Background

How many events have used rockets, race cars, mountains, or moonshots as a metaphorical theme?

Low-hanging fruit, swim lanes, scalable solutions, offline, bandwidth, ecosystem, bleeding edge, ducks in a row, think outside the box, move the needle, peel the onion, take it to the next level…all common, typical, business metaphors that we have heard.

If you are eager to enhance your visual communication skills, simplify intricate concepts, and captivate your audience, this workshop is designed just for you. Join us and learn how to harness the magic of visual metaphors to unravel complex, adaptive problems.

There are icons, and then there are symbols. As graphic facilitators, we often use both. An icon looks like the thing it represents. They are used a lot with user experience and interface design. A symbol can be a simple drawing, a couple of lines, dots, arrows, or circles, but a symbol requires cultural knowledge. A symbol has embedded knowledge in it. You have to be taught what a symbol is, whereas an icon is more universal.

So, what is a metaphor?

A metaphor connects an unfamiliar or abstract concept to a familiar and concrete image.

Let’s take the example of the metaphor, catching a whale. Often, we associate whales with something grand or large, maybe dangerous or a rare site to see, and we know that this metaphor means something is a big deal. Using something familiar, such as a whale, we create a psychological, social, or metaphysical connection to them.

As facilitators, we use metaphors to connect the unfamiliar to our audience and as a tool to help the audience think, feel, or do something. Metaphors are tools that work to connect people to big ideas, values, or a set of emotions. The goal is to help our audience think, feel, and do something different.

Why might we use metaphor as a story?

Most people in the technical fields start with data and work their way down. They use the numbers to make decisions or take action and evaluate whether those actions/decisions are good or bad based on their values (freedom, stability, or sustainability).

But it is better to start at the bottom; start with your values and then move up the line. Using metaphors is a great way to frame those thoughts, feelings, and actions that are our values.

Exploring birds as a metaphor

Birds are great metaphors. When using a metaphor, we can ask/invite people to think through how this metaphor applies to them, us, or the situation.

During the session, participants went into breakout groups for three minutes. They discussed what comes to mind when they think of birds. They then came back to the group and shared their thoughts.

Flocking rules.

Flocks of birds were used as a metaphor in a corporate leadership session to help the leadership group identify their own rules for how they were going to coordinate their efforts with their separate teams around the globe.

There were three aspects of flocking rules that they wanted to embed as values: cohesion, alignment, and agility. These values became a group document that they could point back to and check whether they were engaging in behaviors that expressed the values of cohesion, alignment, and agility and helped reinforce them.

The goal is to make progress, gain clarity, and make collective decisions together.

Metaphor for change

Birds are easy to identify, but what happens when we look at words like transform, growth, or change? Participants went back into groups to describe what transformation is and what it looks like in three simple words. Some examples were to change form, shapeshift, or evolve. There are a lot of ingredients in the abstract notion of transformation.

Why is change so hard yet so easy?

According to Switch by Chip and Dan Heath, some things change naturally, with no external pressure, whereas in organizations, it takes a lot of energy, time, focus, and intention to drive change.

How can we help when a change is needed or wanted?

The metaphor used in this book is the rider and the elephant. The elephant is whatever the structure is. It is a system that is large and powerful. It does not move quickly, but when it does, it affects everything around it, whereas the rider has no physical power over the elephant. An elephant can be conditioned and raised from an infant to think it has to listen to the rider.

So, how does the rider inspire or motivate the elephant?

As a rider, you determine the difficulty of the path for the elephant. As facilitators, we attempt to direct the rider, who is interested in change through facilitation tools and methods and by creating the right environment to influence decision-making. It is crucial to motivate the elephant.

What are the key motivators of an elephant?

Creating a psychologically, financially, and sociologically safe environment.

This is a memorable metaphor because it becomes embedded in the pattern language.

“Metaphors have legs ( this is a metaphor for a metaphor) they can travel far and make it easier for people to remember, think, feel, and connect. It also makes it easier to communicate with others. “
- Peter Durand

Group Reflections

It is important to choose a metaphor that connects to the values of the community to influence, motivate, and help.

A lot of metaphors are gendered and male-centric.

Start the session with a metaphor and have groups explore that metaphor. Then have them come back and point the direction of how it relates to the work they are doing.

Forced metaphors. Create the metaphor in the moment. For example, tell the group, “Creativity is like spaghetti. Why?” It forces them to create a connection.

Have the sponsor provide the metaphor to help us to better understand the challenge that they are going through.

By having the sponsors create their metaphor, it becomes more memorable and meaningful.

Metaphors are sticky. This stickiness is a part of their power to involve and create shared values and languages.

They get sticky because they assume there is a static beginning and end and not that transformation is an ongoing process.

Making sure that the metaphor and language we use are relevant to the time we are in right now.