Theme Park Rides & Exercise: Exploring 18 Metaphors for Organizational Change
Metaphors shape our perceptions as well as our behaviours. They are comparative approximations that can both reveal and conceal things about our organizations. They are a useful shorthand to communicate one’s perspective about organizational change. But, like any shorthand, metaphors achieve this at the cost of oversimplification. They can be liberating, in terms of revealing what’s possible, but they can also be limiting.
Metaphors can help others in an organization see things in a similar way, and it is the change leader’s hope that they help unify collective action towards a desired goal. If we all have a shared perspective of what we are trying to do that should guide our individual decision making and help us realize our goal. We should remember, however, that a slice of lemmings also appears unified even as it makes its way towards the cliff’s edge. Then again, the metaphor of lemmings hurling themselves off a cliff is also faulty and not entirely accurate, but we cling to it since it seems to capture some deep truth about human nature.
As with models, all metaphors are wrong, some are useful.
Below are eighteen metaphors about organizational change that my Every Little Model podcast co-host, Tricia, and I have collected and curated. It is hardly an exhaustive list, but we think it a useful one for change agents as they reflect on their respective change journeys.
Water (Ice)
Change is like water when it becomes ice. To change something, you need to unfreeze it (e.g., the process, system, behaviours, ways of working, etc.), change it, and then refreeze it in order to sustain the changes.
What’s revealed: The need to acknowledge, “thaw”, loosen or otherwise make malleable current ways of working and operating in order to replace them with (ideally) better methods.
What’s concealed: It may not be an appropriate metaphor to use when the challenge the organization faces is one of agility in the face of continual adaptation.
Water (River)
Change is like a river. It is constantly in motion, and there are things (e.g., input processes, stakeholders, suppliers, etc.) upstream of where you are and things (e.g., output processes, stakeholders, customers, etc.) downstream of where you are.
What’s revealed: The phenomenon of continual flow and connectedness across time and space.
What’s concealed: By suggesting that the river’s flow “is what it is” and that we must simply adjust to what is streaming our way, the metaphor may be limiting in the sense that it downplays the ability of change agents to alter the flow of the body of water, for good or ill.
Water (Ocean)
Change is like the ocean. There are things near the surface which are visible to the eye (e.g., performance, trends, errors, defects, etc.) and things that are less visible that lie deeper below the surface (e.g., processes, systems, behaviours, beliefs, mental models, structures, etc.).
What’s revealed: The metaphor challenges us to look deeper at the underlying drivers of organizational change that require the focus of change agents, whether as root causes or as elements of a wider system at play.
What’s concealed: By shifting the focus below the water line this metaphor runs the risk of distracting change agents from very real challenges that exist on the surface that are plainly visible.
Journey (Planned)
Change is like a journey, one that can be planned out with near certainty in advance. There is an ultimate destination with stops and waypoints along the way where people can get on (or off). Furthermore, like a river, the journey only moves in one direction.
What’s revealed: For well-travelled change journeys, a clear “route map” can be very helpful to those navigating the change. It can also show that there are indeed options to combine routes and journeys such that there is flexibility in how the change plays out.
What’s concealed: There may be insights, opportunities, or other value to be found outside of the prescribed map. Furthermore, while maps of planned journeys might be useful, they are often simplified concepts of something more complicated (see this geographically accurate map of the London Underground). And much like a transportation system map, it won’t account for delays or other travel mishaps.
Journey (Expedition)
Change is like an expedition. It is centred around a bold objective (e.g., climbing a mountain, transforming a business, embarking on a new strategy) with a detailed plan for how to get there. It is anticipated that there will be unexpected challenges and barriers encountered along the way, however.
What’s revealed: While centred on a bold objective, this metaphor also calls attention to the approach (e.g, acquiring capabilities, preparing base camp, planning the ascent), the need to adapt to changing conditions, as well as planning for the descent and return. It also calls attention to the likely need for people with local knowledge of the terrain who can help guide the expedition.
What’s concealed: This metaphor assumes a well-defined and understood objective on which to focus the change effort. It may not be very useful when the objective and the surrounding terrain are not fully understood. The metaphor also assumes the objective (i.e., the peak) is viewed as a desirable thing to pursue.
Journey (Discovery)
Change is a journey of discovery. We are in search of something (e.g., an innovative product, a new customer segment) and will learn more about our objective the more that we explore the terrain. We make the path by walking it, as saying goes.
