Thank you to everyone who used this blog to share experience and information relating to Narratives of Potential in the run up to last week’s conference. 

Thank you also to those of you who shared your feedback with us on Foul Whisperings either by talking, blogging or filling in the evaluation forms (which we’ve just started to go through).

Unfortunately, time was short at the conference itself for discussing the issues/questions raised by this experiment.  But perhaps this is where the blog comes into its own. 

So if you have any additional comments, feelings, observations, suggestions, questions then please use this space to make them public and see what happens….

Esther Walker

How do you tell a good story?

What does a storyteller need to do in order to engage your attention?

Is it something about:

the way they move?
their voice?
their use of words and imagery?
the way they look at you?
the way they structure the story?
the way they show you how they feel?

A good storyteller knows how to draw you in: their attention to this (whether conscious or otherwise) is just as important as the content of what they’re saying.

Think of a recent experience – in any context – where someone has really engaged you by telling a story. What was it about the way they told it that made it work for you?

Esther Walker (Forum Interactive, esther@foruminteractive.co.uk).

Stories have the power to inspire action. They are effective in the context of organisational change because they help us to understand complexity, they can change or enhance perceptions, they are easy to remember, they are non-adversarial and non-hierarchical. But perhaps most importantly, stories engage our emotions: they make us think and they make us feel.

Stephen Denning describes such stories as springboard stories. These are stories that enable an audience to achieve a leap in understanding so that they can see how an organization or community or complex system may change.

“A springboard story has an impact not so much through transferring large amounts of information, as through catalyzing understanding. It can enable listeners to visualize from a story in one context what is involved in a large-scale transformation in an analogous context. It can enable them to grasp the idea as a whole not only very simply and quickly, but also in a non-threatening way. In effect, it invites them to see analogies from their own backgrounds, their own contexts, their own fields of expertise (Denning, 2001, p xix).”

A springboard story should have the following characteristics: it should

• be inherently interesting;
• be easily understood by the audience;
• embody the change idea;
• spring the listener to a new level of understanding;
• have a positive ending;
• have an implicit change message;
• encourage the audience to identify with the protagonist;
• deal with a specific individual or organisation;
• have a protagonist who is prototypical of the organisation’s main business;
• be true;
• be tested.

What do you think about this? Can you think of any examples from your own experience?

Ref: Stephen Denning (2001) The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-era Organizations. Elsevier.

Esther Walker (Forum Interactive, esther@foruminteractive.co.uk).

In the context of an organisation (like a University), what stories do people tell one another and why?

The fundamental human structure within any community is the relationships between two people. Individuals create informal networks for themselves to fulfil basic needs: for example, a need to feel a sense of belonging, continuity, significance and security. Storytelling plays a big part in building and sustaining those relationships: it enables us to create community for ourselves within a large organisation.

We tell stories about that organization too. We need to know what is going on so we ask questions and share information. In times of organisational change with anxiety levels heightened, the need for information intensifies. If reliable information from the top is unavailable, then, as you know, people will fill the gaps with their own ideas of what’s going on.

We also tell stories about the work. Julian Orr wrote a book called Talking About Machines which describes how photocopier repair men (within Xerox Corporation) use stories to support themselves and their work. These men work autonomously and value their independence. But they know that they have the support of one another and also of the organisation behind them. They problem-solve by talking to one another, sharing experience and knowledge. With such support, challenging situations are welcomed because they provide opportunities to be heroic and also material for better stories.

What role do stories play in your daily work? If you take one day, or even a part of a day, then can you notice all the stories you encounter (whether or not they are told by you)? What form do they take? What gives them significance?

Ref: Julian E. Orr (1996) Talking About Machines: an ethnology of a modern job Cornell University Press

Esther Walker (Forum Interactive, esther@foruminteractive.co.uk).

Episode 2 is now available. First watch the video and read Alison’s account of events. Then look at this week’s narrative focus and the example of creative writing.

All feedback can be posted here in the blog or, if you prefer, sent directly to Esther at Forum Interactive (esther@foruminteractive.co.uk).

If you are new to the story you may wish to look back at episode 1.

In keeping with the Edinburgh backdrop for this year’s Conference, MacBeth provides inspiration for our story “Foul Whisperings”. The story is told on video and through the e-mails of our OD professional Alison Banks.

From Wednesday 1st October you’ll be able to access a weekly episode of this story here. First read some background information. Then watch the video and read Alison’s account of events. Finally, look at the week’s narrative focus which raises some questions for you to consider.

All feedback can be posted here in the blog or, if you prefer, sent directly to me at Forum Interactive (esther@foruminteractive.co.uk).

Esther Walker, Forum Interactive