🔄 Reframing in Action: The Leader’s Superpower for Team Growth

In today’s issue, we explore the power of reframing - a simple but profound practice that can transform how you lead.

Reframing helps leaders adopt what I call a “Safe Challenger” stance: the ability to question assumptions and shake up the status quo while maintaining psychological safety for their team.

We’ll dive into what reframing looks like in practical terms, why it’s essential for building team coherence and resilience, and how science backs its impact.

Let’s dive in.

Week #3 Focus: Leader as Reframer

Key definitions for this week:

• Reframing (Watzlawick et al., 1974) - the act of consciously shifting how you interpret a situation in order to reveal new possibilities, reduce negative emotion, or align with a more constructive course of action.

• Cognitive Reappraisal (Gross, J. J., 1998) ) - is the ability to unify different (sometimes opposing) aspects of a situation without seeing them as contradictions or threats.

Why I am studying these concepts for my book:

Psychologists describe frames as the assumptions or beliefs through which we filter reality. We all use frames unconsciously, but great leaders actively manageand adjust these frames.​

In my case, I’m writing this book not just to share concepts and frameworks, but to help leaders see themselves differently. To invite them to reframe their own roles.

Example:

Imagine your team just missed a quarterly target. A default frame might be “we failed”, leading to blame or discouragement.

A reframed perspective of a team leader who is a Safe Challenger would be to not react with blame or false positivity. They issue a safe challenge by saying something like:

“We didn’t meet the goal this time. Let’s understand why, without judgment, so we can aim even better next time. What got in our way? What patterns do we need to change?”

This kind of challenge is clear, direct, and emotionally grounded.

​It signals: I believe in you enough to expect more and I’ll walk with you through the discomfort of getting there.

Safe challenges create what I call productive tension, the sweet spot between pressure and trust. They invite accountability not through fear, but through a shared commitment to the team’s potential.

That’s the real power of reframing: not to sugarcoat the setback, but to transform it into a springboard for collective growth.

Research Evidence:

• ​A meta-analysis by Webb, Miles, and Sheeran (2023) found that reinterpreting situations to alter emotional impact is associated with improved emotional regulation, resilience, and social functioning.

  
  

• ​A meta-analysis by Schippers, Den Hartog, and Koopman (2007)explored the concept of team reflexivity. Reframing is a key component of reflexivity, enabling teams to reassess situations and strategies effectively. The study found that teams engaging in reflexivity exhibit improved performance, particularly in complex and dynamic environments.

  
  

• ​Torrence, B. S., & Connelly, S. (2019) found that leaders who frequently use reframing are rated as more competent, empathetic, and effective by their teams. This reappraisal was linked to lower emotional exhaustion, higher trust, and improved adaptability in dynamic environments.

Practice It with Me: Team Reframing Exercise

Your goal:​To help your team reframe a limiting belief, challenge, or recurring frustration into a learning opportunity, shared commitment or new possibility.

When you should use it:

• After a failure, missed target, or tension

• During change or transition

• As a team-building or reflection session

• When negative framing ("we always mess this up", "no one listens", "this is out of our control") is blocking progress

Step 1: Set the Stage

Explain that the purpose of the team exercise is to notice and reframe unhelpful narratives that may be holding you as a team back. Say something like:

“Every team builds stories about how things work, especially when we’ve faced repeated challenges. Today, we’re going to slow down and ask: what are we telling ourselves about this, and is there another way to see it? Our goal is not to deny problems, but to find a more useful lens to move forward.”

Create ground rules:

• Psychological safety is key: no judgment or blame

• Focus on patterns, not people

• All voices are welcome and needed

  
  

Step 2: Leader Goes First

Model the behavior by sharing a reframing of your own. Choose a belief you’ve caught yourself holding recently that you’ve chosen to rethink. For example:

“I realized I was seeing our client feedback as a sign that we’re not good enough. But when I stepped back, I reframed it as a signal that we’re in a growth phase and being challenged to level up.”

Keep it honest and self-aware! This signals your vulnerability and sets the tone.

Step 3: Surface the Shared Narrative

Ask your team:

“What are some recurring beliefs or phrases we’ve been using that might be limiting how we show up or solve problems?”

Examples might include:

• “There’s never enough time.”

• “This always falls apart at the last minute.”

• “We don’t have a voice in these decisions.”

  
  

Write down a few dominant or recurring narratives on a whiteboard or shared doc.

Step 4: Gather Each Perspective

Break into small groups or go around the circle. For each statement, invite people to answer:

• Where do you think this belief comes from?

• How does it make us feel or behave as a team?

• What might be a more helpful or accurate way to frame it?

  
  

Encourage everyone to contribute at least one insight. Give quieter team members time to reflect.

Step 5: Validate and Normalize

After sharing, acknowledge that these beliefs are normal human reactions, not signs of failure. Say:

“It makes sense that we feel this way given the pressure we’ve been under. But we get to choose what story we act from next.”

Normalize the idea that reframing isn’t denial, but t’s about choosing the lens that moves us forward.

Step 6: Co-create a New Frame

Work as a group to reframe the narrative. Ask:

“What’s a version of this belief that’s still honest, but more empowering?”

Examples:

• From “We’re terrible at timelines” → “We’re learning how to plan more realistically.”

• From “Nobody listens to us” → “We’re learning to advocate for ourselves more effectively.”

  
  

Write the new reframes clearly. Keep them simple, future-oriented, and emotionally resonant.

💡 Optional Add-On:

Create a “Reframe Wall” or shared doc where team members can post reframes of everyday frustrations as they arise. Make it a living part of your team culture.

Make it visible: add it to your team rituals, Slack channel, or retrospective format. Revisit it regularly.