When talking about presenting information and concepts in a positive light, is it an irony that that supports of the idea refer to is a “framing” and detractors call it “spin doctoring”? Either way, how a message is presented can significantly affect its successful (or otherwise) adoption.
Recent research reported by the Warwick School of Business (University of Warwick) in the UK (read it here) shows how framing in a business setting impacts on the business. From data collected over a 22-year period, the simple inclusion of a negatively framed sentence in a case study was shown to significantly impact the choice of strategic options. Such an impact demonstrates how important framing is in relation to all manner of business decisions, including “…how conclusions and decisions themselves are made.”
The article presents five lessons from the research for leaders ands managers to consider in “…how to frame a strategy to ensure staff and other stakeholders back it.” These five points are listed below, but the article does a great job of exploring them in more details.
- Emotions rule people’s decisions,
- Consider storytelling,
- Ensure others know about it,
- Know where to draw the line,
- Watch for other people using framing on you.
So when you next need to communicate with your key stakeholders, take a few moments to consider how to best frame your message.