News story, life story, love story, war story, success story, horror story, origin story, crime story, sob story, true story, fairy story; story is everywhere and our society is held together with stories.
“There are no facts, only interpretations.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
Storytelling animals
Storytelling isn’t intrinsically good or bad; it’s a fundamental part of being human.
“Consciousness begins when brains gain the power – the simple power, I may add – of telling a story.”
-Antonio Damasio, neuroscientist
Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar found that when we speak informally with friends and colleagues, about 65% of the time, we are talking about “who did what with whom”. In other words, gossip – a form of storytelling.
It’s interesting to note that the word “gossip” did not always have a pejorative aspect. It meant simply the activity one engaged in with one’s “godsibs” or peer group.
Dunbar’s life’s work has focussed on how humans evolved to be the dominant ape. Our ability to live in ever larger groups was key, and speech is a uniquely human tool that facilitated this. Gossip is a social regulator that enables us to judge our place in the hierarchy and how others contribute to the group. It is an energy-efficient and sophisticated mechanism. Gossip is a story-based social engine of cooperation.
“Story feels good for the same reason food tastes good and sex feels good, because without it we couldn’t survive.”
– Lisa Cron, Story or Die
War stories
Gossip in interpersonal politics and spinning stories in national politics are often perceived as negative, but let’s see what a learned historian has to say:
“If you look at all the major conflicts and injustices in the world, it’s ultimately about the stories we believe – we are a storytelling animal.”
“People fight over the imaginary stories in their mind (…) this is what most conflicts in the world are about. This is also good news because if conflicts are about objective things, violence is the only way to end them. But if conflicts are about the stories we believe, at least in some cases, there is a chance to just talk about it and perhaps change the story.”
Yuval Noah Harari in an interview with Stephen Colbert.
Story management
Embracing storytelling brings benefits for managers. A society, be it a village, a nation or a company, is held together with stories. Stories are the building blocks of culture. Changing culture is the key to achieving behaviour change. The first step to changing a culture is simply discussing your challenges.
Drama for Change
Culture is group storytelling, and there are many techniques for hacking it.
Politicians use speeches; influencers use Tweets; business leaders use grand gestures; and I use video drama—dramatised video clips at the core of a disruptive campaign.
What stories are people telling themselves? This is the jumping-off point for the videos that dramatise high-pressure decision-making situations. Moments when one principle conflicts with another can be as simple as dealing with the competing demands of two customers or as complex as the conflicting demands of managing a crime scene.
When people watch these videos with characters making difficult decisions, they are keen to say what they would do in the situation. This is the beginning of a conversation. A productive and engaged conversation that a campaign keeps turning over and spreading throughout your organisation.
That’s been my contribution to the story about storytelling; how do you use stories to engage with your colleagues?
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