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As team members explore their metaphors for the team, their work or any shared goal, they start to relate to each other in a different way. There’s a new sense of what it is like for the other members. There are often knock-on benefits outside the team too, as team members take their awareness of metaphor and Clean into other work situations and beyond. Wendy Sullivan worked with a virtual team to help them improve how they worked together. Everyone was asked what they would like to have happen regarding how the team worked. One said he wanted them to be like a formula one pit crew team. Someone else wanted it to be like setting sail for distant shores. Needless to say, these two people had been having a hard time working together! The other team member’s metaphors were all different and equally revealing.
As each team member was facilitated by others to develop their metaphor, there were nods and smiles as the team realised they had seen individuals ‘living’ their metaphors from day to day. For example, the ‘Formula One’ person’s meetings had no breaks for lunch or tea. People were expected to keep working and concentrating as long as there was work to do. He spoke fast, frequently losing team members who couldn’t grasp concepts flashing past at high speed.
During that meeting, people started changing their communication so their response to an individual was given within the logic and spirit of the metaphor of that individual. For example, when talking to the ‘Formula One’ person: “If we take this new tightly-targeted approach, we’d get it done much faster and we’d beat the other divisions by miles. We’d have to do meticulous planning before we start, and have a practice run.” This helped members to feel understood. They were also more understanding of how and why others responded differently to situations affecting the team.
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