What’s revealed: This metaphor complements the previous one in that it focuses on developing that local knowledge of the terrain so that it can be traversed successfully. It taps into curiosity and a desire to learn more.
What’s concealed: The metaphor may ignore the fact that much of the organizational terrain to be explored is actually already well known by people who live there every day. The organizational challenge may be one of surfacing and synthesizing existing knowledge than one of having to discovery new knowledge.
Binary (On/Off)
Change is like turning something on or off in that our change program will have a “go live” date (e.g., “Now Open!”, first production, software release, opening night, etc.).
What’s revealed: This metaphor helps maintain a focus on when the major change occurs at a point in time. One day version 2.3 of our product is not in the hands of customers, the next day it is. It also helps sharpen the mind around what is meant by being “done” with some aspect of change.
What’s concealed: The focus on the moment the switch is flipped (or thrown) can overshadow very real concerns about what comes after. Ongoing operations, maintenance, support and continuous improvement run the risk of sitting in this shadow.
Binary (A→B)
Change is like moving from Point A to Point B (e.g., the current organizational structure to a new structure, a current way of working or interacting to a new one, etc.).
What’s revealed: This metaphor usefully captures the phase transition and points out the differences between two organizational states, one that is being moved away from and one that change agents are working towards.
What’s concealed: The metaphor focuses almost exclusively on what is new, different and better. It doesn’t always lend itself to highlighting what is preserved, what might be lost, and what might no longer work well in the future.
Evolution (v1.0, 2.0, …)
Change is evolutionary and emergent. It might be an intentional journey with a multi-year roadmap (e.g., product development) or one that is more discovery-based (e.g., experiment-driven development).
What’s revealed: Much like the “river” metaphor, this one suggests that organizational change is ongoing and we always find ourselves in the middle of change (from some vantage point or another). It also calls attention to the emergent and adaptive qualities of organizational development.
What’s concealed: There is always the risk that emergence over time gives the impression that change emerges spontaneously when, in fact, it can also emerge intentionally. It also risks suggesting an evolutionary timeline that is too long to interest certain stakeholders who are more concerned with immediate-term change.
Activity (Game)
Change is like a game. It’s about learning the rules and how to play by them as well as tactics and strategies to deploy in order to win. It’s also like trying to solve a puzzle (for which there is an answer).
What’s revealed: This metaphor brings to the foreground game-like variables such as rules, pieces, moves, tactics, and strategies that will be useful for teams leading change. It also prompts the question: “How do we win?”
What’s concealed: The metaphor may be less useful in situations where rules are unclear, in flux, or even nonexistent. It may also shift the focus away from win-win solutions, lending itself instead to the pursuit of zero-sum outcomes.
Activity (Exercise)
Change is like exercise. It’s about building organizational capability, strength, and resilience. It requires repetition and setting stretch goals in order to build fitness over time.
What’s revealed: This metaphor reminds us that building the organizational capability to change and to sustain and continually adapt into the future requires deliberate and reflective practice.
What’s concealed: In adopting this metaphor there is always the risk that building skills and capability becomes an end itself, disconnected from tangible outcomes and improved results.
Activity (Theme Park Ride)
Change is like a theme park ride. It is experiential and (hopefully) exciting, although many people will approach the change with fear and trepidation. It will have ups and downs, but will eventually come to an end where people will want to “do it again!”
What’s revealed: This metaphor, like others, reminds us that change is nonlinear and will involve both physical and emotional highs and lows. It also reminds us to consider how people approach and experience change, and how they reflect on that experience having come to the end of it.
What’s concealed: Unfortunately, not all change lends itself to the experience of a “fun” theme park ride, particularly organizational restructuring and workforce reduction — some people aren’t admitted to “the ride” and others don’t get to complete it. Furthermore, the “ups and downs”, while anticipated, may not occur in the same time and place for everyone.
Sports (Competition)
Change is like a sports competition, whether a tournament or a league. It’s about beating the competition and coming out on top. It’s about having a clear definition of what success looks like and how to navigate towards it over time. Ongoing competition will result in adaptation and innovation.
What’s revealed: This metaphor shares some aspects with seeing organizational change as a game, except that it shifts the imagery towards sports and a series of games (or matches) to be played over a set time period. It allows us to think in terms of seasons, ranking (or league positions), and line-ups, the nature of which will change over time.
