International Association of Facilitators
1999 Annual Meeting
Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
January 14-17, 1999
Theard #3: Teambuilding & Communication
Wanda C. McGee
6062 Anchor Lane
Port St. Joe, FL 32456
Phone: 850-227-1893
wandamcgee@aol.com
Excerpts from Metaphors for the Mind and Heart of Business, by Wanda C. McGee ©1999.
A metaphor is a figure of speech that allows us to understand one element of experience in terms of another. For instance, imagine how your conversation about an organization would be different if you talked about it as though it were a garden, a brain, or a journey.
The power of metaphors to impact personal and organizational thinking is well documented. Popular business metaphors—that spring from ideas and concepts of the industrial age—are explored at length in Clancy (1989) and Morgan (1997). Now, quantum physics and the electronic age are spawning new metaphors (Stacey 1996 and Wheatley 1992).
It has been found that metaphors are a necessary part of organizational transformation and that managers and organizations are more likely to succeed if they use meaningful metaphors to communicate their ideas than if they don’t (Hill 1995, Nonaka 1994, Sackmann 1989). This would also apply to us as facilitators. Using metaphors as vehicles of exploration we can bring organizational issues into the spotlight of discovery—both for ourselves and for others. The use of metaphors supports new ways of seeing and talking about the issues.
So how, as facilitators, can we know what is a meaningful metaphor and what isn’t? What can we do to consciously make metaphors a part of our "tool kit"? Here are ideas for beginning to answer these questions:
"Movement is the door to learning."
–Paul Dennison, Educational Kinesiology Foundation
Since all of our senses work by using muscles, moving all parts of our bodies helps us to think and learn better. When we move we are using nerve pathways to, from, and within the brain. The more we stimulate these pathways by using them, the better they work for all activities. Especially important are cross-lateral activities, such as walking, where the arms and legs on one side of the body cross over the body’s midline (center of the body) and coordinate with those on the other side.
Because of this, I have found a walk in nature to be a favorite way to stimulate whole brain thinking. It does two things at once—it activates whole brain thinking while producing the raw materials for metaphors. If taking a walk in nature isn’t your "thing," you may want to choose an integrative, non-competitive activity that puts you in a "flow" state. Examples could be swimming, tai chi, yoga, playing with a child or pet, working with clay, creating large freeform pictures, singing, playing a musical instrument, dancing, knitting, or cooking.
If you start feeling stuck at any point during the following process and aren’t able, at that moment, to do one of your "favorite things," it may help to drink a glass or two of water and "walk in place" by touching one hand (or elbow) to the opposite knee. This can be done standing or sitting. You may also find that listening to music, doing some Brain Gym© (Dennison, et al 1994 or 1995), or practicing a relaxation technique would be helpful in relieving stress and activating the whole body-mind for learning and creativity.
"The soul never thinks without a picture."
–Aristotle
Just as the word implies, "obserflection" is a combination of observation and reflection. It is a simple process that can be used as the basis for developing meaningful metaphors. You’ll notice the similarity of the following to the ORID Discussion Method.
Observation answers the question, "What am I seeing, hearing, smelling, or sensing?"
Go for a walk in nature with the intent of noticing something interesting that reminds you of organizational life. You might want to concentrate on a particular organizational issue and keep asking yourself how what you are seeing in nature relates to this issue. Walk at any speed, staying open to what may come. Empty the mind. Watch the clouds, the water, the trees, the birds. Listen to the wind in the leaves, the hoot of an owl. Smell the fresh green of a spring morning, the perfume of summer flowers, or the dank odor of deep autumn. Relaxing into an "observer state" invites ideas to enter. When you notice something interesting record it in your memory or a notebook. Capture the essence of what you have observed in as few sentences and as objectively as possible.
Reflection answers two questions: "What is my reaction to what I observed?" and "How does what I observed remind me of organizational life?"
"What is my reaction to what I observed?" Be aware of your reaction to what you have noticed and note any words or images that pop into your mind. These reactions may be something you will want to share with others later. At this point, depending on your own personal style, you may want to either continue to process the experience by yourself, or to talk to someone else about it.
"How does what I observed remind me of organizational life?" In answer to this question, design a series of questions (ORID is a useful model) to engage others in a dialogue. Since the anecdote itself is short and objective, I generally use the anecdote as the objective part of ORID and design three questions—Reflective, Interpretive, and Decisional. Metaphors are empowered with artful questions.
Although obserflection is a fairly simple process, the anecdotes and questions seem to take on extra depth when I spend time thinking about them in-depth and relating them to what I already know. It is interesting, for example, to skim through a favorite management book and see where an anecdote and its questions address one or more of the issues in the book. This is also good preparation for the next part of the process.
"The ability to perceive or think differently
is more important than the knowledge gained."
