You are “Framed”: Covid19 Diary

You are “Framed”:  Covid19 Diary

It is customary nowadays to speak about Covid19. If somebody calls, the discussion starts with the virus and consequences of the covid19. After the whole story which everybody knows, (thanks for the social media), then we come to the point. Few companies are trying to encash the situation to market their products. But sometimes it is too funny when a marketing guy tries to co-relate his/her product with a pandemic situation. Health & wellness is important but then there are memes and videos are shared where HR is doing this too much. Manipulation is at high level. 

Initially for a few days it was relevant. Slowly people started to cope up with the situation. They are trying to understand the threat; learnt how to deal with that. Normally in any situation, human beings perceive the threat. Threats can be physical, psychological or financial. Depending upon the perceptions, there will be reactions which can be positive or negative.

But do you know that every moment, every day you are “framed” by somebody? News on the mainstream media, forwards on social media or advertisements are generated and broadcasted to manipulate the people. Political leaders, some journalists, advertisement agencies are experts in “framing” common man. Nobody checks the authenticity of the source. Common tendency is to believe on that news without applying common sense. Common sense is uncommon now a days. So-called Intellectuals are pioneered in framing techniques. This is a special technique called as Farming technique.  

The theory was first put forth by Goffman, under the title of Frame Analysis.

Framing technique works as under:

Narrative is generated based on the agenda. Stories are cooked and created putting some element of benefits, happiness, sadness, fear, and some fake narration based on the agenda of the person. 

Information is created & presented based on the narrative to influence the people. Mainly such information is not full information but part of the information. (Political leaders, so called intellectuals & mainstream media are expert in this techniques)

Framing takes this a step further in the way in which the news or information is presented creates a frame for that information. This is usually a conscious choice by journalists, leaders who are communicating – in this case a frame refers to the way the media as gatekeepers organize and present the ideas, events, and topics they cover.

Such narration then influences the choices people. People decide how to process that information. Frames are abstractions that work to organize or structure message meaning.

All over the world such framing is happening. We are framed & manipulated by everybody. As far as the intention & purpose is right, then framing techniques have the positive outcome. But most of the time, it has a negative impact on society if used keeping the selfish motive behind. Today we are insecure, fragmented because of such manipulation and framing.

People are stressful, people are perceiving the threat, this is because of different and scary news broadcasted by the mainstream media and circulated by social media.

But then I realised we have already started to live with the situation. The newness of work from home now is not there and people want to go to offices desperately. There are few people who are still worried. However good organizations are gearing for the new normal & giving them confidence. 

As a common citizen, we need to keep our ears and eyes open and apply the logic. Understand the facts and figures, ask yourself questions, so that you are not “framed” and manipulated.

Can we use this technique positively? Yes. If you have the story which is based on the facts and inspires others. In such circumstances, leaders need to understand this and design the communication and frame the message so that people perceive the situation positively. Here literally corporate leaders can use the “framing techniques” in a positive way.

They can do it by understanding the issues, concern areas and setting an agenda. Once the agenda is set, they can create stories which are inspirational. Create an ethical frame where the message is clear, and people will not perceive differently. It is very difficult to manage such message. It is observed that ethical aspect is always ignored over benefits of power and money while framing. Simple example of this ignorance of ethical aspect is employees reporting late on duty. Most of the manufacturing companies in India had the policy of deduction of leave in case of employee reports late 3 or more times in a month. The reason behind this was that employees would come on time because of fear of losing leave. But in such cases, the situation hardly improved and employees continued to report late. Ethical aspect (being punctual) was replaced with right (after leave deduction). While framing this ethical aspect always should be considered and messages should be enforced accordingly.  

Person can view the situation as per his perceptions, but framing should give him realty of the ground and hopes that he can survive from the situation. During such pandemic, our Prime Minister and even Chief Minister are giving hopes, but unfortunately, few people are trying to manipulate us by just creating a narrative which has their own agenda and selfish motive.

