Thank you Ada Gonzalez for a gentle reminder that it is a new year and time for
some energy infusion into our collaborative conversations.
Metaphors are an important way of communicating information in a way that may
be more easily understood.
One that I hear in our community is the "whole pizza" metaphor.
Often clients want to struggle over the last slice.
Let's back up. We have a whole pizza on the table. The property, income and
debts are represented by the size of the pizza and pepperoni, cheese and
various toppings. There may be a tendancy to select slices and toppings and
after putting them on our individual plates, it comes down to the last slice.
When that happens we protect what is on our plate and argure over the last
slice.
When that happens, put the whole pizza back on the table and take a look at the
settlement big picture.
Is the goal to have an acceptable share of the pizza on each plate? If so,
where does this last slice fit?
What kinds of metaphors have you found helpful?
Best,
Dave Murch
Rochester, New York
January 23rd, 2009
