MSLD632 - Module 3 - Reflections on Decisions - Madeline Campbell


Unfortunately, frame blindness occurs much more frequently than an individual, or company, would like to know. Hoch, Kunreuther and Gunther discuss frame blindness in our Wharton text as, “All too often, managers look out at the world through one mental window and fail to notice the views offered by other windows” (2001). Individuals can do this of course within the workplace, but also personally. Professionally and personally one wants to continue growth, however, if you are tapped by this blindness, growth will be stunted.

The first aspect to avoid framing traps is to assess the current frame you are utilizing. From a personal perspective, I once had a high-stress job in sales and my managers could be very hot and cold with their personalities, therefore, I never really knew what I was daily walking into. Due to this, I try to do a frame “audit”. Hoch, Kunreuther and Gunther define a frame audit as, “...surfacing your own or your organization's frame or frames, understanding the frames of others, and developing an appreciation of newly emerging frames” (2001). With my position and work environment, I knew, from outside sources, I needed to create a new frame so that I could function well in my environment. So, I created many organizational notebooks and environments that assisted me with my position.

Implementing this frame audit eased my stress and view of the influx of calls, walk-in’s, emails and stacks of paper work dumped on my desk. It also assisted in my perspective of the job, and how I was previously viewing my position. Applying this frame audit also assisted in my process to identify and change inadequate frames within my personal and professional life. Implementing notebooks, sticky notes, and color-coded contracts helped me to, 1. relax when I was not at work, 2. trust my work more than I had previously but it also made me 3. realize what I had and was currently doing wrong within my position. This truly aided in evaluating if my current frames were effective at all and where they were leading me into negativity with work and personal life. Hoch, Kunreuther and Gunther state that, “…we must constantly challenge our own frames” (2001). This is much easier to say than do. The positon I was given was an interesting mixture of leading multiple teams, while still being very low on the totem poll. Therefore, assessing inadequate frames assisted me in leading, but also being a follower within the same 90 seconds.

The final step to avoiding framing traps is to master techniques for reframing. Hoch, Kunreuther and Gunther relay that, “Once you have surfaced your frames and identified potential weaknesses, you then need to develop the capacity to synthesize and create new frames” (2001). Through auditing and dissecting inadequate frames, I was able to unearth the positive, as well as the negative, within myself and the work I was doing. However, this was my first time in the “real” (professional) world, therefore, I realized this is something I need to be doing in all positions and all walks of life, both personal and professional. Even when I think I have mastered a work position, or being a wife, or sister, I need to view myself, my words and my work from a different perspective to master the frame upon which I operate.

This exercise taught me that I again need to be going through each step of avoiding frame blindness in order to grow in my decision making process personally and professionally. Throughout the story I was relaying above, I do wish I had adorned the audit step earlier on in this work position, as it would have calmed down the chaos and aided in enjoying family time instead of simply being stressed each evening and morning. I am thankful for the learning curve of frame blindness at an earlier stage in life, as it made me who I am today when I am reminded of how to carry myself when in professional and personal stress.

References
Hoch, S. H., Kunreuther, H., & Gunther, R. (2001). Wharton on Making Decisions. New York: Wiley.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MSLD 511 - Module 7 - Inner Work for Authentic Leadership - Madeline Campbell

I have had three “real-world” professional experiences since I graduated from my undergraduate studies in 2016. All three have been extremely instrumental in shaping who I am professionally, how I carry myself and how I adorn leadership qualities when need be. Each position I have held has grown me in ways that were originally outside my comfort zone, but now are no longer. My daily thought as I drive to work has always been: be who I am to my core, be kind, work hard and treat each individual I encounter with worth and dignity. This is where my personal and work ethic stem from. Being self-aware of my work-habits, conversations and work-ethic has also aided in developing who I am professionally. One key example of how I learned to be self-aware and adopt positive qualities instead of negative was in my first sales position. My two managers (I shared an office with one of them) were very sporadic in emotions, would yell and scream often and had inappropriate relationships with co...
Read more

MSLD520 - Module 2 - 10 Minutes per Day - Madeline Campbell

At first, the thought of spending ten minutes a day doing nothing made me a little stressed and anxious, as I feel as though my “to do” list is never ending. My initial thought was, “why not use those ten minutes to work on my Fall travel or start on homework?” However, throughout the last 4-5 months, I have learned and am learning the art of taking time to reflect and take time out of school and work to do things that I love. Taking ten minutes a day doing nothing helped me to learn that ten minutes can fly by and I learned that some of my stress is self-induced.   After listening to Puddicombe’s talk, he made multiple statements that stood out to me about stress and resting our minds. He states, “we are no longer present in the work in which we live and we miss out on things most important to us” (2012). With the influx of work and school lately this is true for my life. When I am trying to enjoy time with family, I am thinking about all the work that needs to be done bef...
Read more

MSLD520 - Module 5 - What makes us feel good about work? - Madeline Campbell

There are numerous things within my position that motivates me to work hard and with a purpose. The first would be my family and working for them. I know the current position I carry is very important to me, my husband’s life, and educational goals. Working at Embry-Riddle was a goal of mine before I graduated with my undergraduate in 2016. I reached that goal 2.5 years later, but it was something I was able to achieve, to become a part of the ERAU family and what it consists of. Therefore, with that in mind, family is my first goal. I work hard to help support a life with my husband, to save for our future children, to provide support and care of our family members to bless them and to give to others within our community that are in need of groceries, or a meal, etc. I go to work every day with this in mind and grateful for my position at Riddle. Much of my personal beliefs, ethics and morals also play a role in going to work and working hard for others and not my own personal goals...
Read more