Six-Step Reframe
A negotiation between conscious goals and the unconscious 'positive intention' behind a problem behavior.
"The bad habit is on your team. It's just running its own KPI."
What is Six-Step Reframe? A negotiation between conscious goals and the unconscious 'positive intention' behind a problem behavior. Behavioral change in coaching engagements and executive transitions.
Bandler & Grinder's structured reframing protocol.
Behavioral change in coaching engagements and executive transitions.
Identify the positive intention first. Find three new behaviors that satisfy it.
Use the model. Pick the move.
A negotiation between conscious goals and the unconscious 'positive intention' behind a problem behavior. You've just seen this: Bandler & Grinder's structured reframing protocol. Which lever does the model recommend?
Pick a lever. There are no neutral ones — every incentive funds a behavior somewhere.
Pick a reaction to Six-Step Reframe
One tap. We'll point you at the most useful next surface based on how this hits.
The full taxonomy entry
Every concept in the Atlas uses the same structure — so Six-Step Reframe can be compared, recombined, and cited like an element on a periodic table.
- Business
- Leadership
- Government
- Healthcare
- Education
- Sales
- Marketing
- AI
- Negotiation
- Media
- Public Policy
- Relationships
- Where in our org would Six-Step Reframe most often show up unnoticed?
- Which metric, ritual, or contract clause quietly rewards Six-Step Reframe?
- If we removed every payoff for Six-Step Reframe, what behavior would replace it?
- Who benefits when Six-Step Reframe persists — and who pays the cost?
- People defend the status quo using the language of six-step reframe.
- Decisions cluster around the easiest narrative rather than the strongest evidence.
- New data changes the slide deck but not the decision.
- Anyone naming the pattern is treated as the problem.
Every Atlas entry is a node in a knowledge graph. See the related rail below to follow the connections.
See Six-Step Reframe through 4 lenses
Each layer of the Incentives OS reframes this concept with its own thinkers, vocabulary, and diagnostic question.
- Layer 2Behavioral Economics
Which biases are most likely operating right now?
- Layer 8Organizational Psychology
What is the org actually rewarding — versus claiming to reward?
- Layer 10Negotiation
Where is the real leverage — and what interests sit behind the stated positions?
- Layer 21Mental Models & Mastery
Which model — or stack of models — are we missing here?
Do you actually know Six-Step Reframe?
Three quick questions. Result is saved into your review streak — come back when the term is due to lock it in.
Which best describes Six-Step Reframe?
Worked example, counter-example & concept map
On-demand AI analysis grounded in the Lab's research. Cached on your device after first run.
When you encounter Six-Step Reframe, your prefrontal cortex has to do extra work to override the automatic response — and that override budget is finite.
Executive control, planning, impulse override, working memory, System 2. First thing to go offline under stress, fatigue, or low blood sugar. Why your 4pm decisions are worse than your 9am ones.
See Prefrontal in the Brain Atlas →Picked for you, from the Atlas
Ranked by shared learning paths, overlapping chips, and what you've saved.
Pairing a sensory cue with a desired internal state until the cue reliably evokes the state.
Firing two opposing emotional anchors simultaneously to neutralize a negative state.
Alignment between verbal message, tone, posture, and underlying intent. Audiences detect the gap.
Rapidly replacing an unwanted internal image with a desired one to disrupt a habitual response.
How will I feel about this in 10 minutes / 10 months / 10 years?
Basics first (health/finances), then depth (mastery/impact), then altruism (widening circle).
Send the card, not just the link
A pre-rendered social card with the title, eyebrow, and URL. Copy the link, post it anywhere, or download the SVG for slides.
More definitions to follow
Every term in the Atlas connects to a dozen others. Pick any of these and see where it takes you.
The model achieves the goal as stated, not as intended.
False positives vs. false negatives.
Scarce AI talent commands market-distorting compensation.
Evaluating an argument's logic based on whether you agree with the conclusion.
Accurately modeling what another person is thinking and feeling — without merging with it.
Endless choice and swipe loops reduce commitment and increase dissatisfaction.
Systems tend toward disorder unless energy is invested to maintain order.
After noticing something, we start seeing it everywhere.
We miss unexpected events when focused on something else.
Some processes converge to the same equilibrium regardless of where they started — history stops mattering.
Match the target's current state, then gradually shift it toward the desired one.
Introducing an irrelevant topic to distract from the issue.