About this session
Teams trying to innovate often search within the same competitive landscape: What are organizations like ours doing? What features do competitors offer? What has worked in this industry before? Those questions can be useful, but they also keep thinking inside an existing frame.
Metaphorical and analogical thinking deliberately widens the search. A hospital might learn something about handovers from aviation.
A digital service might examine how a concierge anticipates needs. A complex workflow might be viewed as a traffic system, ecosystem or relay race.
The point is not to copy another domain literally. It is to ask whether a deeper relationship, mechanism or principle can reveal something that the original framing concealed.
Participants learn to distinguish superficial resemblance from useful structural analogy, move between concrete business problems and more abstract patterns, search across unfamiliar domains, map relationships and turn the strongest transferred principles into innovation concepts.
They also learn where metaphors become misleading and how to test new ideas against real customer, operational and commercial conditions. The goal is not clever comparison for its own sake — it is better thinking that produces genuinely different options.
What your people take away
- Understand how metaphor and analogy can reveal possibilities hidden by familiar business assumptions
- Abstract a specific business challenge into patterns that can be found in other domains
- Distinguish useful structural similarities from superficial resemblance
- Generate ideas through distant analogies and cross-domain comparison
- Translate borrowed principles into solutions appropriate to the target context
- Test the limits of analogies before treating an interesting comparison as a viable innovation
Shared with you
See the full session
Create your free Workbliss profile to see the rest of this outline and book it. It takes a minute, with your work email.
- What each length covers, 30 minutes to full day
- Everything that’s covered, part by part
- Book online, and browse 1,500+ more sessions for your teams
Already a member? Sign in
What each length covers
30 minutes
30 Minutes — Key Points: Learn to See One Problem Through AnotherA focused 30-minute session on three key points from Learn to See One Problem Through Another: understand metaphor & analogy, separate source from target and look beyond surface similarity.
- Understand metaphor & analogy
- Separate source from target
- Look beyond surface similarity
Covers 3 of 4 points in Learn to See One Problem Through Another.
60 minutes
See Business Problems Through a Different LensA focused introduction to metaphorical and analogical thinking. Participants reframe a familiar business challenge, explore distant comparison domains and translate one promising analogy into a practical innovation idea.
- Metaphor vs. analogy
- Source and target
- Problem abstraction
- Structural similarity
- Distant analogies
- Metaphorical Thinking Quick Canvas
- Live Q&A
Covers 1 of 4 parts: Learn to See One Problem Through Another.
90 minutes
Generate Innovation Through Cross-Domain ThinkingThe extended session develops abstraction, forced comparison, structural mapping, principle extraction and concept translation. Participants work with several source domains and turn the strongest analogies into testable business ideas.
- Existing problem frames
- Levels of abstraction
- Cross-industry analogy search
- Forced comparison
- Structural mapping
- Transferable principles
- Concept generation
- Analogy limits
- Innovation Hypothesis Planner
- Live Q&A
Covers 2 of 4 parts: Learn to See One Problem Through Another and Generate New Perspectives Through Distant Analogies.
3 hours
Covers 3 of 4 parts: Learn to See One Problem Through Another, Generate New Perspectives Through Distant Analogies and Turn Analogies Into Innovation Concepts.
Full day
Metaphorical Thinking & Business Innovation LabA practical full-day workshop covering all four modules. Participants take a real or realistic business challenge through abstraction, distant analogy generation, structural mapping, principle transfer, concept creation and critical testing while building a repeatable cross-domain innovation method.
- Module 1 — Learn to See One Problem Through Another
- Module 2 — Generate New Perspectives Through Distant Analogies
- Module 3 — Turn Analogies Into Innovation Concepts
- Module 4 — Challenge, Test & Communicate the New Perspective
- Dominant Metaphor Audit
- Problem Abstraction Ladder
- Distant Analogy Search
- Forced Comparison Sprint
- Source–Target Relationship Mapping
- Transferable Principle Extraction
- Concept Translation Lab
- Analogy Breakdown Test
- Innovation Hypothesis Design
- Applied Metaphor Communication
- Live Q&A
Covers all 4 parts.
