We
have been focusing this week on frames (of mind). “The frames we use to view
the world determine what we see, locking us into certain ideas and shutting out
new possibilities. We need to actively manager our frames to make better
decisions” (Hoch, Kunreuther, & Gunther, 2001, p. 131). Basically, any
opinion that you have or objective that you make is viewed through a certain
frame of mind (think “point of view”). The problem is that sometimes we are
unable to either achieve our objectives because of our frame of mind. That
doesn’t necessarily even mean that our frame is incorrect but sometimes we need
to be able to shift our frame to achieve our objectives. Fortunately, just as
we can control our attitude, we can also control our frames of mind. As you can
imagine, sometimes this requires quite an effort. It can be difficult to
consider a situation through a perspective that isn’t necessarily your natural
one but, with time and practice, it can become more natural. It is like the
saying goes, sometimes you have to fake it until you make it.
The
purpose of this blog to discuss the three major traps that we face with frames.
The first trap is often the hardest to detect. Frame blindness is “setting out
to solve the wrong problem because you have created a mental framework for your
decision, with little thought, that causes you to overlook the best options or
lose sight of important objectives” (Klein, 1991, p. 75). The worst part about
frame blindness is ignorance to its existence (Hoch, Kunreuther, & Gunther,
2001). That isn’t to say that leaders don’t know that frame blindness can exist
but rather the trap is that we may be unaware of it in ourselves. We may actually
believe that we are solving the right problem and that we have considered all
the possibilities when in reality we have not. Several years ago – probably 16
or 17 years ago – I went and I bought myself a motorcycle. I will never forget
that piece of junk bike. It was an old beat up 1982 Kawasaki KZ750. You see, I
just knew that having that bike in my life was the most important thing to me.
When I was on my bike riding around the vast open roads of East New Mexico with
my friends, I sure felt complete. Everything spare dime that I had and all of
my free time went into making that bike better. As time went on, though, my
biker friends all stopped riding for one reason or another. Now we weren’t a
gang or a crew or anything. We were just a bunch of young men that liked riding
together. One of my friends got orders to Georgia so he moved away. Another one
got married and his wife didn’t really want him riding anymore. Another was
involved in a serious accident so couldn’t physically ride anymore. So here I
was riding this piece of junk bike by myself. I remember riding up into the foothills
of the Sandia Mountains one day and it suddenly hit me – I hated riding this
bike. I took no joy in it whatsoever. The joy didn’t come from riding with my
friends. It came from the personal bonds that we shared amongst us. I was
miserable and lonely without my friends. Also, I was really cold because I rode
up into the mountains in November without a jacket but that’s beside the point.
I was suffering from frame blindness and I was completely ignorant to it. I
thought that my objective was that bike when it was actually the friendships
that I had. Imagine if I had just realized that from the beginning.
Fortunately, the only thing that I lost was my investment in that bike. (I did
eventually get back into biking a few years later for the “right” reasons but
have since given it up.)
The
second major framing trap is overconfidence. We tend to overvalue our own
frames while undervaluing the frames of others (Hoch, Kunreuther, &
Gunther, 2001). The true danger with overconfidence is underperformance and
failure to reach our objective (Moore & Healy, 2008). Last year, I was the
Assistant Center Leader for my office. (I have since promoted to the position
of Center Leader.) My boss at the time
and I had pretty similar personalities and work ethics. We are both very meticulous
and well-seasoned in the recruiting business. We had a new command policy
directing us to capture a larger percentage of the high school senior market.
He and I being well versed in doctrine and regulations and being proficient at
system data interpretation came up with an achievable objective and methodology
for implementation. A few of our counterparts at other centers, however, came
up with slightly less “aggressive” plans and goals. We tried to encourage them
to raise their standard to what we were presenting to the commander but they
said that we just weren’t going to be as successful as we thought. Unfortunately,
they were right. We were so sure that we had the best team and the resources
that we needed and we just knew that we were going to achieve our goals and we
fell flat on our faces. How embarrassing!
The
final major framing trap is the illusion of completeness. Leaders and managers
may often feel like they have the full picture and all of the information to
plan for their objectives. Though it is still possible that leaders and
decision makers are acting in the optimal frame, “no frame is complete; each
one highlights and hides different aspects of the situation at hand” (Hoch,
Kunreuther, & Gunther, 2001, p. 140.). I grew up in a very politically conservative home.
When I got out on my own, I was very set in my ways. I thought that I had the
full picture with how I viewed the political state of our nation. I just didn’t
see how anybody could ever vote anything but Republican. I remember how
anti-Obama I was in the 2008 election. But you know what? All of the terrible
things that I believed would happen didn’t happen. I mean some of them did but
I realized after a few years of him being in office that he wasn’t some evil
man out to destroy the country. Now, I live in New York City which is by far
one of the most liberal cities in the nation. My eyes are opened to other
points of view nearly daily now! We are about to face another presidential
election next week. I see people digging in all around me and the political
debates rage and tempers flare. I have seen friendships and families torn apart
over differences in the political frames of people. The sad part is that nobody
has the complete story! The Democrats are not wrong. The Republicans are not
wrong. One party is not better than the other. (I might argue, actually, that
they are both equally as vile, though!) Wouldn’t it be great and everybody
would admit for a moment that there may be more than one way of solving our
problems and that maybe both parties have their benefits? If we could all
accept that then we could salvage our relationships and start working together
to make a better future!
Relating
this all to the blog that I wrote right before this about complex decision
making, it is really interesting how this all ties together. We are bombarded
with data that we must interpret, face systemic variances, and have multiple
stakeholders to consider when forming our frames but then we have to understand
that the frames under which we are operating are never complete and may never
be optimal. What is the ultimate solution, then? How are we to set our goals
and make decisions? The answer is that we just have to do the best that we can.
We have to swallow our pride and admit that we don’t have all of the answers.
We are going to make wrong decisions along the way. That is okay. What is
important is that we are able to continue to evaluate our environment and work
together to find better solutions. That is why I am no longer affiliated with
any political party and I have been known to “flip flop” on issues.
Hoch,
S. J., Kunreuther, H., & Gunther, R. E. (2001). Wharton on making decisions. New York:
Wiley.
Klein,
G. A. (1991, January 01). Decision Traps: Ten Barriers to Brilliant
Decision-Making and
how to Overcome Them. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making,
4(1), 75-76. doi:10.1002/bdm.3960040106
Moore,
D. A., & Healy, P. J. (2008). The trouble with overconfidence. Psychological Review,
115(2),
502-517. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.115.2.502
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