Let’s take an example of Covid19.

With a lot of information about infections and death, everybody is scared. The mental frame is strong with the assumption that if we go out, we will die.

The frame is created as under:

Pandemic situation is because of a deadly virus, people are dying globally, there is no medicine and vaccine. If I get infected, society will view me differently, I will suffer, and my family will suffer. We will have a social stigma. I will also die, and I don’t know what will happen to my family.

This can be framed positively as under:

Pandemic situation is because of a deadly virus but people don’t die because of the virus. It is because of respiratory failure and if the infection is reported early, take a treatment, life can be saved very easily. People are infecting and dying but survival rate more than death and death cases are because of late reporting or people having some type of illness. However, I need to take care of me and my family and follow social distancing, wear a mask, keep personal hygiene and if I have symptoms, I should go immediately to the doctor. There are a lot of people who are fully cured and discharged.

You can also use facts & data while using the framing technique to make it more authentic.    

As a common man, we just can do one thing and that is use our brain. While watching any news, reading any social media post, use the lens of common sense. Best way is to ignore all news channel and social media post.      

(Ref: Frame analysis by Goffman, Framing techniques per Fairhurst and Sarr)

(Opinions are purely personal & does not represent my organization)

Please read the print replica of my latest book written for leaders on amazon kindle; Vitality in Human Resource

Transactional analysis- Summary of Ego states

Improve your communication by learning different ego states and strategy to deal with different egos. 

  


Please refer the detail presentation on this at Transactional Analysis:- Understanding & Managing Human Being...

What? You have not listened what I said?

Identify your communication style

All problems in organizations are due to lack of communication or improper communication. People have different styles of communication. You have to choose the right style in particular situation. However people do not tune their style as per the situation. To ensure we communicate effectively each time we speak, we must understand our own communication style and preferences.     

There are four styles of communication normally people chose while communicating. Dr. Carl Jung, a famous & noted psychologist has described a unique model on this as per the figure 1.

Spirited (Expresser): Spirited communicators get excited easily and tend to ask “Who?” They dislike boring explanations and react by “selling” ideas or becoming argumentative. They like to be applauded and recognized and prefer to save on effort and rely heavily on hunches and intuition. For best results, they should be inspired to aim for bigger and better accomplishments.

Considerate (Relater): Considerate communicators like positive attention, to be helpful and to be regarded warmly. Tend to ask “Why?” They dislike rejection, uncaring and unfeeling attitudes and reacts by becoming silent, withdrawn and introspective. They love to be with friends and nurture close relationships. For best results, they must be allowed to care and provide detail; be provided specific plans and activities to be accomplished.

Systematic (Analytical): Systematic communicators seek a lot of data and ask many questions. They tend to ask “How?” They dislike making an error and being unprepared and react by seeking more information. They love to be measured by activity and busyness. In this regard, they aim to save face; they hate to make an error or be wrong. For best results, they should be given a structured framework and be provided time to make decisions at their own pace.

Direct (Driver): Direct communicators like to have their own way; they are usually decisive and have their own viewpoints. They tend to ask “What?” They dislike someone wasting their time by trying to decide for them and react by attempting to take more control of the situation. They love to be measured by results and are goal-oriented, save time, and be efficient. For best results, they should be allowed freedom to do things their own way.

Each style has its strengths and weakness.

Please refer figure 2 for strengths and figure 3 for weaknesses

You can identify your dominant style based on above descriptions. However you can’t use your style in all situations. You have to be flexible to be effective communicator.  

How to deal with these different style of people?

Recognizing another’s style allows us to make adjustments in our own behavior to accommodate that person’s style. This, in turn, makes that person feel more at ease and helps us to achieve our goals more readily. It takes some willingness and effort to expand beyond one’s own style to interact with others. It is generally appreciated, however, and may make the difference between success and failure in an interaction.

Please refer figure 4 for this.

Words which you should avoid…transform your communication..

