Have you read some of the blog posting of Thaler Pekar? You must have because Thaler is an authority in the field of organizational storytelling. Like me she helps smart leaders and their organizations find, develop, and share the stories and organizational narratives that can rally critical support. Her previous posts in this series can be found here, here, here, and here.)
As you probably have read in my previoius post I recently have become a big believer in story curation! So let me share with you one of my favorite blog postings of Thaler: “What, Why, and How Story Matters”.
By Thaler Pekar – March 03, 2010
I fear the term “story” is being used so broadly as to render it meaningless.
Messages are not stories. Statements of belief and opinions are not stories. And, most of the time, answers to direct questions are not stories.
Many well-intentioned professionals are rushing out and thinking they are asking for stories, when they are not. What gets shared as a result of their efforts is often called story, even when it is not.
Allow me to define the term simply. “Story” implies a series of unfolding events. Something happens to someone or something. A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Understanding and recognizing a real story matters for three reasons: First, stories provide rich insight into complex emotions and situations, and competing, or even seemingly contradictory, values. They bridge the rational and the emotional. And stories provide context, enabling us to create meaning out of complexity and confusion. Flannery O’Connor observed, “A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way.” It follows that by listening to stories, you will hear things you wouldn’t ordinarily hear.
Second, the narrative elements found in many stories — protagonist, secondary characters, conflict, resolution, theme, situation, setting — usually combine to equal a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Moreover, when reviewing a large number of stories, the repetition of these elements, and the patterns and connections between them, very often yield insight and deeper meaning.
Third, when people think they are working with story — but are not — they tend to become discouraged and suspicious of the true power of effective narrative.
A recent Nonprofit Quarterly article, “Unraveling Development: Collecting Stories From Your Donors,” stresses the importance of listening to your donors’ stories. The article also poses a number of interesting questions. With a little tweaking, those questions can generate an abundance of details as well as important insight into your donors’ relationship with your organization.
For instance, instead of asking the direct questions suggested in the article –
- What interests you most about this organization? What is less interesting to you?
- Why does this cause matter to you?
- How does your philanthropy reflect your values?
– consider inquiring about your donor’s actual experiences:
- If you look back over your years of knowing and being a part of this organization, what experiences come to mind? What incident stands out as the most delightful?
- Can you tell me about an experience that was less interesting to you?
- When was the first time you heard of our organization? With whom were you speaking? What was happening?
- Tell me about a time when you felt really connected with the mission of our organization.
Think about the kinds of details you will hear in response. Each of those questions is likely to result in a mélange of emotion, authentic experience, and visceral memories. Specific incidents, people, places, and situations will be referenced. Your donor is no longer focused on answering the specifics of your question, satisfying your inquiry with a dry, data-filled response. Instead, by asking for a story, you’ve indicated your willingness to listen, have surrendered control over the content of the answer, and have granted your respondent the freedom to exercise his or her creativity. Cynthia Kurtz, author of Working with Stories, nicely sums it up: “If the kind of thing you need to know, or you need other people to know, has to do with beliefs and opinions and feelings, asking people to tell you stories can provide a more authentic result than asking them direct questions.”
So I decided to write a book about all of this. And to make it simple and concrete I try to summarize my view in one sentence:
Check out my profile on LinkedIn
