Sometimes as organizations learn about the value of storytelling, they get stuck because they don't know how to reap its benefits. In Part 2 of an interview with Denise Lee and Seth Kahan, we hear some of the ways they go about introducing storytelling and stories to people.

Carol:  Denise and Seth, you both talked about one of the values of storytelling as its ability to bring about and influence conversation. As much as it looks like - on the surface - conversation goes on in an organization all the time in every department, a closer look at some organizations suggests otherwise. People clam up because they don't trust another individual. Organizational silos and the hierarchical communication channels that help in some ways prevent free flow of ideas between divisions. Even more simply, there are many people in an organization who we don't know - there's a human tendency not to reach beyond our comfort zone and actively engage a stranger in a meaningful dialogue.

What are the ways that you have introduced organizations to storytelling to help members benefit from the valuable aspects you discussed in part 1 of this interview?

Denise: One example where I have used written stories was at NASA in a storytelling magazine (ASK Magazine) to strengthen the project management community through the sharing of lessons learned and best practices.

A second example would be my work at GSA where I introduced stories to improve the adoption of a new process methodology.  The stories captured successes across the agency to show behaviors where adopting the new process helped improve efficiency and improve customer service.

Another example would be at another government agency where the CFO used stories to show progress to Congress for his congressional hearings.  We interviewed key personnel and then crafted the information into stories for his use.

Seth: I use storytelling to quickly create environments where people trust each other and can work together constructively on complex topics. My signature process, JumpStart Storytelling, has been documented and used around the world by many organizations.
 
Carol: In a nutshell, that's a special process where you as a facilitator lead every participant in a group to determine their aspirations, recall experiences, share their stories and honor others' stories by carefully listening. The participants pay attention to the way stories engage them and they give the stories titles.

Seth: More can be found at http://sethkahan.com/Resources_0JumpStart.html.

I have modified JumpStart Storytelling and used it to successfully kick off strategic planning sessions for members of Congress, international associations, senior management teams at the Peace Corps and the World Bank, in the private sector with Shell, and to open conferences where attendance is well over 2,000. Regardless of how many participate the process is less than an hour. It's incredibly flexible and marvelously effective, if I do say so myself . It was designed based on my experience in multi-cultural organizations and working under the brilliant leadership of Paul Costello at the Center for Narrative Studies (www.storywise.com). 

(to be continued)