| Metaphor Mapping

Reasons That Metaphors Promote Creativity

by Larry Raymond on Dec 20, 2012 • Comments Closed •

Just thinking of a metaphor can get those creative rivers running, albeit some longer than others and some others deeper than most. Nevertheless, let us consider that almost every facet of our ability to understand concepts and ideas come in the form of metaphors. Reread this paragraph and you will begin to understand how metaphors promote creativity . There is no person on the planet that is not accustomed to this language pattern. However, there are people who are not aware of what a metaphor is. Nonetheless, these same individuals grasp general concepts of everyday living and task performance. When one begins to fathom the depth to which their own language slants with references to how metaphors promote creativity it becomes astounding. However, when we need to become creative the human mind becomes a playground, as it were, not just for ideas, but also for the words used to convey these ideas. In business terms, if we were to think of a change management situation, where a manager is beginning to build a team to lead the rest of the company through a specific set of manufacturing alterations that need to result in improved production. One of the first steps [...] Read More

Suggestions in Creating a Shared Vision After a New Strategic Plan is Created

by Larry Raymond on Dec 14, 2012 • Comments Closed •

Let’s say you successfully created the perfect strategic plan. How do you make it a reality? Here are some suggestions made by Ray Gagnon an expert in strategic planning in a recent Huffington post article. “Create the Business Case” – In order for your employees to understand why a change is necessary, especially if jobs or the company is in danger, leadership must be transparent. They must clearly explain why the change is needed. It does not matter if the reason is loss of market share, a poor financial decision, or a change in the direction of the business itself. Once the purpose for the change is understood, your faithful employees will be more willing to assist in making change. “Clarify and Communicate the New Way” – Now that everyone understands why changes are necessary. They need to know what the new path is. This is difficult to explain alone, and … No doubt several key leaders were involved in hatching your new strategic plan in the first place. Exploit and enlist this key network of early adopters and ensure that they fan out across your company and ‘spread the gospel’ of the new way just as you are. [...] Read More

‘Mapping’ sense of it with visual metaphors

by Larry Raymond on Dec 6, 2012 • Comments Closed •

Count on it: Anytime change happens, effective communications plays a vital role by making ideas memorable and actionable. Almost everything else leading up to that point might well be a blizzard of information, ideas and data awaiting labels and identifiers to lead the team onward to its goals. “Controlling or Influencing? The real use of project controls,” an article on the ProjectAccelerator.com website may have as its primary focus “financial management,” but the over-arching premise might well apply to any company committed to Change management. One of the three primary considerations to cause change, is making sure all the information and data is clearly communicated with the right team, the relevant group and individuals; secondly, the effort must promote understanding and believability; and thirdly, strategies are then implemented using information to bring about desired outcomes. Metaphor Mapping heightens such collaborative processes through the use of Visual Metaphors keyed to unlocking the flow of ideas and producing results in a few hours; more importantly, teams and groups collaborate more freely once they agree on what symbols embody the issues at hand. Workshops with Metaphor Mapping can tackle even the most elusive issues, like defining ‘company culture’ in a bid to understand [...] Read More

Strong Collaboration for Creation of High Performance Teams

by Larry Raymond on Dec 1, 2012 • Comments Closed •

Today, business leaders are taking a hard look at how real conversations lead to problem-solving successes, and they want to know how to get their employees talking to take advantage of this news. The bottom line is that business leaders want to foster brainstorming that will target goals and spur solutions to keep their businesses growing. Metaphor Mapping can help them to do that. Metaphor Mapping promotes teamwork and gets people to say what’s on their minds. It makes tough work fun by providing a fame-like environment. It galvanizes innovation through collaboration by eliminating some of the worry that’s commonly associated with social strictures in the workplace and that deters colleagues from sharing their valuable input. Since reduction of anxiety is one of the most important factors for improving communication and creative problem-solving, Metaphor Mapping puts small teams together in a comfortable setting where everyone has a stake in the goings-on. Teams get a thorough understanding of their assignments by using multi-sensory activities that appeal to the different learning styles of their members. They handle pictorial stickers and label them to identify, map out and discuss the key elements of the groups’ challenge, and together they figure out the best [...] Read More

Gamification Benefits when Setting Strategy

by Larry Raymond on Nov 23, 2012 • Comments Closed •

Game playing is a great way to build relationships in a corporate setting. It encourages colleagues to let down their hair and make suggestions without that almost tangible fear of being scrutinized by co-workers and bosses. Studies found that fear of rejection prevents participants from actively offering valid ideas, and it even impedes learning and understanding new information that’s presented by someone else. Metaphor Mapping avoids this problem by engaging participants in a hands-on, everyone-is-part-of-the-team, game-playing fashion that can alleviate the tension. But that’s just part of it. To set the stage for real camaraderie, the game players need to learn how to use language to really say what they mean, and sometimes that’s not easy. Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” And, it’s true because words alone can’t always convey the message the way a communicator wants them to. And getting the wrong message or taking the wrong action can be devastating. The trouble is that finding that right word or group of words can be daunting, especially in today’s society where the workforce contains such [...] Read More

