Leading by Adventure - 033 - How to triangulate ourselves via reframing

Use reframing to understand and reshape your impact and influence on those around you – O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us. To see oursels as ithers see us!

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Why take this challenge?

Develop a clearer perspective on how you come across to other people

Provide opportunities to reflect yourself to others in a way that is more effective

Increase your impact and influence in achieving things for and through others

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

Before GPS, triangulation was the means used to determine the position of something. It was a vital component for locating your own position when you weren’t sure where you were. Basically it was a means of taking a perspective on something from different known positions to better understand its location.

Reframing is a sociological version of triangulation, but with a lot less maths.

In reframing, we view an entity, an idea or a situation from different stakeholder perspectives to gain a clearer understanding of its perception: Its impact, influence, appearance, significance, …

The result can help people appreciate a more complete and comprehensive ‘truth’ about things they typically only consider from their own perspective. And, as a result, it can help them reshape things to have a better impact.

So, the key questions are, in the long run: Are we who we believe ourselves to be? Or are we what other people perceive? To what extent are those different things? And does that difference matter? For example, in terms of our ability to influence and bless others?

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

Triangulate ourselves

So our green track this week is to triangulate ourselves from the perspectives of: Ourselves; our team; our leadership; our family; and our friends?

Clicking the image on the right will open up a template you can use to lay out your thoughts. Start in the centre with your self-perception, and then move clockwise around the other four perspectives.

We would suggest you use the following colour coding for the notes you add to each section: Yellow for things you know; pink for things you suspect; blue for things you ought to know but don’t.

Once you have finished your self-triangulation, you might want to pick one or two things you would really like to be different: Things you want to find out, or confirm, or change. You could perhaps add these as green notes.

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

Triangulate your team

The blue track is to try the same thing this time with your team, but to triangulate using different perspectives: Your members (yourselves); your customers; your suppliers; your organisation; your professional peers (e.g. those who are associated with fulfilling similar roles in other organisations).

Share the URL for the template (you will find the team template below the personal template on the whiteboard you opened in the green track) and invite your team to add their own thoughts to each of the perspectives. This could be a free for all, or by dividing into breakouts to tackle different sections, and then reviewing altogether. You can use the same conventions to triangulate as proposed in the green track.

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

Let us know how you get on.
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Useful links:

Introduction to Leading by Adventure  |  What we mean by spirituality?  |  Why Adventure
Adventures to date   |  I did it, but it didn’t work very well   |  How do I know if it is working
Bringing this thinking into your meetings   |  Adventure & Mental Health
Leading by Adventure community   |  Explore Strategic Support options