Reframing: Choice-Collaboration-Change Pamela Zarkowski ADEA Dean’s Conference The Political Environment for Dental Education November 11, 2012

Reframing …”help managers and leaders enrich the ideas and approaches they bring to their work.”

Artistry Choice Leadership

Reframing Frames: mental models, maps, mind-sets, schema and cognitive lens… frames are windows, tools, lenses, orientations, and perspectives.

Reframing …uses knowledge and intuition to find sensible and effective ways to channel organizations in productive directions Bolman, LG & Deal T. E. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership. 2004

Four Frames Structural Human Resource Political Symbolic

Four Frames Political: coping with conflict, competition for scarce resources, struggles for power and advantage, values realism and pragmatism. Symbolic: meaning and faith, how to shape culture and provide purpose and meaning to work, shared mission and identity. Structural: architecture of organization, differentiation and integration, design of units/subunits, goals, policies & efficiency, chain of command. Human resource: understanding of people, strengths & foibles, reasons, emotions, desires & human needs, values relationships and feelings.

Reframing— An Application of Paradigms The same situation can be viewed in at least four different ways. Reframing is an art— neither exact or precise, but creative, flexible, and subject to interpretation.

StructuralHuman Resource PoliticalSymbolic Metaphor for organization Factory or machine FamilyJungleCarnival, temple, theater Central concepts Rules, roles, goals, policies, technology, environment Needs, skills, relationships Power, conflict, competition, organizational politics Culture, meaning, metaphor, ritual, ceremony, stories, heroes Image of Leadership Social architecture EmpowermentAdvocacyInspiration Leader isAnalyst, Architect Catalyst, Servant Advocate, Negotiator Prophet, Poet Basic Leadership challenge Attune structure to task, technology, environment Align organization & human needs Develop agenda and power base Create faith, beauty & meaning

ProcessStructuralHuman Resource PoliticalSymbolic Strategic planning Creating strategies to set objectives & coordinate resources Gatherings to promote participation Arena to air conflict and realign power Ritual to signal responsibility Decision making Rational sequence to produce right decision Open process to produce commitment Opportunity to gain and exercise power Ritual to confirm values & create opportunities for bonding Reorganizing Realign roles & responsibilities to fit tasks and environments Maintain balance between human needs & formal roles Redistribute power and form new coalitions Maintain an image of accountability and responsiveness; negotiate new social order Evaluating Way to distribute rewards or penalties and control performance Process for helping individuals grow and improve Opportunity to exercise power Occasion to play roles in shared drama

ProcessStructuralHuman Resource PoliticalSymbolic Approaching conflict Maintain organizational goals by having authorities resolve conflict Develop relationships by having individuals resolve conflict Develop power by bargaining, forcing or manipulating others to win Develop shared values and use conflict to negotiate meaning Goal setting Keep organization headed in the right direction Keep people involved and communication open Provide opportunity for individuals & groups to make interests known Develop symbols and shared values Communication Transmit facts and information Exchange information, needs, and feelings Influence or manipulate others Tell stories Meetings Formal occasions to make decisions Informal occasions for involvements, sharing, feelings Competitive occasions to win points Sacred occasions to celebrate and transform culture Motivation Economic incentives Growth and self actualization Coercions, manipulation, and seduction Symbols and celebrations

FRAME STRATEGIES REACTIONS TO CHANGEESSENTIAL StructuralLoss of direction, clarity and stability, confusion, chaos Communicating, realigning and renegotiating formal patterns and policies Human ResourceAnxiety, uncertainty, feelings of incompetence, neediness Training to develop new skills, participation and involvement, psychological support PoliticalDisempowerment, conflict between winners and losers Creating arenas where issues can be renegotiated and new coalitions formed SymbolicLoss of meaning and purpose, clinging to the past Creating transition rituals: mourning the past, celebrating the future

Reflections Change agents fail when they rely mostly on reason and structure while neglecting human, political and symbolic elements.

Successful Change Initiatives Creating a sense of urgency. Pulling together a guiding team with the needed skills, credibility, connections and authority to move things along. Creating an uplifting vision and strategy. Communicating the vision and strategy through a combination of words, deeds and symbols.

Successful Change Initiatives Removing obstacles, or empowering people to move forward. Producing visible symbols of progress through short term victories. Sticking with the process and refusing to quit when things get tough. Nurturing and shaping a new culture to support the emerging innovative ways. Kotter, John, Leading Change: why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review, March April 1995

Kotter’s Stage of Change StructuralHuman Resource PoliticalSymbolic Sense of urgency Involve people throughout the organization, seek input Network with key players, use power base Tell a compelling story Guiding a team Develop a coordination strategy Run team building exercises for guiding team Stack team with credible, influential members Put commanding officer on team Uplifting vision & strategy Build implementation plan Map political terrain Craft a hopeful vision of future rooted in organization history

Reframing Kotter’s Change Stages Kotter’s Stage of Change StructuralHuman Resource PoliticalSymbolic Communicate vision & strategy through words, deeds and symbols Create structures to support change process Hold meetings to communicate direction, get feedback Create arenas; build alliances, defuse opposition Visible leadership involvement, kickoff ceremonies Remove obstacles & empower people to move forward Remove or alter structures & procedures that support the old ways Providing training, resources and support Stage public exposure of counter- revolutionaries Early winsPlan for short term victories Invest resources & power to ensure early wins Celebrate & communicate early signs of progress

Kotter’s Stage of Change StructuralHuman Resource PoliticalSymbolic Keep going when the going gets tough Keep people on plan Hold revival meetings New culture to support new ways Align structure to new culture Create a culture team; broad involvement in developing culture Mourn the past; celebrate the heroes of the revolution; share stories of the journey

Small Work Group Collaborative Plan Worksheet Frames Analysis o Address Priorities in each Frame

StructuralHuman ResourcePoliticalSymbolic Priorities to address in each frame :

Action StepsPerson ResponsibleTarget Date