Download Storytelling for Leadership

Storytelling as a Leadership
Tool
A quick reference guide
Why tell stories?
•Stories are a form of interactive human communication
•Stories require the storyteller to anticipate the response of the receiver
•Stories invite the receiver to co-create their own personal reality
•Stories are grounded in the feelings of the listener and thereby tap the unconscious potential of the listener
•Stories can be the catalyst for change by springboarding the organization emotionally when bogged down in the rational and
empirical
•Stories are suited for the creative-reflective needs of the age of complexity
•Stories allow people to grasp an idea as a whole and advance understanding more quickly
•Stories inspire creativity by engaging the imagination because each person hears the story as they want and are ready to
Elements of effective organizational storytelling:
•Told from the perspective of a single protagonist
•Familiar and relevant context and at least plausible
•Some element of strangeness or incongruity to stimulate imagination
•Deals with a known and admitted problem
•Told simply and briefly
•Have happy endings to the problem at hand
Ways we use storytelling as Project Managers and Leaders
•Embracing a new concept or vision for a project
•Milestone reviews and postmortems
•Teambuilding
•Break though the analytical to inspire innovation
•Simplify complex concepts
•Communities of Practice or best practices
Bibliography
Stacy Bruns, Storytelling, An Effective Leadership Tool, MN State Univ 1999
Steve Denning, The Springboard, and Squirrel Inc., Jossey-Bass
Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point, Bay Back 2002
Fissure Corporation, Fissure Basic, Advanced & Leadership Simulations, 2004
Ali Jaafari, Project Management in the Age of Complexity and Change, PM Journal, December 2003
Storytelling for Leadership
Geof Lory
GTD Consulting, LLC
www.gtdconsult.com
Associate of Fissure Corporation
Tonight’s Story
• Talk about stories and storytelling
• Talk about why stories and storytelling is
important for PMs and leadership
• Talk about how to use storytelling
• Create a process for storytelling
• Do an exercise in storytelling
• Tell lots of stories
What is a Story?
• Aristotle defined it as any communication with a:
– Beginning, middle and end
– Plot with characters
– Combines a reversal and a recognition
• Requires:
– A Contact
– A Code
– A Context
• Examples
– Parables, fables, myths, chronologies
– Rumors, jokes, tales, anecdotes
– Comedy, parody, farce, satire
What is Storytelling?
• The delivery medium of a story that:
– Goes beyond conveying information
– Requires the interaction of the sender and the
listener
– Encourages the listener to co-create the story
– Inspires the imagination and acts as a catalyst
for understanding
– Multidimensional meaning is delivered in the
interaction
Storytelling is Human
Communication
• Shaped by anticipated response - sender
receives and receiver sends
• Made personal by putting receiver in the
story - invites the receiver inside the story
• Best told orally so emphasis can shift with
the situation or need
• Taps the unconscious association
releasing untapped potential
• Inspires creativity and imagination
Different types of Stories
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Springboard stories
Rumor slayer stories
Knowledge sharing stories
Future stories
Hero and Survivor stories
Kick in the pants stories
Why Storytelling ?
People like to learn from stories
when stories are delivered
through storytelling
“One can’t make a new heaven on earth
with facts.”
Henry Miller
How Do Adults Learn?
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Bite size chunks
In context
Experientially – physically or emotionally
Problem centric
Point in Time
What makes a Good Story?
• Relatable
– Prototypical protagonist
– Have to be able to relate to the situation/actor
• Happy ending
– Positive outcome
– Desirable by the receiver
• Addresses the problem at hand
– Message has to be meaningful to the problem
What Makes Storytelling Good?
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Storytelling builds trust
Storytelling unlocks passion
Storytelling is non-hierarchical
Storytelling roots the message in the
receiver
• Storytelling acts as a catalyst to
understanding
Storytelling Exercise
• One person at each table tell a story to
their table
• Each person hearing the story should write
down their understanding of the message
of the story after it is told
• The storyteller writes down their intended
message of the story
• Share with the storyteller sharing last
Project Management Model
Environ. Complexity
High
Low
Bureaucratic
CreativeReflective
Ad Hoc
Normative
Project Complexity
High
Project Management Model
Environ. Complexity
High
Low
CreativeReflective
Normative
Bureaucratic
Ad Hoc
Project Complexity
High
Storytelling in the
Age of Complexity
• Characterized by:
– Open systems
– Chaos
– Self-organization
– Interdependence
• Traditional
– Linear and rational
– Empirical and reductionistic
Storytelling for Project Managers
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Promoting a vision for your project
Team building
Emotional engagement - Unifying point
Best Practices reviews & post mortems
Simplify complex ideas
Culture propagation
Rumor squelching
Take-Away Challenge
• Anyone can be a storyteller
• You can improve your story telling through
conscious practice
• Be aware of your audience when telling
stories and adjust accordingly
• Have fun and learn through storytelling