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Katalina Groh, Larry Prusak: Some of the world's leading thinkers |
| Where you shouldn't use a story.... |
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Storytelling is not a panacea. It doesn’t always work: Storytelling doesn't
always move an audience or elicit change in organizations. It can only
be as good as the underlying idea being conveyed. If that idea is bad,
storytelling may well reveal its inadequacy. But even when the underlying
idea is good, there are times when storytelling is ineffective.
There are some occasions when a story is particularly inappropriate. When the audience doesn’t want a story: If the audience has requested a numerical analysis and a spreadsheet, offering a story may simply enrage the audience. Nevertheless if the analysis and spreadsheet are available, a story can often enable the audience to understand the numbers. |
| Where the numbers can
be introduced by a story, they may be seen in the light intended by the
storyteller, and not with some unintended interpretation.
Where analysis would be better: Storytelling doesn’t replace analytical thinking. It supplements it by enabling us to imagine new perspectives and new worlds, and is ideally suited to communicating change and stimulating innovation. Abstract analysis is easier to understand when seen through the lens of a well-chosen story and can of course be used to make explicit the implications of a story. We should not abandon abstract thinking, nor should we give up the advances that have emerged through experimentation and science. I propose here using the power of storytelling and the mechanisms by which it operates, thus remedying the neglect of storytelling, but not so as to jettison analytic thinking. I propose marrying the communicative and imaginative strengths of storytelling with the advantages of abstract and scientific analysis. Where the story isn’t ready – don’t tell the story prematurely: Don’t tell a story for the first time at a high-profile high-risk occasion, like the executive committee of a large organization. Test the story in advance on a variety of similar audiences. By the time you get to the executive committee, you should exactly the effect that the story will have, because you have tried it out so many times. Where a story would be deceptive: Stories are powerful tools and it is tempting to use the device to achieve an end, even if it involves twisting, bending, embellishing or even fabricating a story. This is not a good idea. Whatever the short-term gains involved the long-term risk in loss of credibility and reputation doesn't warrant the cost. Your mother was right: do not tell a lie! |
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| Books
and videos on storytelling
*** In Good Company : How Social Capital Makes Organizations Work by Don Cohen, Laurence Prusak (February 2001) Harvard Business School Press *** The Social Life of Information, by John Seely Brown, Paul Duguid (February 2000) Harvard Business School Press *** The Springboard : How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations by Stephen Denning (October 2000) Butterworth-Heinemann *** The Art of Possibility, a video with Ben and Ros Zander: Groh Publications (February 2000) |
| The views expressed on this website are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of any person or organization |
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