How to Frame Using the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram

The FINESSE Fishbone Diagram® reminds us that framing is the first step in effective communication.

Framing is the first step in communicating with FINESSE. Without a clear frame, even the most sophisticated models, visuals, or facilitation techniques will fall short. The “F” in the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram® stands for Frame, and it is the foundation for effective communication with senior management when problems are complex and uncertain.

Why Framing Matters

A problem well-framed is a problem half solved. Decision makers often struggle not because solutions are unavailable, but because the problem itself is misunderstood. Framing provides clarity by defining the issue, setting boundaries, and establishing shared meaning. In the FINESSE approach, framing is not optional—it is the anchor for strategic communication.

Three Components of the Frame

The Frame includes three essential elements:

Definitions

Shared understanding of key terms such as risk, reliability, resilience, or failure. Misaligned definitions are one of the fastest ways communication can break down. For example, confusing an “intended course of action” with a “decision” can derail an entire project.

Problem Statement

A concise articulation of the issue at hand. This statement evolves as definitions and documentation are clarified.

Documentation

Written records of the Frame—including definitions, problem statement, and supporting visuals—ensure continuity, minimize miscommunication, and protect against political shifts or leadership changes.

Together, these components create a frame that is both rigorous and practical.

Three Techniques for Framing

These are three of my favorite techniques for framing the problem.

Using “The Greatest Fear” Technique

One effective way to verify and improve the Frame is by focusing on the greatest fear. Resistance from stakeholders is not always obstruction—it can be a signal that the Frame needs refinement. By carefully listening to concerns, facilitators can uncover hidden assumptions and adjust the Frame to better reflect reality. This technique transforms fear into a constructive tool for communication.

Your Greatest Fear Will Help You "Communicate with FINESSE"

Influence Diagrams and Spreadsheet Models

Complex problems often require models. While influence diagrams may cause some eyes to glaze over, they remain powerful tools for framing. Influence diagrams show relationships between inputs and outputs, helping decision makers visualize how different factors interact. Spreadsheet models serve a similar purpose, grounding abstract discussions in tangible numbers. Whether simple or complex, models reinforce the Frame by making assumptions explicit.

FINESSE: Frame Strategic Communication with an Influence Diagram

Physical and Operational Boundaries Frame All Problems

Establishing geospatial and operational boundaries is a viable technique for problem framing and strategic communication framing. It is sometimes tricky for the general audience because systems and boundaries are not common concepts. Most technical professionals understand the concept. For me, establishing boundaries is a natural way to frame.

FINESSE: Use Physical and Operational Boundaries to Frame Strategic Communication

A Word of Warning: Keep the Frame in Writing

Framing is not a one-time exercise. Politics shift, priorities change, and decision makers may attempt to redefine the problem to suit their interests. That is why documentation is essential. A written frame—complete with definitions, problem statement, and visuals—keeps all parties focused on the issue rather than each other. It also provides continuity when leadership changes or new stakeholders join the conversation.

Framing Video (3 minutes)

Facilitating with FINESSE

Framing begins in the pre-session exchange and continues through project charters, bylaws, and milestone reviews. The facilitator bears responsibility for reminding and refreshing participants of the Frame at key intervals. Communicating the Frame early and often ensures alignment and minimizes misunderstandings. In this way, framing is not just a technical step, but it is a leadership function.

Communicating with FINESSE

The FINESSE Fishbone Diagram® reminds us that framing is the first step in effective communication. Without a well-developed and well-documented frame, the chances of success diminish significantly. With it, technical professionals and decision makers can navigate complexity and uncertainty with confidence.

Do you have an approach for communicating big issues with high complexity and uncertainty? Are you Communicating with FINESSE®?

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JD Solomon Inc. provides solutions for program development, asset management, and facilitation at the nexus of facilities, infrastructure, and the environment. Visit our Facilitation page for more information related to all types of facilitation.

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JD Solomon writes and speaks on decision-making, reliability, risk, and communication for leaders and technical professionals. His work connects technical disciplines with human understanding to help people make better decisions and build stronger systems. Learn more at www.jdsolomonsolutions.com and www.communicatingwithfinesse.com

How to Save Your Project: Essential Communication Tips Every Manager Needs

Five key themes stand out in how professionals can strengthen their communication effectiveness.

After a full year of Communication Tips from Communicating with FINESSE (CWF), a few things became clear. Effective communication is not just about speaking clearly; it’s about connecting thoughtfully. Across dozens of short, practical posts, certain patterns emerged that reflect the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram®: Frame, Illustrate, Noise Reduction, Empathy, Structure, Synergy, and Ethics.

