Bringing Us Back to Life: Storytelling and the Modern Organization

Information Outlook, May, 2001 by Seth Weaver Kahan

WHEN I TELL PEOPLE THAT I USE STORYTELLING IN MY JOB, I USUALLY

receive confused Looks in return. 'It sounds novel and interesting,' they wonder aloud, 'but what does storytelling have to do with business?' Well, a great deal more than you might imagine.

Storytelling is one of the oldest and most powerful devices for building community.

For thousands of years, human beings have gathered in community to share their stories, to listen and learn about themselves, to what their lives are about, and how their common values are acted out in the world.

Storytelling is a powerful tool to launch change.

"Time after time, when faced with the task of persuading a group of managers or front-line staff in a large organization to get enthusiastic about a major change ... storytelling was the only thing that worked," argues Stephen Denning, former program director, knowledge management at The World Bank and author of The Springboard: How Storytelling ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations.

Storytelling is an effective way to share knowledge.

According to Larry Prusak and Don Cohen, co-authors of in Good Company, How Social Capital Makes Organizations Work, "Storytelling is increasingly seen as an important tool for communicating explicit and especially tacit knowledge - not just information but know-how." [See Information Outlook's interview with Larry Prusak in this issue for more on storytelling.]

Experimental Theater and Rites of Passage

I have been a performance artist since 1978, producing and performing experimental theater. Over the years I have produced many events in which audiences and performers worked and played together in creative and unusual ways. I see collaborative art as a form of social engagement.

Through this type of performance work I have developed an interest in rites of passage that empower individuals to make social contributions. These ceremonies can be a social infrastructure which transforms the participant from a child, who is dependent on community, to an adult who can make unique and valued contributions. Some of these ceremonies can serve as valuable models for the world of business, and specifically for the field of knowledge management.

In my work as a senior information officer at The World Bank, I coordinate the professional and community development of the 900 technology and information services staff. This community includes people in offices around the world who put satellites in the sky, PCs on the desktop, develop enterprise software, run and deliver our library systems, intranet, extranet, and so forth. Helping them interact with each other to promote effective collaboration is part of my job.

A Story about Storytelling ... in Business

Not so long ago, an inter-governmental group of chief information officers (CIOs) gathered to explore how organizations were building successful knowledge management (KM) initiatives in cultures in which information hoarding, competitiveness, and secrecy were the norm. This group invited me to share how my background and experience could help to build community in a business setting. But I wanted to do more than talk about it. I wanted the CIOs to experience this type of community building in the context of KM.

So, I drew on my experience in ritual to lift the context from daily work to the larger contribution that people and organizations are making. I then set the stage by telling my own story and inviting others to share their stories. This approach led to a blossoming of openness and collaboration that was remarkable. Let me give you a deeper sense of what it was like.

Elevating the Context with Poetry

I begin by sharing my own story: how I made the journey from performance artist to senior information officer. I start with my story for two reasons. First, I have learned that how we share is equally important as what we share, so I like to start with something I can do in a relaxed and comfortable way. Second, I model the same vulnerability that I later ask of the participants by sharing a personal perspective, yet without going overboard into "touchyfeely group therapy."

I connect my interest in rites of passage with the social transformation of organizations. Our companies are bumbling along, trying to help staff move from a dependent, childlike relationship with the organization, to an adult connection through which shared leadership and more meaningful contributions are possible. The murmurs and nodding of heads in my audience tells me the CIOs can relate to this.

I then ask my audience to indulge me by listening to a poem that I often use in my performances. This poem is called the "Prayer of the Three Times." [NOTE: One source of the prayer is World as Lover, World as Self by Joanna Macy.] I tell them that when I am finished reciting the poem, I will ask them to share something about what they experienced as listeners. They shift in their seats, noticeably uncomfortable. I have seen this before, of course, and I reassure them that participation is entirely voluntary. I let them know that any response is acceptable, including, 'The poem did nothing for me; or 'I didn't like the poem.' All I ask is that they listen to the poem and be prepared to share their experience.