HBR: The dream of most CEOs and HR Managers is to find a kind of “magic” that helps people shift their mindset with ease, adapting swiftly to change through new thoughts and behaviours in a world crying out for evolution.
We ask Hermes Consulting, a Florence-based Società Benefit that has guided organisational change for 30 years. How do you address this need for magic?
Monia Russo, Partner at Hermes: We developed a proprietary methodology for this purpose, called Outdoor Culturale®.
A story that I think captures the effects of this magic involves the CEO of an international General Contractor group. Having restructured the organisation, he needed to convince the 5 Country Managing Directors to collaborate, share heavy construction machinery, and align resources when managing public tenders.
After more than a year of unsuccessful attempts, he contacted us to understand what was “wrong with these people”, as he couldn’t get them to work differently.
We met each Director individually and designed a two-day offsite in Siena, featuring an inspirational visit to Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s fresco cycle of the Allegory of the Common Good in the city’s Museo Civico.
Through storytelling built around the methodological framework of Ericksonian metaphors, we mirrored the situation described by the CEO and Directors during the discovery phase.
Using the narrative of the artwork, we suggested and inspired solutions aligned with the organisation’s new design.
During the reflection session following the visit, the CEO was astonished by the shift the group demonstrated.
One of the clearest moments of this transformation came when the most senior Director—and the most resistant—found a powerful connection to his work through the metaphor: “Did you see what the Sienese farmers were doing? They shared machinery and saved money. We could do the same!”
The magic was that, from that day on, implementing the matrix structure became far smoother, and the Directors began sharing best practices and machinery across tenders.
How is this magic sparked?
Alessandro Rizzi, co-creator of the methodology: We take intact or cross-functional teams to experience close encounters with art history, inside artistic installations, exhibitions, and architectural masterpieces.
Through the power of metaphor, the framework of Outdoor Culturale® taps into the emotional sphere of the mind, rekindling motivation and proactivity while stimulating critical and rational thinking.
This accelerates the changes required by the context and makes achieving results easier. Thanks to the prompts created by artistic metaphors, people experience a moment of awareness that allows them to observe their own behavioural patterns in action, discover new solutions, find common ground, and envision possible futures together.
This approach uses isomorphism (a structural correspondence of forms and patterns) between the organisation’s experience and the artistic representation, opening fresh perspectives and prompting faster cognitive leaps.
How do you craft metaphors so that they are effective?
Monia Russo: Every artistic narrative is crafted so that the “felt reality of an organisation”—which we gather through interviews and focus groups—is translated into the story. This creates a mirroring effect for participants and builds a bridge between the metaphorical experience and the future the company aspires to build.
This allows people to connect their organisation’s story with personal values and purpose, to see and feel their own story reflected, and ultimately to view the present and future from an external vantage point. This intensive process culminates in projecting these insights back onto the work environment, reimagining it after the experience to introduce genuine change.
Outdoor Culturale® gives a clear identity to challenges. Presenting issues metaphorically allows participants to broaden their perspective, expand their mindset and vision, and identify fresh solutions.
Translating inner experiences into rational terms enables what was learned metaphorically to take root in everyday practice.
The experience creates a kind of mental roadmap that equips people to navigate similar situations, both present and future, with clear awareness.
Over the years, we have designed programmes for diverse goals across Italy’s major art cities—truly magical experiences!
Why combine metaphorical storytelling specifically with art?
Alessandro: Art has an open code; it speaks straight to the heart before it is even “read”. Its language is polysemic, open to multiple interpretations. It sets deep processes in motion and allows people to work on their reality while maintaining just enough distance from everyday routine to move past blockages and bring lived experiences to the surface. It begins with what people feel deeply, building change strategies rooted in that very feeling.
Edith Kramer, painter and art therapist, used to say that “a work of art is a container of emotions”, while Vygotsky, a founding father of developmental psychology, spoke of creativity and imagination as essential elements to prompt the search for new solutions and open doors to change.
Therefore, art is not an escape from reality; rather, it frames it, helping us understand it more deeply by looking through fresh eyes and exploring diverse viewpoints. It also allows concepts to be voiced that might otherwise remain hidden or silenced if we relied purely on verbal communication. Art gives people and organisations permission to think differently. It speaks a universal language, including that of the subconscious, capable of releasing latent potential.
The best projects are not merely well-structured; above all, they have a palpable soul that comes to life through the fusion of therapeutic metaphor and art.
What makes this methodology a catalyst for sustainable design and long-term organisational vitality?
Diego Piovan, Partner: Sustainability has become an imperative not only environmentally, but economically and socially as well. It calls for leadership that transcends traditional management models—one that is holistic, adaptive, and grounded in a deep grasp of complex systems.
Outdoor Culturale® aligns directly with the latest insights into complexity leadership. Research by Barrett C. Brown (2011), an executive coach and global expert on leadership development, argues that only leaders with advanced meaning-making systems can design and steer sustainable development.
To prepare them for this challenge, he explains that the most transformative experiences stem from a profound internal foundation, rooted in values and principles that guide both the vision and the strategy of sustainable initiatives. They bring internal resources into play and broaden sensitivity, receptivity, and conscious awareness.
According to research by Manners, J., & Durkin, K. (2000), consciousness expands through significant interpersonal experiences with high emotional impact, which challenge existing norms and expectations to catalyse growth.
These elements lie at the heart of Outdoor Culturale®, which engages all 5 dimensions that, according to positive psychology pioneer Martin Seligman, define every experience of flourishing: positive emotions, genuine and immersive engagement, relationships, a sense of purpose and contribution, and the experience of accomplishment in reaching a goal.
Every participant, and every team, emerges deeply changed—connected to a new way of experiencing their work, capable of mobilising resources to meet the challenges of sustainability.
How can organisations get in touch to organise an Outdoor Culturale®?
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