Prof. W.B. Lee gave a talk on Storytelling for HK Police.

1. Storytelling
Prof. W.B. Lee
Chair Professor & Director
Knowledge Management and Innovation Research Center
Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

2. What is your definition of KM?
Knowledge management is about
building organizational intelligence,
retaining knowledge, sharing of context,
learning, innovation and personal
development in an organization

3. “Forget power point and statistics. To involve
people at the deepest level, you need stories.”
Robert McKee
Neuroscience of Storytelling
• Stats, data and facts are essential,
but stories are easy to remember
• Stories can activate more regions
of the brain
• Mind prefers stories to facts
• Emotions, not logic, inspire actions

4. Use of Storytelling in KM!

5. Points for making a good story
1. Do not “sell” reasons, sell” soft
facts” and describe the situations
2. Raise curiosity and grab attention
3. Details are important to make the
case “real”
4. A turning point,….but………

6. Story (故事 )
The vivid description of a chain of events – true or
imagined – spoken or written in prose or verse.
Narrative (敘 事)
The underlying structure, coherence or organization
given to a series of acts. The way in which events are
strung together to create sense and meaning
Anecdote (軼事)
Usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or
biographical incident
Definitions

7. Why do we use Storytelling?
1. Persuade and motivate, because they
appeal to our emotions and capacity for
empathy
2. Use as illustration in organizational
conversation
3. Capture and sharing of knowledge
(especially for experiential and tacit
knowledge)

8. 1. Persuade and motivate
Examples of Stories:
To convey value and meaning……….

9. 2. Use as illustration in organizational
conversation
Four Parts of Speech
• Framing: (框架/目的/理念/假設)
stating your purpose & assumptions
• Advocating: (主張/提意)
asserting an option, feeling, or proposal for action
• Illustrating: (舉例說明)
concrete examples or stories
• Inquiring: (探詢)
questioning, asking feedback from others
(Bill Torbert and Associates: Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timley and
Transforming Leadership, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc San
Francisco 2004 )

10. 3. Capture and sharing of knowledge
Narratives Interviews
Anecdote Circles Digital Storytelling

11. Julie says:
February 27, 2015 at 12:33
Wow, what a journey! Thank
you so much for sharing, I can
only…..
My green recovery story
February 26, 2015 • 8 comments
Hey friends. As I mentioned over the weekend,
it’s NEDA week. Last year, I created a lot of
long and thoughtful posts for this event. This
year, I’m keeping it simple. Rather than
ruminating on eating disorders in any abstract
way, I’m simply sharing my own green
recovery story……………………..
Sarah says:
February 27, 2015 at 04:44
What a wonderful surprise to see your story in
this series, Gena. Seeing it all typed out like
that was really insightful…I had never realised
your story had that many twists and turns.

12. A Case on the
Application of Narratives to Capture
Near-Miss Knowledge in Aircraft Maintenance

13. Just
Culture
Learning
Culture
Reporting
Culture
Safety
Culture
Near miss, operation and maintenance error, adverse
incident are caused by human limitations
(Helmreich and Davies, 2004)
Fair Blame
- Voluntary
- Non-punitive
Reason (1997, 2003)

14. Reporter
Narrative
Reports
Learning
Input
Process
Analysis
by Experts
Research
by Experts
Study &
Synthesis
Publication
of Findings
Database
Incident Reporting and Analysis
is an Iterative Loop
Corrective
Action
Industry & Practitioners
(Users) (Potential Reporters)
C. Billings, MD. (1998). “The NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System: Lessons
Learned from Voluntary Incident Reporting.”
Alerting Messages,
Special Studies
Human Factors,
Risk Identification,
Safety Assessment,
Insights
Incident Reporting Model
(Billings, 1998)

15. Anecdote circle

16. Anecdote sample
It was 04:00 in a hot summer, all the staff was so tired and sleepy after working long
hour at night. The check of the aircraft was almost finished. The mechanic reported to
the engineer about the amount of lubricant oil used for the engine from left to right.
The mechanic counted “1, 4, 0, 1”
“Could you repeat once again?”, the engineer said.
“1, 4, 0, 1”, replied the mechanic.
“What happened? Why did that engine need 4 cans of lubricant oil? Check!”, said the
engineer.
“No need to check! It’s no problem!”, the mechanic said lazily.
“Come on! It’s abnormal to fill in the engine with 4 cans of lubricant oil!”, the
engineer shouted.
The engineer noticed that mechanic was so tired and sleepy. He went to examine the
engine directly and opened the cowling. After that, he asked his trusted mechanic to
start the engine. He found that the oil tube cracked and oil return line leaked. The
engineer reported to party concerned and the flight had to be delayed.

17. Narrative analysis
•Extract learning points from the
stories collected
•Reveal the pattern of human factors
and hidden factors
•Develop narrative database to store
the learning points

18. 26
Human Factors (Learning Points)
Analysis A
 Lack of knowledge
 Laziness
 Lack of awareness
Analysis B
 Circadian rhythm
 No common sense
 Lack of training
 No walk around check
Mechanics felt tired and sleepy after working
long hours. In addition, human feels tired the
most between 04:00 and 05:00.
Mechanic was not good enough and did not
have common sense to ask about the higher
consumption of lubricant oil.
Mechanic is trained on task procedure only. He
knows how to add oil into the engine but has
no sense on the amount.
If engineer performed walk around check, he
should find some oil on the ground.
Mechanic did not realize that it was abnormal to
fill in 4 cans of lubricant oil.
Mechanic was so lazy to check the engine and
claimed that there was no problem with it.
Many mechanics focus on their own tasks only
without awareness of other issues. For example,
in this incidence, mechanic finished his task to
fill in lubricant oil but did not aware that it was
abnormal to fill in 4 cans.
Narrative analysis

20. Guidelines for Facilitators in
Collecting Stories / Narratives
• Ask open questions
• Talk in the language of the participants
• Start with an image-building phrase, e.g. „Think
about…‟, „Imagine a time when …‟
• Use more „what‟ questions, less „why‟ questions, e.g.
„What happened?’
• Encourage experiences and examples rather than
opinions, e.g. Could you give an example about…?
• Allow silence
• Work as a guide, not a leader

21. Thank you for your listening !
W.B. Lee
wb.lee@polyu.edu.hk