Changing Figures of Thought
May 4, 2010 by davissm · 3 Comments
I’ve often thought that if a picture is worth a thousand words, what is the value of a picture painted in your mind with only a few words? This week we explore the concept of metaphor as a powerful group process tool for facilitators. In Changing Figures of Thought we explore the six steps of generative metaphor development and some keys to helping groups redefine their metaphors to better serve their life situations.
Great note, Steve. Just to add to the wealth of information, my favorite book of all times on metaphors is on oldie but goodie by David Gordon: “Therapeutic Metaphors: Helping Others Through the Looking Glass.
Gil
A metaphor is a starting point for applying the poetic principle in the appreciative inquiry approach
Steve,
A quick story to add to your thoughts on using metaphors.
Because we think in images, helping people become conscious of the images (metaphors) that best represent their collective experience can be very revealing and empowering. This is true because our images define the boundaries of our experience, filtering and allowing in only a subset of all available information. Changing our images or metaphors, changes our filtering system and hence our experience.
I recently attended a webinar by Sandy Foster, who had been working with the Masai tribe in Africa to learn about leadership. She
shared with us how the elders of different tribes would come together and literally draw a solution they could agree upon.
Only after drawing this picture would they begin to dive into the details of the solution.
You can find Sandy on LinkedIn in the Leaders Cafe 2020 group, or at:
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/sandy-foster/11/436/9a0
Another tangent that came to mind as I was reading your article was TRIZ. It’s an approach to problem solving. If you’re not already familiar with it, have a look.
All the best,
Norman