Applied Stories and Organisational Development

If you work in an organisation, how do you naturally describe the work you do, an event  or challenge, something you or another person has achieved. Chances are, you will be telling a story. Sure, there might be some facts and figures in there, but these are rarely enough on their own. Go to a meeting where you have to provide your sales figures, or some kind of information describing your work activities, and more often than not you will be asked for some kind of explanation.

It doesn't matter whether you are in charge of paper clip supplies or the CEO; everyone has to talk to other people about their work sometimes. It might being with: 'This figure/output/result is lower than we expected, how has that happened? As Team Leader, you might find yourself answering with something like this:

'Well, Paul (our best salesman) has been away all week, we couldn't get a replacement due to the systems upgrade that was scheduled. So instead of there being six of us there were actually only four, as Michelle was kept busy all week doing the testing of the upgrade.'

This is a story, told in the past tense. It has all the key story elements: characters; action; a plot; a beginning, middle and end; and a message. You might have to work a little to uncover some of these elements, but they are all there. The message, by the way is actually multiple: my team was busy as usual; there were some challenges beyond my control that impacted on our ability to meet our kpi's; I understand there are organisational priorities etc. Why didn't you say this outright? Because telling a story is natural, and it demonstrates all those things rather than just speaking them.

So, if storytelling is so natural, why don't we use them for organisational development purposes? Well, some organisations are embracing this, but not many. It is unclear as to why, exactly, but I think it has a lot to do with the implications of storytelling as making things up, not being serious, taking too much time, activities without outcomes.

Storytelling is none of these things. But storytelling is scary for organistions, because organisations work in a way that the outcome has already been planned for, perhaps even been documented, and storytelling is seen as a threat to this. It might lead to other (unexpected, unwanted) conclusions, endings, and priorities. It might give people in the organisation the idea that what they think matters, rather than what they can do. That could lead to all kinds of problems for the powerbrokers.

Another danger of storytelling is that related to the archetypal story elements of hero, antihero, perpetrator and victim. Somehow, in every story all of these are implied, even if they are not clearly stated. I would argue that no organisation can succeed without getting these out in the open and taking a good look at them. But once again, there are real risks - exposing and labelling individuals can lead to all kinds of issues that will detract from the main game.

It is easy to see why organisations are reluctant to employ storytelling as a tool in OD activities. Yet, I would argue, creativity is the order of the day, and the organisations that are most likely to be successful in the twenty-first century will be those who utilise the more creative tools.

Engaging a story practitioner, either as a paid staff member, as a storyteller-in-residence, or as an external consultant, could be the best investment an organisation could make. There are infinite possibilities: developing a global story in which all members have a common vision would be a great place to start.