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LEADERSHIP METAPHOR EXPLORER
Creative Conversations for Better Leadership
Facilitator’s Guide
Charles J. Palus and David Magellan Horth
Center for Creative Leadership
CCL Stock No. PM004B
ISBN 978-1-60491-142-8
©2012 Center for Creative Leadership
Published by Center for Creative Leadership
Sylvester Taylor, Director of Assessments, Tools, and Publications
Peter Scisco, Manager, Publication Development
Kelly Lombardino, Manager, Global Publication Dissemination and Licensing
Stephen Rush, Editor
Karen Lewis, Editor
Layout by Joanne Ferguson
Acknowledgments
Many colleagues have contributed to the development of Leadership Metaphor Explorer as it has moved from an idea through several prototypes. Many thanks to Rich Hughes, André Martin, Steadman Harrison, Lyndon Rego, Bruce Flye, Greg Laskow, Clemson Turregano, Bill Adams, Jim Myracle, Tom Hickok, TZiPi Radonsky, Marie van Vuuren, Sarah Miller, Joel Wright, John McGuire, Gary Rhodes, Bill Pasmore, Diane Reinhold, Michelle Crouch, Barak Karabin, and Hamish Taylor.
Quick Guide
Leadership Metaphor Explorer enables creative, insightful conversations in and among groups of people about three topics: the kinds of leadership those groups presently have or practice, the kinds of leadership they need in the future, and how to develop those required forms of leadership—personally as one’s own leadership style and collectively as a shared leadership culture.
Leadership Metaphor Explorer is a tool rather than a scripted exercise, and CCL recommends practicing first with just yourself and one other person. Each of the 83 cards illustrates a metaphor showing one of the ways people think about leadership.
The following is a typical way to use the tool, requiring roughly 30 to 90 minutes.
Prepare: Think about the purpose of the session. Get the right people in the room. Gather people together in small groups of no more than eight and no fewer than two. Your session could occur during a regular group meeting, coaching session, program, class, retreat, and so on.
Frame: Ask the group to think about its big challenge (using its own words) and the kinds of leadership required to meet the challenge. There are many possible themes related to groups, leadership, culture, vision, strategy, beliefs, behaviors, boundaries, and so on. Spend some time in advance thinking about how best to frame this conversation for this group of people.
Browse: You can spread out a single deck for everyone in the group to see, or you can give each person in the group a deck to choose from. Each person chooses two cards, one for each framing question. The cards people choose represent their responses or answers to the questions. Typical framing questions include the following:
• Card #1: What is leadership typically like now in our organization as we face this challenge? (What is our leadership culture?)
• Card #2: What will leadership need to be like in the future to resolve this challenge? (What kind of leadership culture will we need?)
Reflect and Converse: Ask members of the group to discuss the cards they selected. Typical reflection questions the group members might use with one another include the following:
• Why did you choose each card? What does the metaphor mean to you?
• How are your cards similar to or different from my cards? Why?
• How do you interpret this card that I picked? What does it mean to you? What else could it mean?
• What patterns do we see across all the cards we chose? How do we interpret those patterns?
• What do I or we need to stop doing? Start doing? Continue?
Extend: Continue and deepen the conversation, if possible. Compare notes with groups having similar conversations. Begin to plan the leadership development that will be required for the future state. Preserve the cards (or digital photos of the cards) online and in digital reports, along with descriptive text, photos, and action plans from the conversations.
Contents
What Is Leadership Metaphor Explorer?
What Does Leadership Metaphor Explorer Do?
Using Leadership Metaphor Explorer
How Does Leadership Metaphor Explorer Work?
How Does Leadership Metaphor Explorer Address Leadership Types?
When Should Leadership Metaphor Explorer Be Used?
Why Should Leadership Metaphor Explorer Be Used?
Who Can Conduct a Leadership Metaphor Explorer Session?
Preparing for a Leadership Metaphor Explorer Session
Creating Effective Framing Questions
