exercise · all tools
Creating New Metaphors
Depth · what it can open●○○○1 — informational
Holding · facilitation2 — facilitator
Trust · group readiness★any
Disclosure · what is sharednone
Groups examine the entrenched metaphors framing a complex issue (war on drugs, race to the top, footprint) and invent new metaphors that open different perspectives and options — testing how much of what seems like reality is furniture the old metaphor put there.
Practical
- Time
- 60-90 min
- Group
- 2–40 · pairs, small-group
- Settings
- in-person, online
- Materials
- Examples of entrenched metaphors; paper
- Mechanisms
- cognitive-reframing, creative-expression
- Change scope
- state → skill · repeatable
Instructions
- Where
- transitionmakers.nl/tool/creating-new-metaphors — Transition Makers Toolbox, open
- Availability
- Open online — published at the link, free to read
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0 per the Transition Makers footer; its badge links CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — variant unresolved, see source record
Source link checked 29 Aug 2026 — unchanged since we recorded it on 28 Aug 2026
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Dan Lockton, Devika Singh, Saloni Sabnis & Michelle Chou — Imaginaries Lab, New Metaphors (2019); adapted by Transition Makers Toolbox (IIS UvA) — Cognitive linguistics applied to change work
In this directory via Transition Makers Toolbox
status: checked · added 2026-08-25