Reframing your message
Words can build bridges or burn them
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Words can build bridges or burn them. Reframing is the art of choosing the bridge. By reshaping a message—without diluting its truth—you can shift it from charged to neutral, from unclear to clear, from abrasive to approachable.
In conflict resolution, reframing typically refers to reframing the problem to make it more solvable, or to reframing the message to make it more understandable, neutralize it (make it less explosive), or better convey the core point.
This isn’t about sugarcoating or avoiding a hard truth—it’s about packaging it so it can be received. The essence remains; the delivery changes.
Reframing doesn’t just change words. It changes outcomes. In conflict, that’s the difference between talking past each other and truly connecting.