Exploring metaphor use and its
insight into sense making with
executive coaching clients
Nigel Emson
14 January 2016
Outline of the presentation
• Literature
• Research paradigm
• Methodology
• Findings
• Implications for research
• Implications for coaching
• Conclusion
• References
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Why / research problem
• The difficulty coaches face in relating to and understanding how clients
perceive and interpret situations is that the process for clients making
sense of situations is unconscious.
• This presents a challenge, as there isn’t a direct or obvious route to access
a client’s unconscious. Understanding clients’ use of metaphor offers a
potential route to access this unconscious process and insight into clients’
sense making.
• This research therefore seeks to explore the use of metaphor by executive
coaching clients and the potential insight this can offer into individual
sense making. It is postulated that, because the process of metaphor use
accesses the unconscious it has a better chance of producing a deeper,
richer connection between the coach and the client.
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Literature
What is metaphor?
• ‘Understanding one thing in terms of another’ (Lakoff & Johnson 1980)
• Whole conceptual system in terms of how we think and act may be
fundamentally metaphoric in nature (Lakoff & Johnson 1980)
• Contemporary Metaphor Theory – everyday thought uses metaphor
Metaphor in coaching existing literature
• Robinson’s (2010) literary techniques
• deHaan’s (2010) critical moments
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Literature
Why metaphor resonates.
• Kozak (1992) describes working with
metaphor as ‘the process of making
conscious the fundamental and
embodied nature of imagination’.
• Mind and metaphors are embodied
(Siegelman 1990)
• ‘Gesture in words‘ (Kopp 1995)
• Organisational learning : Describing
and proscribing
IN
THE MIDDLE OF
THE JOURNEY OF
OUR LIFE I CAME TO
MYSELF WITHIN A
DARK
WOOD
WHERE
THE
STRAIGHT
WAY
WAS LOST
Limited connection between the realms of metaphor use and the absence
of a practical model for coaches to explore metaphor with clients.
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Research Paradigm
Philosophically, critical realism attempts to transcend Descartes’ ineluctable ‘either/or’
dichotomy between realism/positivism and relativism/idealism (Duberley & Johnson 2000).
Critical realism assumes social reality operates
at three levels: (Fleetwood 2013)
• the empirical level of perceptual experience
• the actual level of the events and processes
• deep level relating to the structures and
mechanisms generating events and effecting
experience
The first two levels naturally
correspond well with metaphor
and the third deep level often
operating out of awareness also
accords well with the
exploration of insight into
meaning making.
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Methodology
• I used thematic analysis to combine the idiographic use of metaphor and
to reflect the nomothetic perspectives across the population
• Recognising that research doesn’t exist in an epistemological vacuum, I
used a hybrid approach (Fereday & Muir Cochrane 2006), of inductive and
deductive thematic analysis, combining a priori template driven codes
(King 2012) with data driven codes (Braun & Clarke 2006)
• There were eight participants, one female, seven male, in an age range of
40 – 60, who hold or have held leadership positions in organisations.
• Semi structured interviews of approximately 60 minutes describing
participants career and its critical moments.
Reflexivity: a coach interested in metaphor who is also an executive leader!
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Findings & Analysis
Interview Number 1:
I’ve never seen the world like that [metaphor] or when it comes to talking to
and managing my own team, spoken to them in the world like that. Similarly,
if I’m doing any coaching with somebody, I don’t tend to do it like that.
Data Analysis
Framework:
Metaphor Codes
Sense Making
Themes
Conceptual
Framework
Interpersonal
Communication
Reflection &
Reflexivity
Understanding &
Influencing
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Interpersonal Communication
Revealing aspects of character and
values from explicit metaphors:
• Insight & clues into character
• Values inform sense making
Revealing aspects of character and
values from implicit metaphors:
• Contemporary Metaphors
• Defences & Embodiment found it
John
Jason
Alan
Tony
Chris
Andy
“So, I’d probably describe my career as an
adventure … I get a picture of Livingstone
carving his way through Africa and
sometimes it is a more fun way to think
about things in the picture as more
cartoony……it’s like Dora the Explorer and
therefore feels less serious”
External Unconscious
Journeys
Fun
Options
Emotion
Galvanise
Fine margins, calibration, boundaries
“Maybe there is a
mask thing, because
I used to be very
comfortable with
fancy dress.”
