Using Metaphors for Problem Solving
The following page on using metaphors for problem solving
is an excerpt from a chapter in the e-book "Problem Solving
Power." You can download it right now for a very reasonable
price. Use the link here to get more information... Problem
Solving Book.
Metaphors are powerful tools for understanding things. "Tools,"
of course, is a metaphor. I could have said "way of understanding
things," or "method." Each word or expression
conveys a slightly different meaning, and gets you thinking in
different ways. Use this power of metaphors to solve problems
more creatively.
If you're an "employee," you'll think about your
job in a certain way. An "associate," might feel more
important and think differently about his duties. If you're a
"business," selling your labor, then your "boss"
becomes just a "customer." You can raise your prices,
change your service, or look for other customers to contract
with.
The Problem Solving Power of Metaphors
Use a particular metaphor to solve a problem, and you'll get
some ideas. Use another, and you'll get different ideas. Why
not use as many as you can think of, to get the widest, most
creative selection of ideas?
An example:
Mike wants to design, build and sell a new type of swimming
pool. He starts with his pen and paper, and writes down as many
metaphors as he can:
A swimming pool is a toy.
A pool is a status symbol.
A pool is a playground.
It is a park. It's a job.
It's entertainment.
It's an aquatic gym.
It's a decoration.
It's a deathtrap.
It's a personal lake.
It's an oasis.
Then he lists some metaphors for the
activity of swimming:
Swimming is exercising.
It's vacationing.
It's playing.
It's therapy.
Then he lists some metaphors for selling.
Selling is a business.
It is teaching.
It's showing.
It's a contest.
It's talking.
It's advertising.
It's sharing.
Finally, Mike works with each metaphor,
to see what ideas they produce:
As a "toy," pools for kids come to mind. As a "status
symbol," Mike considers brass railings, liquor bars and
other ways to make a pool seem "rich." "Deathtrap"
reminds him to make it safe, and he imagines an alarm system
triggered if a child enters the pool without supervision. "Oasis"
gives him ideas for creating a tropical environment as part of
the pool.
Swimming as "exercising" has him thinking of pools
with a current. "Vacationing" Makes him wonder if more
visual separation from the house would make the swimming "vacation"
more relaxing. "Therapy" gives him some marketing ideas
for older customers.
Selling the pools is a business, of course, but "teaching"
has Mike thinking of ways to educate customers about the benefits
of swimming. "Talking" makes him ask "Who will
do the talking?" and leads to the idea of distributing videos
to sell his pools. "Showing" generates several ideas
for ways to display his pools, like free "pool parties"
during summer.
As you can see, the application of new metaphors isn't limited
to the original concept. It can be used on any part of the problem
as well. Break a problem into a few components (the pool, swimming
and selling, in the above example), find as many metaphors as
you can for each, and note the ideas you get when using each.
You can never solve a problem on the level on which it
was created. - Albert Einstein
|