Metaphor Mapping and High Performance Teams

by Larry Raymond on Nov 15, 2012 • Comments Closed •

Most everyone knows that team development follows the four stages of Forming Storming Norming Performing If you have to develop a team and deliver results in short order, a month for example, you’ll be greatly hindered by the time lost in the first two stages (Organizational research tells us that three-fifths of team time is taken up by forming and storming.) Metaphor Mapping sessions can give you a jump-start by getting you clear on objectives and how to reach the, effectively completing the first three stages in a single session that can take from two hours to a full day. In that short time, all your members will be in agreement on The purpose of the team and the the significance of what you’re trying to accomplish Roles of the team members Schedule and how to work together Metaphor mapping ensures team members are not quiet or reluctant to share their viewpoint. You can’t map villages and rivers and be a wallflower! Please contact us if you’d like to discuss a situation that needs both high performing teams and speed! Read More

Metaphors to Promote Creativity

by Larry Raymond on Nov 8, 2012 • Comments Closed •

It’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. That may be true. But a metaphor is worth a thousand pictures. Using metaphors in business might be a relatively new concept to some people, but it’s been in large businesses, international agencies and governments since 1988, with a track record of success. One of the biggest benefits of using metaphors is that metaphors promote creativity. Just take a moment to imagine your typical meeting. You want to roll out a new project and your team is working to foresee problems and implement solutions to solve them. In addition, they need to find opportunities to engage other employees, or customers, or clients and help them manage the change in an effective and least problematic way. There might be notepads in your meeting, there’s probably a white board or a computer screen projection writing down ideas. You might have 1/2 the team working productively throwing out ideas. The ideas may be organized neatly, or you may find yourself having to re-explain what the idea was or the intention. You come away from the meeting feeling somewhat defeated, hoping to have accomplished more in your meeting than what was done. You schedule [...] Read More

Metaphors for creativity and clarifying roles in a successful start-up company

by Larry Raymond on Nov 1, 2012 • Comments Closed •

A start up is a company that intends to grow quickly. There’s no map for growth, and one of the common pitfalls of this typical acceleration towards success is a loss of identity among the leaders in the organization. Facilitating growth in a company begins with adopting a culture of creativity among the thought leaders in the organization. Once you’ve recruited the right people to propel your company to your next benchmark, you need to implement a set of values that everyone agrees on. It becomes necessary to have a series of conversations about who will fill which role in the company. Confusion in this particular area is common. It’s also deadly. If you understand that patience is required to achieve your company’s goals, you may find yourself in a situation that many start ups face during their otherwise successful first years. No one knows who is supposed to be doing the next important thing. Company culture that facilitates creativity is vital to the entity that is the fragile, mysterious, amazing start up. Don’t let it be damaged by your team’s confusion about what their individual roles are within the framework of growth. It’s hard to read the label when you are [...] Read More

Change Management Made Easy

by Larry Raymond on Oct 26, 2012 • Comments Closed •

In this ever-changing economy, businesses often find themselves in a constant state of flux. This often leaves employees in a lurch either rushing to adapt or refusing to change. Change management is a hard thing for any individual to swallow. Getting an entire company on the same page progressing towards any modification can be a daunting task. Lionel Wijesiri in a recent article shared some advice from Erika Andersen, a Management Consultant and Author: Identify the problem clearly and convey the problemun ambiguously. If the predicament is unclear, arguments may arise over what needs to be changed. To communicate adequately, call a strategic planning meeting for all your key employees. At the beginning of the meeting, state exactly what the dilemma is. For example, if sales have decreased for your product or service, is it due to poor customer service, a change in marketing strategy, or a manufacturing error? Once the issue is identified and all parties involved understand what area needs focus. Educate everyone on the history of the problem. When did it begin? How many times did it happen? Perhaps the problem has only happened once or twice. On the other hand, if it is an issue that [...] Read More

Group Mind Mapping

by Larry Raymond on Sep 12, 2012 • Comments Closed •

Metaphor Mapping for Group Mind Mapping The logical connections you make when developing a mind map help you organize your thoughts and clarify your situation or plan. When you try to achieve the same clarity and insights with groups, the conventional techniques from Mind Mapping fall short. Their lines and text work on paper or PC but they don’t ensure cross-function or cross-culture communication, don’t stimulate intuition, draw people into conversation or develop teamwork. Your group will become more than the sum of its members if you bring in visuals to promote spontaneity, symbols to bring instant meaning and metaphors to provide a syntax for the big picture discussion and promote creativity. Taken together, you can achieve real teamwork and commitment to shared goals. This is what Metaphor Mapping does for you. Its four metaphors take your group along a path to think out its strategy, develop a plan, assign roles and responsibilities and deal with any problems of attitude or mindset. The team can always take home digital images of their maps, tweak them and communicate with them throughout their project. Check out the Metaphor Mapping site to learn how it works! Read More

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