#🌱 #🟠 # Understanding and embracing the political frame ![[calendar-plus.svg]] <small>Nov 03, 2022</small> | ![[calendar-clock.svg]] <small>Jan 03, 2023</small> 🏷️ [[Leadership MOC]] In my initial reading of Carey's (1999) five frames, the political frame was the hardest for me to relate to and see value in. An intimidator is exactly what I imagined when I thought of this frame; someone who is confrontational, bullying and egotistical. But a second reading of the political frame, with some added insight from [[Parker Palmer]], helped me find an alternate interpretation. The key for me is in the fourth principle of the frame which posits that "power and conflict are normal features of organizational life" (Carey, 1999, p. 76). I can certainly accept that as a fact. And in the political frame, rather than a futile attempt to fight that fact or make it go away, the focus is on embracing and harnessing the inevitable conflict to accomplish something positive. Palmer (2017) helped me identify my resistance to the political frame in his description of our fear of conflict when he explains that "we fear the live encounter as a contest from which one party emerges victorious while the other leaves defeated and ashamed" (p. 38). But, as he points out, not all forms of conflict are win-lose. There are other more creative forms of conflict, like consensual decision making, in which all can win and emerge with a larger sense of self (2017, p. 39). I think the key in developing a healthy set of bargaining and negotiation skills, at the core of the political frame's third principle, is [[Appreciative Inquiry]]. If you can clearly state your own ideas/goals and really listen to understand the perspectives of others whose ideas/goals are different, it is possible to learn and grow from the conflict and create a better solution together. ## Sources [[Heraclitean Fire - Carey 1999]] [[The Courage to Teach - Palmer 2017]]