Imagine This: Using Analogies

Analogies can be powerful tools in business communication and training programs. Recognize their power and pick up four tips for using analogies well.

by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston
Syntax Training

Imagine this scene: You are reading a fairy tale to a spellbound preschooler.

Suddenly her face wrinkles and she asks, “What does betray mean?” What will you say? “To be disloyal to”? “To deceive”? Neither of these definitions would be any clearer to her than the word in question.

Finding myself in this tricky situation with my daughter, I responded with an analogy: “If you told me a very important secret, and I promised not to tell anyone, and then you heard me telling it to someone and laughing, you would feel betrayed.”

The analogy worked. With satisfaction, she repeated it back to me as though it had been her own. Now she understood what had happened to the fairy tale character.

It’s the power of making connections. When definitions don’t clearly define, when abstract concepts fall with a thud, analogies—similarities from which we can draw comparisons—can clear things up and help ideas fly.

Recently I was asked to write an article for an organization of which I’m a member. I had to write about how we had not grown—and perhaps had shrunk—even though months earlier we had spent a lot of time and effort on a strategic plan for organizational growth. I was to write about essential next steps. It was a sensitive subject, and I was concerned about not offending anyone.

Analogies make it easier for listeners to hear hard truths and for readers to grasp abstractions. They help shape theory into practice.

The solution? An analogy. I compared the situation in our organization with my landscaping situation at home: I had spent a lot of time and money on a landscape design, but right now, well into implementing the plan, things looked worse, and I was overwhelmed with how much had to be done.

Because I was able to tie the organization’s current circumstances to my own, and because tearing up a yard was something familiar to my readers, the tough concepts in the article were more palatable. Members thanked me for helping them put our situation in perspective. The analogy worked.

Analogies can also make training concepts come alive. Here are two examples:

• In a class on performance appraisal. To reinforce that supervisors should collect data throughout the performance period rather than focusing on one recent example of behavior, use this analogy: “If you could take snapshots throughout the year in every season—or shoot a video of just one event during the year—which would more accurately capture the period?”


• In a workshop on how to welcome and orient new employees. To convey the reason for spending time and energy on orientation, this analogy works: “You are dreaming that you are running in a race. In the dream you don’t know the course, you have no idea where the finish is, you have not trained for the event, and everyone is speeding past you. Is this a good dream or a bad dream? How is this dream like the reality of new employees?”

Here are tips for using analogies well:

1. Choose analogies that are familiar to your audience. My landscaping analogy would have fallen short for a group of apartment dwellers or people who are homeless.
2. Use an analogy as a springboard. Once it has launched a connection, refer to the analogy only sparingly or to summarize. In the analogy about taking performance “snapshots,” further comparisons to cameras, photography, etc., would be distracting.
3. Use analogies from your personal experience. Then if a class participant or a correspondent takes the analogy further, you can stay with the discussion.
4. Keep analogies short. It takes no more than 30 seconds to read the analogy that begins this article. If it were any longer, it might have lost you.

Analogies are powerful tools in business writing and training. They make it easier for listeners to hear hard truths and for readers to grasp abstractions. They help shape theory into practice. They can make real learning happen.

Copyright 2006 Lynn Gaertner-Johnston, Syntax Training. All rights reserved.

Author Lynn Gaertner-Johnston is the founder of Syntax Training which helps employees and managers write better. Subscribe here to her free monthly newsletter, Better Writing at Work, and receive a free copy of Email Etiquette: 25 Quick Rules.
Note: I personally recommend Lynn's newsletter as a "must read" - Azriel

Some Related Articles:

Get Your Message Across by Creating Powerful Stories
Use Quotations to Improve Youe Business Communication
Five Top Techniques That Improve Your Writing
How to Use Humor in Business Communications
How to Improve Your Writing Rhythm
Principles of Good Writing
How to Write More Powerful Reports
Your Business Writing Should Match Your Personality