From boardrooms to public meetings, five key themes stand out on how professionals can strengthen their communication effectiveness.

1. Empathy Is the Foundation of Understanding

The most frequent theme throughout the year was empathy. Tips like “Replace You with We,” “How to Present Data to the Board,” and “Talk to Every Board Member the Same Way” emphasized that communication begins with putting yourself in the listener’s place.

Empathy in communication isn’t about being nice; it’s about being understood. We reduce barriers to comprehension when we adjust our words, tone, and visuals to the audience’s perspective. Communication insights like “Genuinely Focus on the Audience” remind us that effective professionals don’t just deliver information; they shape it to meet others where they are.

Empathy creates bridges. It’s what transforms technical expertise into shared understanding.

2. Structure Provides Confidence

A second strong theme was structure. CWF tips often returned to the idea that people trust information they can follow. Posts such as “The Three Act Structure,” “A Rightly Timed Pause,” and “Ask Simple Questions” all illustrated that well-framed communication feels intentional and reassuring.

Structure doesn’t have to be rigid. It can be as simple as opening with purpose, guiding listeners through logic, and closing with clarity. The tip “Three Indicators of a Rare Event” showed how even uncertainty can be communicated confidently when the story has a solid framework.

Clarity of structure makes complexity manageable for both the speaker and the audience.

Three Barriers to Effective Communication

3. Illustration Enhances Understanding

The Illustrate element of the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram® appeared frequently in visual and conceptual examples. Posts like “Guiding Graphic” and “PowerPoint Ready for Colorblind” explored how visual communication can make or break a message.

Illustration, in this sense, goes beyond charts and slides. It means making ideas tangible by turning the abstract into something audiences can see and feel. The posts encouraged communicators to think visually but also inclusively, ensuring that visuals remain accessible to everyone.

The best technical communicators use illustrations to provide information, not decoration. If your visuals exclude people with visual or hearing impairments, they confuse rather than clarify.

4. Synergy Strengthens Collaboration

Several tips explored how communication connects people rather than isolates them. Tips like “Communicate to the Boss’s Inner Circle” and "Let the Decision Maker Make Own Conclusion" showed that collaboration doesn’t mean saying everything. Effective collaboration means saying the right things at the right time.

Synergy happens when people feel part of a shared process. The communicator invites discovery rather than accepting pre-made solutions. This was especially true in tips encouraging professionals to ask more questions or let others find solutions.

Communication that builds synergy multiplies effectiveness. After all, all big decisions are made with multiple gatekeepers and advisors.

5. Ethics and Credibility Anchor Everything

Finally, ethics surfaced repeatedly in messages like “The Ethics of Framing Uncertainty.” This theme went beyond goes beyond honesty. It includes responsibility, preparation, and respect for accuracy. Credibility is the quiet power behind every successful interaction, especially when the stakes are high.

The tips tied ethics to professionalism. Senior leaders can sense when communicators have done their homework. Whether it’s presenting data, managing uncertainty, or representing others, ethical communication earns trust that shortcuts never will.

Communication without ethics might persuade for a moment, but it will never sustain trust over time. And big decisions are made over extended periods.

Project Manager Communication Tips

If there was one lesson from a year of CWF tips, it’s that communication is both a skill and a discipline. It can be learned, practiced, and refined, but only if we approach it with the same care and intention we hope our decision makers will give in return.

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JD Solomon writes and speaks on decision-making, reliability, and communication for leaders and technical professionals. His work connects technical disciplines with human understanding to help people make better decisions and build stronger systems. Learn more at www.jdsolomonsolutions.com and www.communicatingwithfinesse.com

The Key Distinctions Between Dependability and Reliability...and Why It Matters for People and Systems

Dependability builds on reliability by accounting for real-world uncertainty.

We often use “dependable” and “reliable” interchangeably. Both words describe consistency, trust, and confidence. Yet in both people and systems, there’s a subtle but critical distinction between the two. Understanding that difference can transform how we lead teams, manage assets, and build trust in our organizations.

Dependability: The Human Side of Trust

Dependability begins with trust. It’s not just about doing something well; it’s about doing what you said you’d do. A dependable person doesn’t make promises lightly, and when they do, they follow through—even when it’s inconvenient. They’re the people you want beside you when things go wrong.

Dependability has a distinctly human dimension. It’s about integrity, accountability, and resilience under pressure. A dependable team member delivers not only consistent results but also demonstrates character and commitment when the stakes are high.

In leadership and management, dependability is the foundation of confidence. Colleagues and clients trust a dependable leader to make sound decisions and communicate honestly, especially when uncertainty looms. Dependability builds the kind of professional relationships that endure — the kind that carry teams through change, challenge, and crisis.