—David Bohm
The intention of obserflection is to create an anecdote and questions that people can use to think and talk about organizational issues in a new way. As people express their interpretations of the anecdote and its possible organizational implications, the meaning of the metaphor and the group’s use of it will evolve from the dialogue. If the metaphor is meaningful it will continue to be used by those who have talked about it.
If you decide to use metaphor-building anecdotes as a way of exploring organizational issues with a group, it would be wise to spend time exploring the meaning of dialogue—what it is and isn’t.
Dialogue is a way of conversing. It is also a way of relating. During a dialogue, ideas and beliefs are openly shared and openly accepted. There are no right or wrong answers or statements. Ideas and beliefs, are, after all, a reflection of the way we see the world and are valid to us as we share them. Engaging in dialogue is a way to explore the perceptions (ideas and beliefs) that we hold and how we arrived at them. Everyone’s contribution has equal weight and validity since it comes from individual beliefs and experiences.
Just because something is shared, doesn’t mean everyone accepts it without question. It is simply accepted as representing one person’s belief at that moment in time. It is not helpful during a dialogue to tell someone they are wrong or to try to convince them, by argument, to change their mind. What is helpful is asking questions to help clarify our own and others’ thinking. Questions asked from a place of curiosity and answered non-defensively, help us realize how we arrived at a particular way of believing and being.
When we share what is true for us at any given moment, our truth changes as we hear from others and have time for self-reflection. It is perfectly okay to begin and end a dialogue holding the same belief. Just the act of freely talking about a topic, without having to defend ourselves or our beliefs, is frequently enough to expand our ability to think and act in a different way. Although beliefs may not be changed by the interaction, we may experience a fundamental shift in the way we relate to the world—listening more; wanting to "fix" less.
Dialogue expands our perspectives and understanding because it explores a wide range of thinking and options. It helps everyone learn from one another about the nature of a problem. And when empowered with artful questions, a dialogue can, in turn, be the source of new organizational metaphors. You will notice that, as people begin to use anecdotes from nature to talk about organizational issues, they will begin to notice and relate anecdotes of their own. At this point, your skill in asking artful questions will come in mighty handy.
Just as the trestles under a bridge support our safe journey from one side of a river to another, we could consider supports, in the form of words (talked about and agreed upon), to serve as our underlying structure during dialogue. It is important that those who will be engaging in dialogue create the supports together.
One way to create those supports is to ask those who will be engaging in dialogue together to create them. As each support is proposed, write it in big letters where all can see it. Once you have all shared your ideas, take each support individually and make sure everyone understands the meaning of the words. Take the time to talk about each one, change the wording if needed, and reach consensus that it will support your mutual dialogue.
The following are a few "supports for dialogue" that other groups have found useful.
Once again—it is important that those who will be in dialogue together create their own supports, since the supports will serve as a reference point for the group.
Clancy, J.J. (1989). The Invisible Powers: The Language of Business. Lexington Books: Lexington, MA.
Hill, Robert C. and Michael Levenhagen. Journal of Management, "Metaphors and Mental Models: Sensemaking and Sensegiving in Innovative and Entrepreneurial Activities, 1995, Vol. 21, No. 6, (1057-1074).
Lakoff, G. and M. Johnson (1981). Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, IL.
Morgan, G. (Gareth) (1997). Images of Organization, 2nd Edition. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
Nonaka, Ikujiro. Organization Science, "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, 1994, Vol. 5, No.1, (14-37).
Sackmann, Sonja. Human Relations, "The Role of Metaphors in Organization Transformation, 1989, Vol. 42, No. 6 (463-485).
Stacey, Ralph D. (1996). Complexity and Creativity in Organizations. Berrett-Koehler: San Francisco, CA.
Wheatley, Margaret J. (1992). Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organizations from an Orderly Universe. Barrett-Koehler: San Francisco, CA.
Bohm, David (1996). On Dialogue. Editor Lee Nichol. Routledge: New York, NY.
Ellinor, Linda and Glenna Gerard (1998). Dialogue: Rediscover the Transforming Power of Conversation. John Wiley: New York, NY.
Dennison, Gail, Paul E. Dennison, and Jerry V. Teplitz. (1995). Brain Gym© for Business: Instant Brain Boosters for On-the-Job Success. Edu-Kinesthetics, Inc.: Ventura, CA.
Hannaford, Carla (1995). Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head. Great Ocean Publishers: Alexandria, VA.
After growing up on a Kansas farm, Wanda McGee has lived most of her adult life in metropolitan areas of the East Coast. During a mid-life career change, she earned a graduate degree and spent more than 20 years as both an internal and external consultant in the training and organization development fields. Now self-employed and once again living in beautiful natural environment, she has drawn on her love of nature to complete a book, Metaphors for the Mind and Heart of Business.