The Kaleidoscope has emerged as an organising metaphor for the approach I'm developing. The notion of looking through the lens of a metaphor is regularly used by writers when reflecting upon how metaphors are applied.
The Seven Sides of Educational Leadership obviously provide more than one lens. It was when I drew the heptagon and put the sections in for each metaphor that the Kaleidoscope metaphor became apparent. Not only does it look like a kaleidoscope it actually should be used like one.
The secret will be to look at your organisation or problem through the kaleidoscope and by twisting the case change the image we see. In my mind some images will take prominence over others, e.g. I might want to reflect upon a problem by emphasising the 'parental' and 'sculpting' elements, whereas in another situation the 'gardening' and hill walking' elements are dominant - although the other parts all continue to play a part.
I'll continue to develop this over the next few months (16/12/2006)
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