“He directly targeting me while speaking. I agree that I may be wrong, but this is not the way to deal with people. After all we are not children.” One of the employee was complaining about his Manager.

“What he spoke?” I asked him..

“He uses the words always, you did it. You disappointed me.. you make my job difficult etc. etc.”

I realized that people may aware on the uses of words but they may not be aware how to use the word. Much of our communication is done in words. We use words to communicate ourselves to ourselves, as well as to others. Meaning may be the same but it is how you put it. We are dealing with the adults and respect should be the core value. People make mistakes, but when you directly blame them, they feel hurt.  

Worlds should be used very carefully. More important things in how you use your word. Empowering communication can create a shift in your belief system when practiced over a period of time. To make the communication more influencing, you need to carefully use the pattern of the language.

You can use following strategy to make your communication more positive and effective..

Talk in “I” statements.

When you find something wrong with the people, use “I” statement.  It empowers you to express yourself instead of blaming others. For example if you find somebody very arrogant, use “I find you arrogant ” instead of using “You are arrogant.”

Communicate ‘”what is”’ instead of ‘”what is not”. ’

If you are unhappy with something, instead of “I feel unhappy”” say, “I feel sad.”

Drop the word “”can’t”” and change it to “”won’t”.

There is never a can’t.  You have the choice to do something. You can do but it is your choice not to do it. You always have a choice. If you say,  “I can’t come tonight for the party  because I have to take care of my son.” this is just not true.
Reality is “You won’t come tonight, because you choose to baby-sit.”

Drop the word  “problem/issue”  from your vocabulary.

I have seen the people who are always in the problem. In small things they will see issues and problems.  “Boss I have one issue.” If somebody comes and asks me. I say, ”very  good, now solve it.”

Every problem or issues is the opportunity of something., hence use challenge or opportunity instead.

A problem means that you are a victim of the situation. A challenge or an opportunity means that you choose to face the situation and grow beyond it.

Drop the word “but”.

Most of the people, use the word but…

I can do it …but I can’t….

Stop compromising your positive statements with a but”: I had a wonderful day, but...”

Here you enjoyed the day, and spoiling it by just adding but…you also putting the negative shade to the communication…

Did you notice, what statement I used… I used “And” instead of “But” in above statement…

Organizational Communication Strategy… make it simple…

Communication is always scored low in any organization. People have different perceptions about communication. Few companies are not open and transparent and less communicative. The culture is closed and everything is confidential and secret in the organization. Assistants, secretaries and cheerleaders are powerful without title. There is lot of scope for ambiguity. The gossiping is common and water cooler discussions are hot. There are another few organizations who are very communicative. They are open and transparent. Everything they do, they communicate. Their intranet is always updated. Top management takes interest in their people.

Do you know what’s happening there??

When Sales Manager put down his papers, his boss, Sales Director was very unhappy, unhappy with the HR. Sales Manager was high performer and probably was the successor of Sales Director in the future. He was happy in the organization, but somehow for last few days he was not much engaged. Sales director and CEO were unhappy not because of Sales Manager put down the paper, they were unhappy because this news was shock for them. The issue was discussed in the meeting and CEO asked HR Head, “Why his resignation is surprise for all?”  

When Sudhashu, Plant HR Head was called by his boss, Sudhanshu never thought that internal union members were planning to get the external affiliation. In day to day activities, he was so tied up that he could not get the feel of workmen in the organization. When his boss told this, we was actually surprised, why he was not able to get this news before his boss.

In both incidences, management has some expectations from HR. Management clearly wanted to know such news from HR. When it came via other channels, it was considered error from HR side, though not a major failure.

Does such cases  are frequent in organizations? Is HR senses what’s happening in the organization? Are there any channels where management comes to know any events, pulse, feels before they becomes the surprises? It is not expected that HR should keep an eye on everything in the organization, but when it comes to HR related issues, definitely HR is expected to break such news.