Also available as a 4-week or 8-week program, for change that lasts. Ask us about it.
What’s covered
Learn to See One Problem Through Another
Every length- Understand metaphor & analogyA metaphor frames one thing through another — for example, describing an organization as an ecosystem.
- Separate source from targetThe target is the business challenge being explored.
- Look beyond surface similarityTwo businesses may look similar but operate through very different mechanisms, while apparently unrelated situations can share the same underlying structure.
- Notice the frame you are already usingExisting language shapes what solutions feel possible.
Generate New Perspectives Through Distant Analogies
90 minutes and longer- Abstract the problem before searchingA narrowly framed question such as 'How should we redesign our onboarding portal?' tends to produce answers from other onboarding portals.
- Search outside your industryUseful analogies can come from hospitality, logistics, gaming, healthcare, nature, architecture, sport, entertainment, aviation, retail, public services or almost any other environment.
- Use forced comparisonSometimes the source does not need to appear relevant at first.
- Build an analogy portfolioOne analogy can become another intellectual constraint if the team falls in love with it too quickly.
Turn Analogies Into Innovation Concepts
3 hours and longer- Map relationships, not objectsLiteral copying asks which object in the source resembles an object in the business.
- Extract the transferable principleThe most valuable part of an analogy is often an abstract principle.
- Translate — don't copyAn airport process cannot simply be transplanted into a software company, and a biological ecosystem is not literally an organization.
- Create multiple concepts from one principleA useful principle can often generate several possible solutions.
Challenge, Test & Communicate the New Perspective
Full day only- Find where the analogy breaksEvery analogy is incomplete.
- Turn insight into a testable hypothesisAn analogy can suggest that a mechanism might work; it cannot demonstrate that it will work in the new environment.
- Use metaphor to communicate complex ideasA strong metaphor can make an unfamiliar system easier to understand by giving people a shared mental model.
- Build metaphorical thinking into innovationCross-domain thinking becomes more powerful when it is used repeatedly rather than reserved for occasional creative workshops.
Tools and materials
- Dominant Metaphor Audit
- Problem Abstraction Ladder
- Cross-Domain Search Matrix
- Forced Comparison Generator
- Analogy Portfolio Canvas
- Source–Target Relationship Map
- Structural Similarity Test
- Transferable Principle Builder
- Analogy Breakdown Test
- Cross-Domain Innovation Playbook
How booking works
- Book online. Create a free Workbliss profile, then pay with session credits, by card or by invoice.
- Pick a date. Choose a date at least 14 days ahead, or book now and set the date later.
- Choose your expert. Within 3 working days, we send you profiles of the experts available for your date.
- We deliver it. Your expert is briefed on your people and goals, then runs the session live online or at your site.
Questions about Metaphorical Thinking for Business Innovation
How long is Metaphorical Thinking for Business Innovation?
Metaphorical Thinking for Business Innovation runs as 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 3 hours or full day. You choose the length when you book. A 30-minute session covers three key points from Learn to See One Problem Through Another: understand metaphor & analogy, separate source from target and look beyond surface similarity. A 60-minute session covers Learn to See One Problem Through Another in full, with a live Q&A. A 90-minute session adds Generate New Perspectives Through Distant Analogies. A 3-hour session adds Turn Analogies Into Innovation Concepts. A full-day session adds Challenge, Test & Communicate the New Perspective. It is also available as a 4-week or 8-week program.
Can Metaphorical Thinking for Business Innovation be delivered online or in person?
Yes, both. It runs live online, so every office can join at the same time, or in person at your site, in any country.
How do we book Metaphorical Thinking for Business Innovation?
Create a free Workbliss profile with your work email, then open Metaphorical Thinking for Business Innovation to see the price for each length and book it. You can pay with session credits, by card or by invoice, and choose a date at least 14 days ahead, or set it later.
Who leads the session?
A vetted Workbliss expert, briefed on your people, culture and goals before the session. After you book, we send you profiles of the experts available for your date within 3 working days, so you can choose who leads it.
Can it be tailored to our company?
Yes. Every session is shaped around your goals, your people and the benefits you already offer, and delivered by experts in your people’s languages.