Reframing Activities

Today I want to talk to you about reframing activities, which is really a dimension of agile leadership. As many of you know, I’m very much an advocate of agile leadership practices.

In terms of reframing activities, most of us go throughout our day with a list of tasks, and many organizations are structured this way as well in that employees have tasks that they are required to check off throughout the day.

Reframing activities is really looking at these different activities and focusing more on goals and results rather than tasks and methodologies, and this is what agile leadership is all about. Taking a step back and understanding the “why”. Why am I doing this particular task? Often there is a more effective or efficient way of getting to that end result. That is why stepping back in almost everything we do and looking at the “why” behind it is so important.

An example of this might be an organization where one of the tasks for an employee is to send out a feedback form or survey to their clients or stakeholders once a year, and every year that employee completes that particular task. Stepping back, the “why” behind this might be to have more engaged customers or more loyal customers. In understanding this, there might be a better way of achieving that end result and it empowers the employee to discover what that is. Is there a more effective way to accomplish that end goal?

In the education sector for example, teachers are often required to send our a report card once a year or a number of times a year. If we took a step back, the “why” behind this might be to have more engaged parents that take a more active role in their kids’ education. In understanding this, there may be other more effective ways or additional ways of achieving that end goal of having the parents more engaged.

It is worth taking a step back in your own life, whether it’s in your work or in your personal life, and thinking about all the tasks that you go through every day. What is the end goal or result? Is there a better way of accomplishing the same thing?

I hope you enjoyed this. I’ll see you in a future video and continue reaching new heights in all that you do, personally and professionally. Take care.