mental models
metaphor and problem-solving
When trying to solve complex problems, logical, linear thinking can be limiting and often lead to dead ends. Analytical, rational thinking can restrict us to what we know, to familiar sequences and solutions.
Dealing with complexity often requires analogical thinking, which involves trying to make sense of things by referring to others.
A metaphor represents an object in terms of another, as when you compare a negotiation to a game of chess, to a sport, or to war.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one"
- Albert Einstein
Metaphors make the unfamiliar familiar, summarise observations, represent related ideas, and make them easy to recall and share.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter uses a kaleidoscope as a metaphor to explain how creativity and innovation are all about recombining things you already have; the fragments are already there and only require a gentle shake to get them to form a different pattern.
Metaphors are powerful tools for enabling people to adopt different perspectives of a complex situation, for allowing people to find common ground, and for creating shared visions.
However, our subconscious thought processes are analogical and make reference to metaphors which are so deeply entrenched that one forgets they are metaphors and not reality. An example of this is describing organisations as having a top and a bottom, or running like machines.
Therefore much of the Innovation BoosterTM process involves uncovering and challenging entrenched metaphors, and creating new, shared images of possibilities.
We can help our minds make new connections and find new metaphors by learning to exploit our subconscious and analogical thought processes more systematically.
One metaphor for the unconscious is as a Random Idea Generator - a "boiling soup" of ideas which collide together to make novel patterns.
Normally new patterns are censored as being too strange, so they do not enter our conscious mind. We can become more creative by weakening the censor. There are two ways to do this:
- First, we can feed our R.I.G. with information to stimulate it. This increases the number of combinations and associations the R.I.G. can make. This means being open to experiences that one might normally reject.
- Secondly, always say "thank you" to your censor when you come up with a new idea, and always do something with the new idea: share it, make it happen, write it down. Your R.I.G. needs encouragement.
In the Innovation BoosterTM process we use a wide variety of techniques to weaken the censor, and faithfully record every idea, observation and reflection that emerges.