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Reflection & Reflexivity
Crystallising
Learning
& Understanding
other perspectives
…the metaphor I used did help me make sense of a situation, it
helped me to influence the behaviours I used or the tactics I had.
…that’s why probably I will make an effort to and have tried
consciously at some stages, and probably do subconsciously in
others, to understand what is motivating the other person.
Two ways individuals use metaphor (Marshak et al 2000)
i. Consciously to express experience
ii. Unconsciously to interpret experience
Manage & Rationalise Expectations:
Personal Image:
… if Livingston hit Victoria Falls, he is
suddenly going to go, “(####!), I can’t go
that way”
So, like a platypus. There are lots of different
parts and none of them seem to fit together,
but yet when you put them together, it seems
to work”, lots of different parts that are all
different expressions of the same me.
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Influencing
Communicating Intent:
The speaker at this event could have
alternatively said, “We need to remember
what we are good at, empower our
people and have pace”. Though I strongly
doubt that the impact and lasting effect of
doing so would have been comparable to
the use of these images.
Influencing Expectations:
I consider careers to be a biorhythm, a
bit like riding on a roller coaster. ….
sometimes you will feel that you are
right at the top of the curve……. then
you’ll go on the downwards slope and
then you’ll think I’m not getting
rewarded and recognised …….. the
interesting thing is, over the course of a
long career, what you’ll find is that the
ups will even themselves out with the
downs.
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Understanding
Coaches:
How do you feel about this?
Skilfully not asking the obvious
question
Imagery & hooks can explain the
intangible in a familiar way
‘An infestation of Muppets’
Assisting understanding of change
Changing culture
Understanding Complexity
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Conceptual Framework
Using metaphor to
conceptualise thoughts
Crystallising thoughts
Similes and examples
Using metaphor to understand
the felt experience of emotions
Embodied with energy
Emotional connection
Using metaphor to represent
internal values
Values, boundaries and
I don’t recall the world in prosaic passages of
prose, I recall my world in pictures, in images, in
intuitive and emotive patterns. So, to convey
what those emotive patterns were like to another
soul, I use imagery to enrich the description.
It was a bucket of ice-cold
water, on a hot day or
something to make you go,
“Ooh!” It was good. In fact,
I’ve got goose bumps now.
I think an individual’s moral
compass is so, so important
in business - in terms of
values and also work ethic.
Guiding principles
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CONCIOUS
UNCONCIOUS
Proposed synthesis of metaphor use
for sense making
INTERNAL
EXTERNAL
Conceptual Framework
Interpersonal Communication
Using metaphor in individual sense
making of experiences
Using metaphor as part of natural speech
to help others to understand
Using metaphor to understand one’s felt
experience of emotions
Using metaphor as a natural part of speech
to connect & express emotion (a gesture in
words)
Reflection & Reflexivity
Understanding and Influence
Deliberate exploration of metaphor to make
sense of own experience ‘searching for a
personal metaphor’
Deliberate selection and use of metaphor
to aid other’s understanding
Deliberate use of metaphor including
images to transform oneself
Deliberate selection and use of metaphor
to influence other’s thinking and behaviour
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Metaphor and sense making : A framework
Metaphor use in the
four conceptual;
areas of sense
making
Piecing it together
How participants
might be using
metaphor in their
conceptual
framework of sense
making
External
Unconscious
John
Jason
Internal
Reflection
External
Influencing
Internal
Unconscious
Journeys,
detailed
nuances,
positioning
Exploring
options and
choices
humour, guiding,
reframing
Emotional connect,
understanding other
perspectives
Fun journeys,
difference
Paradoxes,
exploring
emotions
Risks, change
dynamics, share
experience
Structuring thoughts,
how life ought to be,
encouraging
development by risk
Principal way of using
metaphor for sense making
suggested in the interviews
Other ways also of sense making
suggested in the interviews
John
To conceptualise situations and to
understand people
To explore options, tactics and to learn
from the situation and the metaphor.
