How can you use framing to negotiate for community organizing?

1 Why framing matters

Framing matters because it shapes how people perceive and interpret your issue, your solution, and your role. Framing can help you build trust, credibility, and rapport with your potential allies, supporters, and partners. Framing can also help you overcome resistance, objections, and misunderstandings from your opponents, critics, and skeptics. Framing can make the difference between a successful negotiation and a failed one.

2 How to frame your issue

To frame your issue effectively, you need to identify and articulate the problem, the cause, the consequences, and the solution. You need to show why your issue is important, urgent, and relevant to your audience. You need to link your issue to their interests, needs, and values. You need to avoid jargon, technicalities, and abstractions, and use stories, examples, and metaphors instead. You need to frame your issue as a moral, ethical, or social justice issue, not just a technical or practical one.

3 How to frame your solution

To frame your solution persuasively, you need to present it as a feasible, desirable, and beneficial option for your audience. You need to show how your solution addresses the problem, the cause, and the consequences of the issue. You need to highlight the positive outcomes, impacts, and opportunities of your solution. You need to address the potential costs, risks, and trade-offs of your solution, and show how they are outweighed by the benefits. You need to frame your solution as a collective, collaborative, and inclusive effort, not just an individual or exclusive one.

5 How to avoid framing pitfalls

Framing is not a guarantee of a positive outcome for your negotiation, and can even backfire if done poorly, inconsistently, or dishonestly. To avoid framing pitfalls, you need to be aware of potential issues such as framing mismatch, which occurs when the frame does not match the audience's values, beliefs, or expectations; framing overload, which happens when too many frames are used or switched between too frequently; and framing distortion, which happens when a frame misrepresents, exaggerates, or omits important facts. All of these can lead to confusion or misunderstanding of the issue at hand.