It's one of those puzzles that OD people are great at having in the odd moment. Don't think about your nose.Imagine your office if it were totally different. A mental Catch 22, the search for a new metaphor is what moves things forward.

The airplane languished as an interesting but unprofitable technical achievement until the underlying metaphor was correct. The Wright brothers and their competitors all thought of the the airplane as a bicycle. It was intended for use by one or two people with weight being the primary concern. By the advent of the 1st World War, the metaphor was becoming more car-like. However, it wasn't until Howard Hughes understood that the airplane was a bus that the Aviation industry started seeing regular profitability. Even then, it was not until the 1980s that air travel became completely commonplace..

The trouble with searching for metaphors is that its hard to see how deeply integrated they are in your experience.

Much of our criticism of the current Job Board industry comes from the fact that the central metaphor is a database. That's a slight improvement, after 6 years, from a Job Board is online classified advertising.With these notions, we're limited to "you put it out, someone else reads it". It's hard to integrate targeting disciplines into a database.

In many HR environments, they say, "Recruiting is my biggest headache."

That's why we sometimes say, "Recruiting is advertising" or "Recruiting is direct Marketing" or "Recruiting is precise communications" or "Recruiting is Marketing".

We're beginning to like "Recruiting is the path people take into an organization." or "Recruiting is a relationship that matures into an employment decision". or, "Recruiting is the development of an adequate supply of the right people." (It's a little wordy, for sure).

The underlying metaphor shapes the way you think about the problem. It limits possibilities and focuses solutions.

In many HR environments, they say, "Recruiting is my biggest headache."

Here at interbiznet, we say, "The search for a new metaphor gives us a headache".

If you have a new way of thinking about Recruiting, we'd love to hear about it.

- John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.

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