For 3 months, our intern Fadhilah Wahid picked the brains of CEOs, HR managers, thought leaders, and Human Excellence consultants to get inspiration, learn more about Leadership, and find out how they have been working with Schuitema to build better people and organizations. These profound insights and knowledge by game-changers in various industries from banking to mining will be published every Monday for the next few weeks. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to not miss out!
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David April sat next to me, his towering frame making my petite asian body feel even smaller than it already is. In similar situations, the physical presence of the Schuitema Human Excellence consultant of more than 12 years would be enough to make me feel nervous, and yet I have never felt more comfortable.
For the past fifteen minutes, David had been proudly showing me photographs of the trainings and workshops he had conducted the past week — photos of men and women, CEOs and floor workers, young and old alike. His excitement was palpable; there was no doubt the man was pouring his soul into his life’s work.
And yet, a burning question began to form in my doubtful mind, finally spilling into the space between us, “How do you know that you actually help leaders solve the challenges they face?
David smiled, “Because I ask them two crucial questions. At the beginning of each training, I ask these leaders:
‘What gives you frustration at work?’
Then, I will spend the rest of the training with them figuring out the answer to the second question:
‘How can you reframe that frustration?’.”
By the end of the training, most of these leaders would walk away with a deeper understanding of what they were actually facing, and most importantly, they would be able to relate and apply the content I’ve taught to help them deal with that particular frustration!”
Question 1: What gives you frustration at work?
David’s first question to leaders — “What gives you frustration at work from a leadership perspective?” — was designed to do three things: seek out the core of the leaders’ challenges, shape the training modules specifically to address their struggles, and to be the yardstick of measurement for the success of the training itself.
David’s advice for leaders is to capture their answers to the question verbatim because that often offers a clearer insight to the leadership challenge they face.
For example, the challenge “delegating tasks to people” could point to a variety of frustrations, from self-confidence issues to non-contributing employees. Being specific in identifying pain points helps with tailoring solutions.
Question 2: How can you reframe that frustration?
With the focus to the frustration in place, the second question is to find out how the frustrations faced can be reframed – that is, to be looked at in a different way.
For example, one of the leaders David worked with had two frustrations: delegating tasks to her subordinates, and finding the right way of delegating these tasks.
To help the leader, David began introducing the idea of “empowering” subordinates through tasks. According to David, all words have their own baggages, and sometimes all it takes is to change the words we use in order to reframe how we think about a certain situation. When the leader used the word “delegate”, it conjoured negative images of offloading work to others and making things hard for them. However, when the leader began to use the word “empower”, she began to reframe her perception of giving work as something that would help others grow – a positive action.
With the first frustration tackled with, David then introduced to the leader the Schuitema 5 Steps to Empowerment model to enable her to empower her subordinates in a clear structured manner:
- Identify the next step
- Train people to take that step – both in the “why” and “how”
- Test their ability – both in the “why” and “how”
- Hand over the means
- Hold the person accountable
By the end of the training session, the leader remarked that she now understood that distributing work is not about delegating, but about empowering. With the reframing and the knowledge of the 5 Steps of Empowerment in hand, the leader was thus able to move forward, leaving her baggage, and thus frustrations, behind!
In another example, David once worked with a leader whose role was to ensure the safety and environmental welfare of a work site. At the beginning of the training, the leader revealed that his frustration was at the production crew who tended to view his team as obstructions to their work. His annual audits were met with much hostility and disdain, and his team were constantly shown disrespect.
As the training went on, David helped the leader see that both his team and the production crew were actually working towards the same objectives. He pointed out that it would be more beneficial for everyone if the leader could reframe from looking at them as competitors to looking at them as partners instead. And as partners, he would have to make the effort to build a long-term relationship with them and find ways to support them. This would thus build a sense of collaborativeness, trust and mutual respect, helping both teams to work together instead of against one another.
Reframing as a Solution
1) What am I frustrated with as a leader?
2) How can I reframe that frustration?
What David’s two-step process actually does is to enable the leaders to reframe their own perspective of challenges.
Often when leaders begin their training sessions, they subconsciously view their challenges as a result of someone other than themselves not doing what they are supposed to. However, by the end of the trainings, these leaders would often end up shifting the accountability back to themselves, and ask what is it that they can themselves to do improve the situation.
So what leadership frustration can you reframe today?