Metaphors

Most of us think in metaphors, other things we know that are in some ways ‘like’ the thing we’re trying to understand. The more things that are similar between our chosen item and the body of knowledge about our metaphor, the more useful the metaphor is likely to be. For organisational issues, biological or life science metaphors appear to be the most generally use­ful because they allow self-directed action, growth and survival to be easily incorporated. The machine metaphor which has been in use since the industrial revolution, is rapidly losing its relevance and utility. Machines can’t adapt, or grow, or reprogram themselves, or reproduce or engage in a whole host of activities that are carried out routinely within organisations.

Learning management has been likened to learning to fly. While this idea sounds attractive, the weakness is that a pilot knows s/he’s flying a plane that can fly. Managers too often have organisations that can’t ‘fly’. They are not structured for success, instead they have internal impediments which often act to prevent success. To overcome these you need to understand how to functionally structure a group. You also need an understanding of organisa­tional dynamics so that you have a workable model to test new ideas against and so that you know where to apply effort to best advantage.

You need a knowledge of planning to help you take control of the present and move towards a better future. You need to understand a little about how people think so that you can help them past any problems that they have. You need to know how to relate to others on the inter-personal level. You need to be able to work out what’s impor­tant and what isn’t. You need to develop the power to act on your ideas. You need to know how to pick useful performance measures to evaluate progress and you need a clear idea of why you are doing all of these things!

One of the weaknesses in western thinking is our apparent belief in a black and white world with all or nothing, for us or against us types of choices. But the world is not divided into con­venient categories in the way that our language tends to describe. Instead, black and white are extremes of grey, there is a lot of something between all and nothing and there exist huge num­bers of people who are neither for nor against, they are indifferent. On reading the ToolKit, please allow that there can be a huge range of alternatives for any position. Our language and reasoning patterns may have masked them, but they are there nonetheless.