Prescribing the Symptom. We offer a classic example of this approach. It concerns a restless child who is unable to fall asleep. The more the child is encouraged to fall asleep, the harder she will try to relax. Paradoxically, she is less likely to relax given her concerted effort to fall asleep. Instead of encouraging the child to relax and fall asleep, an astute parent might instead encourage the child to stay awake: “See if you can stay awake for fifteen minutes!” When the child tries to stay awake and attempts to keep her eyes open, she is likely to fall asleep. As adults, we often follow the same path. We tend to fall asleep in front of the television or at the theater. Later, we lie wide-awake in bed.
In an organizational setting, the always-late manager chooses to employ this same paradoxical model with the encouragement of his coach. Rather than arriving at a meeting fifteen minutes late (his usual practice), the manager is asked to work on showing up twenty minutes late. He has to wait five minutes before walking into the meeting, and in doing so realizes that he controls his own time. Next week, he shows up ten minutes late, then fifteen minutes late, then five minutes late, then ten minutes, and then five minutes early. Finally, he shows up on time. He discovers that he can, in fact, arrive on time.
Coaches establish safe Creativity Interludes and employ micro-coaching tactics that enable clients to more effectively deal with these types of difficult situations. Clients who hold negative (and potentially distorted) images of other individuals or units of the organization are encouraged by their coach to actually distort their images of the other person or unit even more. Their coach might also ask their colleague to distort their perceptions of the image that they think the other person or unit has of them. The client then reflects on the secondary gains he receives from these distorted images, as well as the evidence he holds regarding the validity of these images.
Organizational issues often only become clear when considered in their extreme form. With the support of his coach, a harried manager can often confront embarrassing distortions with a sense of humor and greater appreciation for the power of stereotypes and untested assumptions. Alicia might suggest this approach when coaching Susan regarding Ralph’s tendency to dream while his department is confronted with serious problems. Rather than trying to get Ralph to become more realistic, Susan might actually ask Ralph to become even more visionary and might place him in roles that are highly visionary (such as chairing a task force on new ideas for the organization). These micro-coaching tactics might at first seem to be counterproductive; however, sometimes they ironically do the trick.
Susan (and Ralph) may discover that he soon grows weary of this one-dimensional role. After all, he does like to be realistic on occasion, particularly when completing a specific project about which he cares. Some people thrive under conditions of opposition and lose all motivation when they get exactly what they want. Alternatively, Alicia could suggest that Susan herself become more of a dreamer and less of a realist when working with Ralph. A colleague reports that she often copes with her visionary boss by out-dreaming him. When she becomes a dreamer, her boss suddenly becomes realistic, asking, “Do we have the money to complete this?” or “Are you sure this will work?” Susan might similarly outdream Ralph and thereby (paradoxically) move him into a more realistic role. Other members of Ralph’s staff could use Susan as a role model and similarly take on more of a visionary role in their relationships with Ralph.
Using the Existing System. This second solutions-reframing approach is actually a hybrid of the other forms of reframing. (Bandler and Grinder, 1983, p. 171) The existing resources and dynamics of the system (individual or organization) that is being changed are framed in positive terms. Forces that are resistant to change, for instance, come to be seen as the bases for stability in the newly changed system. Many years ago, Seymour Sarason (1973) observed that revolutionary leaders must bring in managers from the old regime to help bring stability to the new government. His observation seems to still hold true. Kurt Lewin and his colleagues similarly noted that any planned change effort must be followed by Refreezing—a process that brings stability back to the system. (Lippitt, Watson and Westley, 1958) The Contextual Interlude is engaged for the purpose of re-conceiving the function served by specific elements of the current system.
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