Category: organizational storytelling

The Banker’s glass eye and how it works

The dust blew across the parched fields as the recession and drought dragged on. The Karoo had been particularly hot and Piet decided he’d have to supplement the farm’s income with a bank loan. So one morning, Piet put on his Sunday best and his velskoen and drove his bakkie into town. He arrived, dusty at… Continue reading The Banker’s glass eye and how it works

Hivemind: lessons from beekeeping for modern organizations

Some many years ago I facilitated a workshop on change management and remember an animated discussion about the concept of ‘hive mind’ and what the term meant in the context of organisations. There were many opinions that emerged during the day and that evening when I got home, I became immersed in reading about how… Continue reading Hivemind: lessons from beekeeping for modern organizations

Workshop: How to design Vision, Mission, Values, Measures, Purpose stories

Organising Principles are the foundations that provide and guide beliefs, behaviours, thinking, understanding and practice and what is expected of people within the organisation. There is no organisation possible without organising principles. Organising Principles include Vision, Mission, Values, Measures, Purpose and Promise statements. A hallmark of powerful organisations is that they regularly evaluate and remind… Continue reading Workshop: How to design Vision, Mission, Values, Measures, Purpose stories

Cultural Innovation Frameworks for Learning Organizations

Learning organizations have predictable problems when it comes to instilling a culture that encourages self-development and lifelong learning in a large community of learners that are continuously changing. The continuous movement of people into and from the organization makes it necessary to provide a method that Instills lifelong and necessary motivation, virtues, values and behavioural… Continue reading Cultural Innovation Frameworks for Learning Organizations

How Narratives Create Organizational Change

Storytelling is not just a communication tool but a fundamental aspect of human interaction and understanding. By harnessing the power of narratives, organizations can create a shared sense of purpose, motivate employees, engage customers, and ultimately achieve greater success. To create powerful narratives for organizational change and success, it is important to: Views: 87

Storytelling for strategic planning

Traditionally a strategic plan is a document-based creation of leadership, exco and senior management that is “brought down from the mountain” to be implemented throughout the organisation, mainly by people who haven’t been consulted or engaged in the process. This ‘trickle-down’ approach often becomes a source of conflict and frustration because the only power held… Continue reading Storytelling for strategic planning

Using crisis in change management

There’s nothing quite like a crisis to focus attention and galvanize groups, organisations and even countries.  Many organisations routinely use crisis as a method of focusing attention, stimulating action, accelerating the pace of change and altering trajectory and focus. Typical organisational crises include reputational crisis, financial problems,  product problems and recalls, conflict, competitor action &… Continue reading Using crisis in change management

Stories, Events, Meaning & Culture

In common language, an event is something that happens (changes), in particular something special of limited duration. An example of this is a major sporting event, concert or political rally. An event is an outcome, result, reference or single point of focus. In physics and philosophy, an event occurs at a point in time which… Continue reading Stories, Events, Meaning & Culture

Leadership & Exco. Storytelling Skills

We work with Leadership & Exco. to improve storytelling confidence, ability & delivery. We work one-on-one or with a group up to 15 participants. Group Sessions Group sessions last one day going into the evening, preferably in a venue with a fireside around which stories can be told and shared under African skies at night.… Continue reading Leadership & Exco. Storytelling Skills

Crisis Management Storytelling and how to manage it

Crisis situations – danger & opportunity, their usefulness Crisis comes in many forms – for organisations they can make or break their reputational on how they deal wth crisis How to prepare – scenario planning of the kinds of crises that could present themselves and how we’d respond to a product recall, a data breach,… Continue reading Crisis Management Storytelling and how to manage it

How to value storytelling in an organisation

Meaning – Stories are used to convey meaning, whether it is how to close a sale, reprimand a subordinate, motivate someone, give a presentation or something more profound Planning – Cognitive scientist William Calvin suggests that we gradually acquire the ability to formulate plans as a result of storie s we hear in childhood. From… Continue reading How to value storytelling in an organisation

How to take charge of the story?

Leadership, who should be able to take an objective view of everything that is happening in an organisation, usually become increasingly removed from the inner story circles. And often when they hear the stories, they will have been sanitised and edited because thats what everyone wants leadership to know. By their absence from the day-to-day… Continue reading How to take charge of the story?

Stories are not simply reflections of reality

Stories are not simply reflections of reality, but rather, they are constructs that actively shape our internal experiences and our understanding of the world. This is how individual narratives and cultural contexts interact: In summary, individual narratives and cultural contexts are in a constant state of interaction, with each influencing and shaping the other. Cultural… Continue reading Stories are not simply reflections of reality

Tips for Skillful Storytelling

Here are some tips for skillful storytelling. Start off by Visualising the story! Imagine the sounds, tastes, smells, textures and colours in the story. It is only when you experience the story vividly yourself that your audience can experience it! Experience your story until the characters become as real to you as the people and places… Continue reading Tips for Skillful Storytelling

Conversations that count

Conversations that Count: In an age where digital monologues, selfies and superficial chats are the norm, the power of conversation is waning. Disconnected in our connected world, text, email and social media exchanges are hardly interactive, let alone conversational. TV, live-streamed and public-event ‘conversations’, from political debates to discussion groups, tend to be immature, combative… Continue reading Conversations that count

Conversations That Count – Assessment Surveys

WHAT IF? You had to find out the opinions of 2000 people around a specific issue in a diverse global company within 24 hours …. and begin a harmonising process…… or to urgently raise leadership self-awareness, you wished to ascertain for every member of a leadership and management team, how every member of staff and… Continue reading Conversations That Count – Assessment Surveys