Improving Reliability & Dependability

Reliability: The Technical Measure of Performance

Reliability, on the other hand, is about consistency of performance — not necessarily about trust or emotion. When we describe a system, process, or product as reliable, we’re saying it performs predictably, time after time, under specified conditions. It’s measurable. It’s objective.

Engineers and asset managers think in terms of failure rates, uptime, and mean time between failures (MTBF). Reliability is the backbone of operational excellence. A reliable pump performs within tolerance every day; a reliable process meets its target 99.9% of the time.

Reliability focuses on the technical probability that something will do what it's supposed to do. Dependability extends that notion into the human and organizational domain, where trust, communication, and responsibility matter as much as mechanical consistency.

Why the Difference in Reliability and Dependability Matters

This distinction between dependability and reliability is more than academic — it affects both human performance and technical systems.

A reliable employee shows up on time and meets deadlines. A dependable employee is the one you trust to manage a crisis when the unexpected happens. Reliable systems perform well under expected conditions. Dependable systems are designed to perform even when conditions aren’t ideal — when something breaks, when input changes, or when human intervention is required.

Communicating Reliability

That’s why dependability often includes additional factors like resilience, redundancy, and recoverability. Reliability keeps things working as planned; dependability ensures they keep working when plans fail.

The People Implications

In teams and organizations, reliability and dependability often show up together, but they don’t always mean the same thing.

A reliable team member completes tasks on time, follows procedures, and meets quality expectations. But when the situation becomes complex or ambiguous, you look for the dependable person — the one who steps up, communicates clearly, and get the job done no matter what.

Think of the dependable coworker as the one you trust with the keys when you’re away. They’re the person who keeps their word, protects the team, and doesn’t look for shortcuts when pressure mounts. Dependability is about judgment and character; reliability is about predictability and process.

Good organizations cultivate both. They set up systems that promote reliable performance and hire or develop people who can be counted on when reliability alone isn’t enough.

The System Implications

In asset management and engineering, reliability is the measurable attribute that defines how well systems perform over time. Dependability, by contrast, is a broader concept that includes reliability but also adds dimensions such as availability, maintainability, safety, and integrity.

A reliable system operates without failure for a given period. A dependable system continues to deliver safe and acceptable outcomes even when part of it fails.

For example, an aircraft's engine system must be reliable (i.e., the engines should operate predictably within their design limits). But the aircraft as a whole must also be dependable (able to complete a safe flight even if one engine fails). Dependability builds on reliability by accounting for real-world uncertainty.

Dependability incorporates measures such as redundancy, fault tolerance, and monitoring. It’s the combination of design, maintenance, and human oversight that keeps systems functioning in complex environments.

As asset managers, we use data, metrics, and models to improve reliability. But it’s our judgment — our dependability as decision makers — that ensures those systems stay safe, sustainable, and resilient.

Why Dependability Matters Most

Practical Examples That Illustrate the Difference

A few simple examples highlight the distinction.

The Car Example

A reliable car rarely breaks down. A dependable car starts every morning when you need it most, even in the cold or after sitting idle for a week. Reliability is about performance; dependability is about trust.

The Coworker Example

A reliable coworker meets deadlines and follows procedures. A dependable coworker steps up during a crisis, keeps commitments, and protects the project’s success.

The Restaurant Example

A reliable restaurant consistently serves quality food and provides good service. A dependable restaurant makes sure your meal is right, even when the kitchen is slammed and something goes wrong.

In each case, dependability extends reliability into the realm of trust and response. It’s what turns “good enough” performance into true confidence.

A Case Study from Tampa

The Broader Lesson: Systems Reflect People

In the end, dependable systems come from dependable people. Reliability is achieved through design, discipline, and data. Dependability is achieved through leadership, communication, and accountability.

When we design for reliability but neglect dependability, we risk building systems that work well until something unexpected happens. When we lead for dependability without attention to reliability, we create teams with good intentions but inconsistent outcomes.

Both are essential. Reliability gives us performance. Dependability gives us trust. And together, they create systems and organizations that stand the test of time.

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 JD Solomon Inc. provides solutions for program development, asset management, and facilitation at the nexus of facilities, infrastructure, and the environment. Visit our Asset Management page for more information related to reliability, risk management, resilience, and other asset management services.

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JD Solomon writes and speaks on decision-making, reliability, and communication for leaders and technical professionals. His work connects technical disciplines with human understanding to help people make better decisions and build stronger systems. Learn more at www.jdsolomonsolutions.com and www.communicatingwithfinesse.com