The Praxis Idea

Praxis is a concept, first ascribed to Aristotle, which describes a continuous commitment to knowledge creation out of experience. The Praxis Institute was established in order to assist human thinkers in practicing Praxis - in reframing personal and organizational mind sets and in creating new and relevant knowledge out of experience.

We live and act in an environment in which fundamental changes are occurring at an unprecedented rate, thus constantly rendering irrelevant the mental models with which we, as individuals, groups and organizations interpret our contexts of life.

More and more practitioners find themselves facing situations where they do not have yet a proper mental model to think through on the issue. They have first to reframe their mind-set to become relevant to the new problem they face.

Actualizing the Praxis Idea - the SRT™ Method

In the Social Sciences, reframing is described as a long and laborious process that may take years, often going beyond the mental scope of individuals, who may succeed in practicing it to some extent, but cannot account for it.

Based on more than two decades of research, the Praxis Institute developed a package consisting of a method (SRT™) and a tool (Reframer®) for training individuals and groups in utilizing their innate thinking virtues for performing framing and reframing processes in an explicit and effective manner.

What does SRT™ stand for?
The method is titled Systemic Reframing Thinking. The two words - 'Systemic' and 'Reframing' represent the two main obstacles that the thinker has to overcome.

'Systemic' - stands for the fact that the concepts in a mind-set are mutually dependent. When one of the concepts of the set is called up, the mind tends to bring up also the other concepts in the set to validate it. Thus, the mind-set acts as a very strong mental obstacle resisting change. The SRT™ methodology ensures the de-freezing of mind-sets, in spite of their systemic nature.

'Reframing' - stands for the manner in which the method copes with the fact that mind sets are usually taken for granted and are not exposed to conscious inspection. We think through our mind sets but are not aware of their existence. How does one change what one does not see? Reframing is a cognitive process by which our mind-set's interconnected assumptions are elicited and represented in a form of explicit frame, only to be enriched and modified. The outcome, the explicit new frame, can now serve as a powerful enhancer of organizational and personal effectiveness and relevance.