This document discusses how storytelling can be used to facilitate organizational change. It defines storytelling as humanity's oldest form of communication using words, images and sounds. Stories help understand organizational culture and change. Narratives present linear events while stories emerge and network in a less static way. The document presents examples of how anecdotal, creative and metaphorical stories can be applied in organizations to communicate values, adapt to change, explore leadership and build relationships. It argues that storytelling is an effective way to motivate employees and guide them through strategic change processes.

1. How to use storytelling
to facilitate change
“All the world’s stage, and all the men and
women merely players.”
Shakespeare, As You Like It
Ines and Rima

2. Storytelling definitions
 Storytelling is humanity’s oldest form of literacy, art of
portraying real or imagined events involving words,
images and sounds.
Wikipedia
 Organisational storytelling are valuable windows into
the emotional, political and symbolic lives of
organisations. It also helps us in understanding culture
and change in an uniquely illuminating way that’s going
on in an organisation.
Gabriel (2000)
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3. Narratives and stories
 Narratives are plotted, directed and staged to produce
linear, coherent and monological rendering of events,
whereas ‘stories’ are self-deconstructing, flowing,
emerging and networking, not at all static .
(Boje, 2001)
 A creative narrative blends the dialogue told in specific
stories to form a composite, interpretive narrative that
relates an impressionistic account of the concept under
investigation – through a ‘fiction writing’.
(Brown and McMillan, 1991)
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4. Storytelling and modern
organisations
“When faced with the task of persuading a group of
managers and front-line staff in a large organisation
to get enthusiastic about a major change, I found that
storytelling was the only thing that really worked.”
Stephen Denning
ex Programme Director at the World Bank
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5. Type of stories we can apply in
modern organisation:
1. The anecdotal or biographical story (feelings or
assumptions about the organisation)
2. The creative characterisation (problem or
challenge transformed into a new stories)
3. Story as a metaphor (creating a metaphor for a
situation taking us into a more imaginative
level)
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6. Approached in this wider context,
organisations are using stories:
 To communicate corporate values and ideals
 To adapt to change
 To define and better understand the organisational
culture
 To communicate the essence of a complex message
 Explore and develop leadership styles
 To develop communication and presentation skills
 Developing employees relationship to a product or the
organisation
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8. Categories of stories
 Tragic
 Epic
 Romantic
 Comic
 Poetic
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9. Storytelling helps in
 relationship building
 motivating employees
 integrating employees
 sense of belonging to the organisation
 guiding through change
 driving organisation to success
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10. Example: How story telling can drive
strategic change
 Problems of San Juan Regional Medical centre
 Hospital-sponsored health plan facing bankruptcy
 Unions trying to organise nurses
 Operational and management changes
 Lots of anxiety and uncertainty among staff
 New mission and vision developed
 Let’s make a story
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13. Link to scenario planning
 Storytelling can act as an important tool in
scenario planning
 It helps in giving new insights to available
information
 It helps to explore alternative futures
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14. Conclusion
 If you want your change message to be
communicated to employees – if you want it to
transform the way they perceive the organisation
and their roles in the organisation – then weaver
your message about the new strategy into a
compelling and memorable story
 Different stories for different audience and
different purpose
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15. Criticism of
storytelling?