Part One: The Metaphoric Method
Giving shape to a way of asking questions, seeking insight and shared understanding
I hope to develop this over time—feels like it could become a series of essays or a book. I think there’s something to it.
As I develop story-sense while communicating my professional path, I often reflect on, “how did I do all that?” From associative memory recall wirings, being present in the exciting sponginess of learning, and the blurriness that comes with Time—the introspection takes time.
My professional journey has been an exercise in consistent iteration of methods & approaches to communication, collaboration, and co-creation.
It’s resulted in some Rules that have helped in working with Others.
No sports metaphors
This one I learned early on.
In an international working-sense, you can’t rely on localized cultural artifacts that no one in your team or group may be able to reference (or draw reference from).
“The ball’s in their court.”
“Knocked it out of the park.”
“Par for the course.”
Can you name each of the sports these are about? One’s Scottish, one’s American, and one’s origins are unknown. Most are American-isms though.
When you’re working with others professionally, there’s absolutely no guarantee the metaphoric-receiver understands what’s being said. When you do you use this sort of language, it excludes those not in the know.
That doesn’t mean what you think it means
One of Booking.com’s early CEO’s—Kees Koolen—wrote twelve ingredients in the company’s formula for success. One of my favorites was “milking the cow everyday.”
From his own origin-story, growing up on a Dutch farm, it was a fact of life. No matter how you felt, or what the weather was, you had to go milk the cows. If a dairy cow isn’t milked, there can be discomfort and health problems for the cow. Then, you also are using it as a home staple, sellable resource, etc.
The point: sometimes things just need to get done, regardless.
As we onboarded thousands of new people in Tech, the metaphor began to be lost in translation. People coming from all over the world didn’t have the relevant reference points to truly understand what that ingredient meant.
It was misinterpreted. Badly.
“I’m going to milk it for all its worth”
“Turning that cheese into gold”
The capitalism hurt my ears—it was such a good metaphor before.
This was the beginning of my Metaphoric Method
I think non-linearly and systemically, building associative connections that ultimately become focused mental models giving context to the work.
When managing and working with people 30-years my senior, I couldn’t tell people what to do. I couldn’t do the work they did, neither did I have wisdom through careers of experience. It was at one of my beginnings.
I had to ask questions.
Lots of questions.
If someone started to use a metaphor in their descriptions I’d latch onto it:
How far can we take this metaphor?
What would that reveal to us?
Gaps? Opportunities?
Different approaches?
What if we go “smaller” and more specific?
What if we go “bigger,” looking at the systems where it is a thing?
The larger the range of scope, the better I could understand and communicate to others.
To be continued…