What we think...
I’m looking forward to a whistle-stop visit to Dubai next week, where I am speaking on Engaging Employees Through Storytelling at the 8th Middle East Conference & Expo.
Interestingly, the theme of the conference is ‘Explore The Latest HR Innovations And Develop Your Own Creative Techniques’. While writing my presentation it occurred to me initially that Storytelling is hardly an innovation. After all, it has been around since the beginning of mankind. But on the other hand, I went on to argue with myself, it is absolutely an innovation in the business world, as it challenges conventional methods of communication, knowledge-sharing, organisational development and learning. Our brains are wired to impart information through narrative, yet in business we tend to revert to fact-based and rational data where bias must be concealed at all costs.
Storytelling of course offers a myriad of opportunities when it comes to developing an individual’s creative techniques. Storytelling is creative in itself – and it opens up new horizons of interpretation which people need in order to make sense of the world they live and work in. I’ve recently been reading a great book called The Power Of The Tale. The author(s) stress that stories foster out-of-the-box thinking; innovation through drawing on the experiences and knowledge of a tier of the organisation which is not normally consulted. This was reinforced by lateral thinker Edward de Bono to whom I enjoyed listening at a recent HR Summit: “In a crisis you need more thinking. Creative ideas are as important as legal affairs or finance. Thinking time is vital. Strategy formed out of existing data analysis is very dangerous because nothing will change.”
I am often asked how storytelling can overcome cynicism. The Power Of The Tale stresses that while you are trying to persuade people with statistics, facts and quotes, they are arguing with you in their head. They have their own set of statistics and experiences, so it’s not good enough to persuade them on a simply intellectual basis. But involve them in dialogue, unearthing their own stories and sharing them with truth, honesty, pride, trust, openness, authenticity, care and respect for others will engender the same kind of behaviour. People will reciprocate with the same attitude.