“Stories constitute the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal.” Dr. Howard Gardner
As a child, I always felt excited just before bed, that sacred time when I could delve into the story of my day, and let my imagination run wild. I loved reading, from the moment I could, and this was because it transported me into my own fictional world – a world where I could imagine, create, and do things differently! My parents were always telling me I had an ‘overactive imagination’ – well, they were right, but little did I know that it would serve me in my job and quest to create bigger things, to decipher stories hidden in systems and to help create new narratives and visions. But how?
The history of storytelling is a rich and fascinating one that spans thousands of years and reflects the evolution of human communication and culture. We all love stories; we all have stories and secretly (or not) we all need to tell our stories in order to belong.
Early forms of storytelling can be seen in cave paintings depicting activities and experiences, suggesting that narratives existed. We know that early humans gathered around fires to share experiences, and used myths to convey morals, cultural values, and collective history. Many indigenous cultures use storytelling as a means of passing down oral traditions, such as the Aboriginal culture in Australia. Stories are often tied to the land, and encompass creation myths, moral lessons, and historical accounts that connect future generations to their ancestors and environments. Tyson Yunkaporta uses this blueprint in his book Sand Talk to look at global systems from an indigenous perspective. His enquiry into how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation, what this means for us and how we can think and do things differently, highlights how stories are deeply intertwined with the land and cultural practices. They serve as a means of understanding and teaching about the relationship between people, land, and spirituality. In our recent podcast (listen here), Susan Lindner, CEO of Innovation Storytellers, explicitly uses links to ancient times, and particularly the example of the prophets, to demonstrate how storytelling is used for influence and impact in different systems.
The stories we tell ourselves
How we speak to ourselves is so important, yet we invariably overlook this fact. I often explore this topic with leaders when looking for an understanding of more effective and authentic leadership. What makes me react in the way I do? What stories am I telling myself, and what is it costing me?
The stories we tell ourselves are powerful and important as we step into wanting to create a more inclusive and collaborative environment. They allow us to ‘see’ our cognitive framing – to see how our mind organises information within our existing stories and to see the patterns of how we interpret experiences and events. This can reinforce assumptions and lead to tunnel vision through confirmation bias, reinforcing existing perspectives that we then accept as truths.
The emotional impact of these narratives can also affect our mood, our motivation, our perception and ultimately our mental health. Staying exclusively in our own stories will inhibit our understanding of the wider system, and, if they are negative stories, will provoke anxiety and self-doubt. We also use this information for decision-making and connection. Sharing stories helps us connect with each other, and collective narratives can scale this.
When I was completing my Brené Brown Dare To Lead certification, we were constantly looking for patterns, and story patterns, filling gaps and creating our own narratives of what we are sure will happen – until it doesn’t! We did exercises on observing our own stories and intentionally writing what Brené Brown calls a ‘sh**y first draft’. What patterns do you see in what you write, in how you think, in when it happens? When do you get into that habit? What do you notice about why and how you do that? This overthinking process of course increases when our brains are on alert and hyper vigilant, hence the hamster wheel of overthinking that quickly takes hold in workplace environments where we are trying to fit in as opposed to belong, and constantly striving to be something we’re not. Reframing our personal stories can enhance resilience in a creative way. By recognising and getting playful with our ability to change the narrative, we can effectively overcome adversity and grow from the different challenges (or opportunities) we face.
Our collective stories
Systems have memory too, and if we continue to sustain and support the same narrative, we will keep the story going. This fundamental aspect of human connection and culture allows us to do several things individually that will keep us relevant as we move into a more digital world and allow us to scale the impact:
– Connect and empathise: stories create a bridge between people and their emotions and experiences, allowing us to step out of our perspective and into that of someone else, fostering empathy – this is key in building the relational infrastructure needed to keep human systems productive and healthy.
– Value lived experiences: personal stories allow people to express their unique identities and points of view, facilitating self-expression and the feeling of belonging to a group, team or community.
– Preserve cultural heritage: passing on stories, values, history and emotional legacies to maintain identities and nurture belonging to a team, tribe, community or organisation.
– Practice critical thinking: stories stimulate the brain and enable listeners to use their imagination to think critically about the narrative in question – this is also a great skill to be able to apply to oneself and one’s inner stories.
– Influence behavioural change: inspiring action and showcasing different perspectives for communication and team engagement.
– Understand complexity: stories are a brilliant medium for simplifying complex ideas or situations, making them easier to connect with and relate to, breaking down the barriers of the unknown and the overwhelm of multiple layers
Storytelling also allows us to take a more holistic approach to problem-solving, and encourages us to look at the bigger picture, together. It also allows us to simplify complex landscapes and understand the interconnectedness of various elements. If we look at artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci and we ‘learn to see, see that everything is connected to everything else’, it is clear that seeing the bigger picture and being able to envision something bigger is key for impacting a whole system (be it individual or collective). So, what does this mean for teams and organisations?
This is essentially what we do through constellations work and more systemic coaching practices – looking at how all the different pieces think, act and interact to create a different and more sustainable picture. As we know, the biggest waste of resources in transformation initiatives is trying to solve adaptive, more human-centred challenges with technical solutions (new processes, policies or tools). So, how can we move people into an ‘adaptive’ mindset and space, away from a more binary, results-driven mindset? The two can co-exist, and it is this mastery that we are looking for. Storytelling serves as a great basis for this.
The four fundamental building blocks for creating a more inclusive environment that fosters collaboration are empathy, psychological safety, co-responsibility and collective vision. However, these don’t guarantee an inclusive system, and are a fragile equilibrium: if one of them is pushed aside, the system becomes less cohesive, and we rush to get back to our own, well-known, ‘safe’ narratives which thrive in the meantime. This happens if there are not enough leaders deliberately building capacity in the system to support the strategic storyline, the vision and the cultural conditions needed for these building blocks to exist. This happens if the strategic storyline is not clear, and if this story has not been built collectively and recounted by many to enable the necessary tweaks to culture, perspective, emotions, hopes and business objectives. All these building blocks are adaptive challenges, and although they take longer to understand and put in place, they will ultimately bring about more sustainable change.
Stories make the world go round, connect us constantly and have a healing, liberating and healthy effect in collective systems. They allow us to express our experiences and emotions, they allow us to dream and imagine, they allow us to inspire and engage, and essentially to create a culture of collaboration and care. Stories are a strategic lever for creating the conditions for people to thrive, for voices to be heard and for a strategic approach to embed sustainability into the fabric of an organisation. They are a wonderful, simple and human way of connecting the dots between vision, culture, and action in a digitally connected environment, allowing us to build the emotional infrastructure necessary for healthy human systems and for sustainable transformation to be a lived and shared experience.
Thank you for reading.
If this resonates with you please share your thoughts in the comments, and subscribe for more thoughts on human systems.
You can also find more subjects like this in my podcast, Let’s talk Transformation, available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast.
If you’re looking to build and lead agile ecosystems differently, check out our Human Systems Practitioner course : https://bit.ly/HSP_TFV