Jason
To share experience and to connect Exploring emotions as an emotional
with others
thinker ‘puddle‘ example. Ordering of
thoughts. Rationalisation of potential
frustration about what’s not in his control.
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Participants’ different foci of metaphor use
Making an emotional connection
with hearts and minds
Critical reflection and
management of emotions
Abstract conceptual way to
explore possibilities
Informing practical actions
and behaviours
Focus on behaviours
Possible future selves
Focus on outcomes of behaviour
Guiding sense of identity
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Implications for research
What influences metaphor use?
Does metaphor use change over time?
Is it affected by generation, environment etc?
Further interpretation of sense making
Interpretation of my ‘Officer on deck’ metaphor
Metaphor is both the enabler of imagination in
the basic conception of new ideas and thought
but also the constrainer of imagination within
the boundaries of previous experience.
(Sfard 1998)
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Implications for coaching
Packaging of insight, emotion and
attempts to share meaning
How do you feel about this?
Increasing coachees self awareness
Exploring future selves
Metaphor use and congruence
Developing executive clients
Understanding and Influencing
Unintentional and hidden meanings
Our coaching model and approach
How many hammers might we have in
our toolboxes?
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Conclusion
OR
Royal road to a knowledge of the
unconscious activities of the mind
(Freud)
Glimpse into the hallway of the
unconscious through the letterbox
Metaphor appears to temporarily facilitate a deep
emotional connection with others’ sense making, to
share, learn about and immerse us in their experience.
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A Final Thought
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References
Bhaskar, R. (1978). On the possibility of social scientific knowledge and the limits of naturalism.
Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 8(1), pp 1-28.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in
psychology, 3(2), pp 77-101.
Britten, D. (2014). What metaphors do coaching clients use to symbolise their experiences of
coaching? Unpublished dissertation.
de Haan, E., Bertie, C., Day, A., & Sills, C. (2010). Clients' Critical Moments of Coaching: Toward a
“Client Model” of Executive Coaching. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9(4), pp 607621.
Duberley, J., & Johnson, P. (2000). Understanding management research: An introduction to
epistemology. London. Sage.
Fereday, J., & Muir-Cochrane, E. (2008). Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid
approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International journal of
qualitative methods, 5(1), pp 80-92.
Fleetwod, S. (2013). Bhaskar and critical realism in Adler, P., Du Gay, P., Morgan, P., & Reed, M.
(2013) The Oxford Handbook of Sociology, Social Theory and Organization Studies: Contemporary
Currents. Oxford. OUP Press.
Freud, S. (2010). The Interpretation of dreams. New York. Basic Books.
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References
King, N. (2012) ‘Doing template analysis’, In Symon G., & Cassell C. (Eds.) Qualitative Organizational
Research: Core Methods and Current Challenges. London: Sage.
Kopp, R. R. (1995). Metaphor therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Kozak, A. (1992). The epistemic consequences of pervasive and embodied metaphor: Applications to
psychotherapy. Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology, 12(2), pp 137-154.
Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In Ortony, A (1993) (Eds) Metaphor and
thought, 2, pp 202-251.Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago and London: The
Marshak, R. J., Keenoy, T., Oswick, C., & Grant, D. (2000). From outer words to inner worlds. The
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 36(2), pp 245-258.
Robinson, E. (2010). The use of literary techniques in coaching. Journal of Management
Development, 29(10), pp 902-913.
Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational
researcher, 27(2), pp 4-13.
Siegelman, E. Y. (1990). Metaphor and meaning in psychotherapy. New York. N.Y. Guilford Press.
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Thank you
Nigel.emson@gmail.com
All slides © Nigel Emson
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