What’s concealed: As with the game metaphor (and others), this one can locks us into thinking competitively and prevent us from focusing on cooperation and the search for win-win outcomes.
Sports (Team vs. Team)
Change is like playing against a specific team. You need to build a sense of common purpose and play to one another’s strengths. You also need an opposing team against which to play.
What’s revealed: This metaphor complements the previous one and sharpens the focus on the players, the playbook and the opponent in question. It helps us look to an adjacent context (sports) to look for inspiration and applications for how people can work together to achieve an outcome (a “win”).
What’s concealed: As with the game metaphor, there is a risk that the focus on competition distracts us from looking for areas of cooperation. Additionally, this metaphor assumes that the “other team” also sees this (and you) as part of a competition with clearly defined and agreed rules. That may not be a safe assumption.
Sports (Personal Record)
Change is about becoming better than we were before. It is about beating our prior records and benchmarks. If we are competing, we are doing so against ourselves.
What’s revealed: This metaphor retains the aspect of competition, but it’s no longer against someone else or another group. It asks us, “How good could you be?” without having to find some other entity to “beat”. It allows those who might be at the top of their game to find intrinsic motivation to improve even further.
What’s concealed: The main constraint with this metaphor is that it assumes that the “game” being played is the right one and that performance in that context is all that matters. Still, this can be one of the more open-ended metaphors with the answers to “How good could you be?” potentially leading in all sorts of innovative and creative directions (e.g., “What do we mean by good?”, “Are we thinking about how we perform in the right way?”), including swapping this metaphor out for another.
Installation (Building Blocks)
Change is about putting elements in place, whether they are standards, practices, capabilities, behaviours, systems, etc.
What’s revealed: The building block metaphor prompts us to deconstruct the change effort into component pieces so that we can see what already exists and what is missing. This usually leads to the development and deployment of “models of excellence” or “best practice” (often in the shape of a pyramid or roundel).
What’s concealed: Weaknesses often follow directly from strengths and that is the case with this metaphor. These static elements, or building blocks, treat organizational practices and ways of working as static and disembodied “things”, as opposed to phenomena brought to life by people and through dynamic and systemic interactions.
Installation (Footprint)
Change is about building out an installation footprint. We start with a prototype, then a pilot, and then we begin to scale from there.
What’s revealed: Seeing change as the building out of an installed footprint allows us to recognize that what we are working on now will be replicated elsewhere in the future and that we ought to design for that before we even start. It also prompts us to think about how to improve an installed model or design when we have the opportunity to next deploy it.
What’s concealed: While useful for change efforts that have a physical or even virtual quality (e.g., a new facility, a new operating platform), it may be limiting for intangible changes where it is difficult to go and see the installed change in action (e.g., a cultural or interpersonal change effort that is being scaled across the enterprise).
Social Change (Movement)
Change is like creating a social movement. It’s about mobilizing people towards a worthy and compelling goal or vision of the future. It relies on tapping into people’s internal, or intrinsic, motivation to get involved, propel and spread the movement.
What’s revealed: The metaphor causes us to think about the change as tapping into deep and intrinsic motives for people who find themselves treating the change almost as a cause to be championed. As such, we begin to appreciate how the change effort might take on a decentralized and almost uncontrolled character as local change agents “carry the torch” in their parts of the organization and elsewhere.
What’s concealed: One of the limitations of this metaphor is that it can represent wishful thinking on the part of those leading the change. We might expect the change to take on the fervour of a social movement and be surprised when we learn that people were simply fulfilling what they thought were the expectations for their job or the directions of their team leaders.
Once again, this is not meant to be an exhaustive list. We tried to focus on metaphors for the change process itself, as opposed to how organizations are structured and operate. It does, however, seek to build on earlier work in the field (see, for example, Gareth Morgan’s classic study, Images of Organization, Ralph Metzner’s The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience and Kim Hermanson’s 11 Universal Metaphors for Change). We anticipate that the organizing framework and the metaphors themselves will likely undergo substantial development in the future.
Still, to use one of the metaphors we explored, the On/Off binary, we think it is better to ship something now and “go live” with the framework as a work in progress such that others might help sharpen the thinking and share experiences of applying it in practice.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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