If you are a HR professional, irrespective of your profile, you need to be more proactive while dealing with the people. I always tell my team members that every paper, every issue coming on your table, is the opportunity to start interaction and further opportunity to build the relationship with the person. This help you to build the  trust. And if you build the trust, people will come to you to speak, not only official issues, but they will give you the feeling of the people. They are your communication channels.

It is not just for the sake of communication only, but then you get the time to act and possible certain positive actions on the issues.      

I have three suggestions for HR professional and even other functional  line managers.

1. You should be the first: You should be the first person who should come to know every function related information. Your team members are your eyes and ear of your function. It depend upon you how you build the relations, and how people are comfortable coming to you.
2. You should be Proactive in approach: You should not be reactive in approach. Exit interviews are the reactive approach. Why you should act after the event? In 95% resignations, there is less probability, that employee will stay back in the organization. They already made up their mind. There is no point in discussing why he is leaving the organization and what better could have been done for him. Exit interviews still can be conducted, but more proactive approach (e.g. stay interviews) should be adopted.
3. Your approach should be long term: Most of the time, reactive approach leads to short term solutions. If your approach is proactive, you can think long term Consequences. Compliance attitude may lead you in mess. Just think, how the particular solution will be long lasting, off course not necessary permanently.

These are not technical and functional competencies. These come through experience, but awareness of this will definitely help you.

When Brijesh Kumar invents new language…

Brijesh Kumar retired after spending almost 35 years in the company. After the retirement, he thought that he would do something differently. Initial 6 months went well enjoying the freedom of retired life. His only son was settled in USA. His wife was passed away almost 4 years back. It was sometimes difficult for him to forget memories of his wife. But he kept himself involved in reading, writing and travelling at different places. He almost attended every lecture, seminar on different topics in the city. Travelled all over India. Spent two months in USA with his son. But he was not happy. He came back in India.   

He thought what he was doing. He should do something differently. He got totally bored with everything. He stopped going out. He stopped watching TV, reading books and everything he was doing earlier. He used to sit alone in the flat staring towards walls. He would go to sleep, he would take his lunch, dinner on time, but he was restless.

One day while gazing to the wall, he got an excellent idea. Why not change the whole language of this world. Language of whole World, very difficult! County, difficult, and what about City, sounds good. But then “Which language?” He asked himself. He though lot.

One fine morning, he thought, why not exchange the words? People call table to table, I will call table as a watch. People called watch as a watch; I will call watch as a drawer. And he went on, he changed his whole language. What to call, human being, ok, Flowerpot.

And he invented different language. He was very happy when he woke up early in the morning. After the breakfast, he went outside. He greeted his neighbor first time. Next day, he was supposed to call him flower pot!  Some children were playing on the playground and he was supposed to call them small flowerpots and playground as school.

And he practiced a lot. He thought alternate “different words” to “different words.”J

 “Man woke up early in the morning with the noisy alarm of the clock. He sat on the chair waiting for his tea. He took newspapers from the door for reading. Children were playing on the ground and making noises.”  

He would say the above paragraph as under:

“Flowerpot woke up middle of the evening with beautiful sound of the chair. He sat on the cupboard waiting for his wine. He threw lights from the hole for eating. Small flowerpots were sleeping in the school and eating silence.” StrangeJ

And from next day, he practiced and practiced and practiced. After few months, he invented his own language.       

He was totally new person with new language. But he forgot the whole language which others people used to speak. He went to the milk parlour to take milk, but he asked for salt. He went to hair salon to cut hair, and he asked to steal his legs. … And so on….

People were unable to understand his language and he was unable to their language.

When his son called on his “TV (Mobile)”, he could not understand his language and son could not understand his father’s language.

People started to make a fun on him…. He was an alien in the city with crazy language…

But Brijesh Kumar was happy that he invented something different.

After few months, his son came back in India and took Brijesh Kumar to the psychiatric.

Four Ear Dimensions of Communication…PART III

3. How to focus on “Self Disclosure” dimension?

Speak in the first person

A discussion partner seems more believable, when he expresses his beliefs and emotions. It is particularly import in conflict situations, to admit one’s feelings and discuss them openly.

