The Reframing of Solutions

The field of creative problem-solving is filled with examples of reframed solutions. People generate new and quite different solutions to complex problems through the use of such longstanding think tank techniques as brainstorming, (Clark, 1958) synectics (Prince, 1970), conceptual block-busting (Adams, 1974), and mind-mapping (Knight, 2012). With regard to ways in which to change human behavior or organizational life, two stand out as being particularly effective.

One of these is paradoxical in nature and is usually labeled ‘prescribing the symptoms.’ (Watzlawick, Beavin and Jackson, 1967) The other is in many ways equally paradoxical, for it concerns the use of existing features of the system to create a new system. Both of these approaches begin, as do goal and contextual reframing, by acknowledging the power of existing conditions and the need to work in an appreciative manner with and through these conditions rather than fighting against them.

It should also be noted that both of these approaches are controversial, for they often seem to require that a trick be played on the person or organization that is being changed. While goals and contexts are usually reframed with the full awareness of all participants, solution reframing often seems to take place without that awareness. On the other hand, solution reframing is particularly effective in helping people and organizations move out of situations in which they are “stuck”—for which there appears to be no adequate first-order solutions.

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, then 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 showing up 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.