as a leader. Second, I present an extended practice exercise highlighting the main points of this book in the context of framing communications involving organizational change and extended campaigns.

      Gail T. Fairhurst

      Cincinnati, Ohio

      September 2010

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I AM GRATEFUL to all who have assisted me in writing this book. This includes those who have read all or parts of it along the way or lent support in other ways. They include Jolanta Aritz, Barbara Baranauskas, Kevin Barge, Suzanne Boys, Marthe Church, François Cooren, David Grant, Ted Dass, Katie Fairhurst, Verne Fairhurst, Evan Griffin, Danielle Hagen, Marian Lawson, Joe Levi, Marje Kiley, Olga Jacobs, Denny Moutray, Don Miller, Linda Putnam, Leland Ross, Teresa Sabourin, Pamela Shockley-Zalabak, Eugene Theus, Steve Wilson, and Edwin Young. A special thanks to Rich Kiley, marketer par excellence, who helped me visualize what this book could look like. Thanks also to Brandon Brooks, a student assistant with sage advice and a strong work ethic well beyond his years.

      Since the publication of The Art of Framing, I have greatly benefited from opportunities to talk about framing with industry and academic audiences in the United States and abroad. A special thanks, however, to Randall Stutman of CRA, for the many summer opportunities at the Admired Leadership Institute; Pam Shockley-Zalabak for the Aspen, Colorado conferences on engaged scholarship; Mats Alvesson at the School of Economics and Business, Lund University; and Robyn Remke, Esben Karmark, and Dan Kärreman at Copenhagen Business School for providing me with opportunities to further develop my ideas around framing.

      Thanks also to Kathe Sweeney for her enthusiastic support and editorial guidance at Jossey-Bass and to Rob Brandt, editorial projects manager, for his patience in answering my many questions. I also very much appreciate the efforts of my copyeditor, Hilary Powers, and my production editors, Rachel Anderson and Nina Kreiden. Thanks also to Priscilla Ball and Corina Bizzari for all of their efforts on my behalf at the office.

      Finally, I would like to thank my family, to whom I dedicate this book. I am grateful to my husband, Verne, and my children, Katie, Tom, and Kelsey, for all of their love and support. They teach me about framing every day.

      1

      The Reality of Framing

      THE WORDS frame or framing have many meanings these days. Most often, they refer to a form or structure, as in the house has a sturdy frame, or they refer to the act of constructing such a form, as in framing a house. However, a frame can also be a structured way of thinking such as the concept of customer service (designating anything that serves or supports the purchasers of a product or service). Framing then is the act of communicating that concept—even something as clichéd as saying, The customer is always right. However, the English vernacular allows for a lot of wordplay using frame or framing; we can refer to framing someone for murder (sometimes referred to as a frame-up), or to framing an argument, or to framing the issues.

      But could you also talk about framing reality? If you’re familiar with the old baseball yarn of the three umpires who disagreed about the task of calling balls and strikes, you might.¹ As the story goes, the first umpire said, I calls them as they is. The second one said, I calls them as I sees them. The third and cleverest umpire said, They ain’t nothin’ till I calls them.² The first two might argue that the swing and a miss can be objectively determined, especially in this age of instant replays and multiple camera angles. True enough, but the third understands that one needs a society’s invented game of baseball for a strike to mean something in the first place. A strike is a strike by virtue of the agreed-upon rules of baseball and pronouncement by its authorities. Without the institution of baseball, a swing and a miss could just as easily be fly or mosquito swatting. So as long as the game is under way, the third umpire understands best of all that he frames reality by gesturing and calling, Strrriiike three. You’re out!

      If leadership is like umpiring baseball, what kind of umpire are you? This book will help you answer this question. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of leaders are like the first and second umpires. Only a small minority come close to the third, who understands the real power of human communication. Not just a simple transmission, it is the very stuff of reality-making itself.

      The Rules of Reality Construction

      What is the relationship between leadership and the task of constructing reality? Well, that’s what this book is all about. For starters, let’s begin with a few guiding rules.

      Reality Construction Rule #1: Control the Context

      Leaders often cannot control events, but they can control the context under which events are seen if they recognize a framing opportunity.

      Some leaders disparage communication as something they just do automatically. They may also label communication mere rhetoric, window dressing, or just words because it cannot change the hard cold facts of a situation. True as that observation may be, however, it falls far short

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