Personal statements can be recognised since

Ø      They are in the first person (“I’m annoyed every time that you’re late.” “I don’t dare consult the director about this matter.”)

Ø      Formulations in the second or third person are omitted. (“You can never be on time!”)

Ø      One leaves out “one” formulations. (“One cannot talk to the director about such a matter!”) At work the focus is on concrete decisions and individuals, not general pearls of wisdom

Ø      Observations and wishes are expressed directly and in a timely manner (not: “I could imagine you taking over this task...”, but: “I want you to take over this task”).

State one’s own opinion

Every supervisor has his own opinion; some, however, believe they should not state it (e.g. at evaluations) or that they have to align themselves with the authorities (their supervisors or experts). Supervisors are often recommended that they should withhold their opinion.

However, it helps their credibility and the teamwork, when the supervisor

Ø      Has the courage not to shy away from unpleasant messages and personal statements;

Ø      Develops a sense for when his opinion is needed or wanted, and when not;

Ø      Doesn’t present his opinion as scientific truth, but lets people recognise the subjectivity (“In my opinion …”, “My experience tells me …”)

Clarify intentions and goals

Meetings can be shorter and more concentrated when the chair states his intentions and goals clearly.

For this he should

Ø      State his personal ideas and goals

Ø      Pay attention to the ambiguity of goals; they can have human, technical, financial and organisational aspects

Ø      Discuss conflicting goals (between people or different aspects) openly

4. How to focus on “Appeal” dimension?

Peruse and be assertive

The persuasiveness of an argument is increased when it connects with the listener’s ideas, frame of reference and motives.

The following approach brings someone to the required consequences:

Ø      Set goals

Ø      Take expectations and experience of staff into account

Ø      Analyse approaches

Ø      Take positive and negative consequences into account

Ø      Determine concrete measures

Ask questions

Questions mark the “royal path” through a discussion. Who asks questions, forces his listener to answer. So that someone cannot avoid answering, you should not ask several questions at the same time.

One can distinguish between closed, open, direct and indirect questions:

Ø      Closed questions can only be answered with “yes, “no” or with facts (“Have you finished the experiment?”)

Ø      Open questions allow the person questioned to give his view (“How far are you with the experiment?”)

Ø      Direct questions explore what the questioner wants to know (“What do you think about Smith’s suggestion?”)

Ø      Indirect questions follow a particular strategy (leading or ambiguous questions) (“Do you not think Smith’s suggestion is too expensive?”)

Be fair

The other person must be able to recognise what you intend and have a chance to propose an alternative.

The following behaviours differ from manipulative techniques in that they are open and transparent:

Ø      Define and formulate issues: Where are we? What’s it about?

Ø      Propose the method for resolving the issue: a scheme for analysing the problem, meeting minutes, facilitation, set a time limit etc.

Ø      Make suggestions and ask others to also.

Ø      Make statements concrete: request, clarify, refer to the topic

Ø      Ask for and give information

Ø      Summarise statements occasionally, and draw conclusions

Ø      Bring about a decision and make it binding.

Communication Technology Syndrome

Communication Technology syndrome is the abnormal behavior seen in human being (especially in educated human being) where s/he becomes a slave of technical instruments like mobiles, software and gazettes and social networking sites.

I have seen people checking their mobile phones for SMS, some unnecessary updates. By doing this they ignore the person seating next to them. They are unaware about their surrounding. People speaking on mobile while driving and putting their and other’s life in danger are really idiots. The height is wearing hand-free and sometimes Bluetooth instrument. The person wearing Bluetooth instruments looks funny to me. The question comes in mind, “how busy the guy is? And if he has not responded to the mobile alert will the world end?” 

“We have nothing to discuss when I go at home; we shared everything on phone, or face book.” One person was sharing. “We go home, eat, watch TV and go to sleep.”

