So often to solve a persistent problem, we have to reframe. If we don't reframe the problem, the problem will likely persist. This issue came to mind today as I faced a persistent issue, one that has remained a gnawing problem over time. The strategies used to date simply have resulted in frustration and conflict, not solutions and peace. So how can you reframe when it comes to persistent problems?
Often when considering an issue like this, I begin with a similar, less timely, and less worrisome issue. As an educator, every February one faculty meeting was mostly devoted to the same problem. Teachers debated the issue mostly with the same differing arguments and every year, no real solution was agreed on. Thirty years of the same debate was frustrating at best. Why did the problem persist?
That conflicting problem continued because we never took the time to look at the problem with detail. Every year we waited until frustrations rose and then debated the problem similar to years past and ended with no resolve. To solve an issue, you have to reframe the persistent, endless, dead-end debate and process by replacing that process with a new way to deal with the problem.
So today as I consider a persistent issue, how will I reframe?
Define the problem
Similar to the school problem, this new issue has remained because I have not made the time to specifically define the problem. I'll do that today.
Try new solutions
Rather than the same-old, same-old dead-end solutions that I've applied to this never-ending issue, I'll apply a few new solutions today. Let's see if the new remedies work.
When we find ourselves to repeat the same old complaints endlessly, we have to wake up and reframe instead. There's nothing worse than facing the repetition of complaints without any new resolve or change. Plus, when we look at problems anew, we do have the chance to make meaningful change, the kind of change that typically results in greater positivity, time, and results. Onward.