Metaphor and Leadership in an Emergent World

with James Lawley, Wendy Sullivan & Penny Tompkins

The world is experiencing a paradigm shift in which leading thinkers no longer use metaphors of machines, linear cause-effect, or centralized control and power. Reductionism is being replaced by the new science of emergence. The following ideas are crucial to this shift in perspective:

• Individually and collectively, humans self-organize. Self-organizing systems have no central control – instead they are based on intelligent networks that are complex, adaptive and emergent.
• Metaphor is not just icing on the narrative cake; it is intrinsic to language, thought and action – especially in complex situations.
• Knowledge, for the most part, is not based on abstract concepts and well-defined categories, but is embodied in a fuzzy, non-linear logic.

How can today's leaders facilitate transformative change when the world is so uncertain, unpredictable, and uncontrollable? How do we embrace the new paradigm, encourage the conditions for change, and then utilize serendipitous events?

Our work is rooted in the new worldview. It can be applied to individual systems and to systems of individuals. Based on the groundbreaking work of David Grove, our approach integrates his "clean" philosophy, the use of client-generated metaphor, systemic outcome orientation, and the facilitator as symbolic modeller.

Central to this work is an individual's relationship with their embodied "metaphor landscape" – a psychoactive, imaginative world existing within and around them. This relationship is not amenable to traditional questioning techniques. "Clean" facilitation is required for the wisdom in the system to express itself through the emergence of a dynamic feedback loop. This process guides both client and facilitator to places they didn't know they needed to go, and to outcomes that can surprise and delight them both.

This module will consist of a mixture of experiential activities, demonstration, and in-the-moment coaching. It is for those who are interested in how metaphor shapes thinking, relationships, decisions and actions; and for those who want to learn how to use Clean Language questions and the Clean Space process to facilitate organic change.

In addition, you will have time to contemplate your own metaphors for authentic leadership, find out how to become comfortable with not-knowing, and how to respond to the unpredictable and unexpected.

Pre-reading: For an introduction please read Clean Language: revealing metaphors and opening minds, Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees (2008). For more on emergence and the systemic nature of the process read Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling, James Lawley and Penny Tompkins (2000). Both are listed on Amazon and Crown House Publishing.

James Lawley was a senior manager in the computer industry managing £100m projects until he realised that becoming a more successful businessman was not his life purpose. James trained to the highest levels in Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP) before qualifying in 1993 as psychotherapist registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). He is a leading authority in the use of client-generated metaphor and Clean Language, and co-author of Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling.

He uses his organisational and personal development experience to teach, supervise and coach Symbolic Modelling to therapists, coaches and managers throughout the world. James has also consulted to organisations as diverse as Glaxo-Welcome, The University of Yale Child Study Center, NASA Goddard Space Center, the Findhorn Spiritual Community and a Northern Ireland peace initiative.

He is married to Penny Tompkins. They live in Bath, England where they are also partners in The Developing Company. See www.cleanlanguage.co.uk

Wendy Sullivan has worked for 30 years in training and development, always focusing on facilitating learning that changes lives. She has worked with people dis-enfranchised by apartheid in South Africa, as well as with young people, individual adults and teams. She holds a Speech Pathology and Audiology degree and is an accredited Psychotherapist and NLP trainer.

She trains, coaches, offers psychotherapy, and facilitates internationally. She has worked with a range of organizations (e.g. the National Health Service, GlaxoSmithKline and Zurich Financial Services), with self-leadership or team/organizational leadership, and a Clean approach. She is at the leading edge in developing and delivering training using Clean Language, Symbolic Modelling and metaphor, and has collaborated and trained with David Grove, Penny Tompkins and James Lawley.

Wendy, with her business partner Judy Rees, owns and runs Clean Change Company Ltd, based in London, England. Together they have written Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds. They are committed to developing a diverse Clean community, believing that this approach has great potential across different disciplines, sectors and levels of a system. See www.cleanchange.co.uk

Penny Tompkins, an American, moved to Great Britain in 1971. She was joint Managing Director of a company manufacturing oil field equipment in Scotland for 18 years. In that time the company grew to 400 employees with sales offices in the Middle and Far East. She then sought a new direction that combined her business skills with the latest innovations in human development. She was attracted to the notion that 'experience has a structure' and trained in NLP. In 1993 she qualified as a psychotherapist registered with the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).

Penny was surprised and delighted when Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought mentioned the book she co-authored, Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling. She has co-produced a training DVD, A Strange and Strong Sensation. Together these form a comprehensive guide to working with the symbolic domain of experience using metaphor, modelling and the Clean Language of David Grove.

Penny has a private clinical practice, and also coaches executives and supervises other professionals. She lives in England and is a partner in The Developing Company. See www.cleanchange.co.uk

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