Now a day, people communicate more through mails, mobile phones, and facebook status update. The communication has been through technology and one to one communication has been totally ignored.

I have seen the status update of one person expressing his love to his wife on the fecebook. Human being has the need to glorify himself. Every person has the desire to appear extraordinary among the crowd. Every like and comment on facebook update makes them happy.  Hence they are eager to post the happening in the life, but sometimes they ignore the privacy part of the life.   

This behaviour is a habit. Checking updates on facebook, being on mobile continuously is the obsession. This can be converted into the compulsive obsession. Is it normal? I don’t think so. This behaviour is definitely abnormal. People do the farming, grow their chicken and spend half of the day on social networking sites. They live in second life on web.  This is resulting into loss of productivity.

Blackberries show red signal when some message or email appears in the inbox.  This is distracting and there are people who even can not sleep peacefully checking and responding to those mails.   

Technology is for human being and human being is not for technology. You can not replace the technology with human interaction, interpersonal communication and relationship. Technology is the mean to improve the relationship and communication and hence we should know where and how to use these tools.      

Four Ear Dimensions of Communication…

I really like the Four Ear Model of communication. This model is very effective. There are different styles and different methods adopted to communicate by people. Communication is the fundamental in influencing and persuading people. I will not go in detail in theory of communication, but definitely I would like to tell something about Four Ear model.

There are four components in 4-Ear model, these principle are based on Facts, Relationship, Self-disclosure, and appeal. If you believe on these dimensions, you need special ear to understand each dimension.

 

Factual Dimension: In this dimension, the message contains factual and concrete information about particular topic. Objectivity is a given when person can make himself understood by the receiver without one of the other three sides gaining the upper-hand.

Take an example of the mother asking her child to put on the sweater. She says, “Hey child, put on your sweater, it is cold outside.”  Mother is asking her child to put on the sweater. Mother is asking this because she knows the facts that there is a cold outside.

To make the communication effective, sender should think how he can communicate the factual content clearly and without misunderstanding.

Relationship Dimension: This is totally depends upon the attitude of one person towards another person. Here messages contain a statement about how one person views the other as well as about the state of their relationship. This shows itself in

a)      The chosen formulation

b)      Cadence or tone of voice,

c)      Non-verbal expressions (e.g. mimic, gestures,)

It is impossible to discuss on the facts level without in some way coming into contact on the relationship level. The relationship level dominates the facts or information level (iceberg model). If problems in the relationship sharpen, the only thing that helps is to talk about it: the information must wait until the relationship is restored. 

In the same example mother has an informal relationship with child and she knows that child may not make his own decisions on her own and hence she needs to tell her/guide her. She is authoritative in his body language.

Here sender should think how he treats other people through his style of communication.

Self-Disclosure Dimension: This dimension is really is on an emotional state of mind. Here the person communicates where he discloses something about himself. This can be his conscious decision or this can be just automatics and unconsciously. In above example, mother asks her child put on sweater because she is concerned about her child. Her child may fall ill if she is not protected. Mother is really thinking about the child and here she indirectly communicates that she cares her child.

Sender should ask the question himself to make the communication effective, what he would like to disclose.

Appeal Dimension:  Here actually sender is trying to induce the receiver to do the things what sender has told. He /she expects the results here. Like mother expects that her child should put the sweater and this is a result.  A message contains not only information, but also the intention to influence the other person to do, not do, think or feel something.

There can be:

Hidden Appeal: The sender tries “softly, softly” to generate some “good weather” for his undertaking, without his competitor noticing.

Paradox Appeal:  The sender says the opposite of what he intends to achieve, since he knows that the receiver doubts his word anyway

Open Appeal: Here there is direct expression of wishes or demands.

Sender should think how he induces someone to behave in a particular way due to his style of communication, without realizing it.

Let’s understand the four dimension of a message in following example.  Here wife is driving a vehicle and husband is seating besides her.  

(Next week: More tips on making communication effective based on four ear model of communication)