the HeART of STORY; in leading organizational change

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At the heart of it all, organizational storytelling must be about putting across a certain truth—a truth that teaches, inspires, sustains and strengthens the moral fiber of the organization’s spine, structure and culture.

When the leadership of such an organization promotes and publishes such a truth then it follows that it has ethical intention at the core and this, automatically, drives the organization and its members to execute the elements necessary progress and flourish in a whole-hearted and an inclusive way. The reason behind it is that, in essence, stories are the chronicles and the records of the values that an organization espouses and the values that the organization has already lived and continues to live by on a daily basis.

Connect, Engage and Influence your World Creatively!

Though organizations like living many living systems naturally grow and morph, human organizations that can recall, re-tell and re-live their values repeatedly and consistently do not easily change driven by the forces of nature, changing economies or changing times. Such organization stake an active part in navigating and nurturing their own growth and development, progressively, towards their espoused values and visions. They also consistently upgrade their values and raise the bar on their own performance towards commercial success and service towards a greater good for society.

This fact does bring to mind the age-old debate of what leads and drives growth and what creates success. Is it nature or is it nurture?

Transformative leaders and authentic change agents know that there is a third, often ignored and underrated, factor-the creative intelligence innate in all human systems. Unlike most other living organisms and other living systems, a human system has the cognitive ability to look back at its past, compare it to the present and then create a concoction of ideas, images, arguments in the form of vision, in the form of a future-paced story and design and deliver that ideal future for itself and the world that it is a part of. It is only humans that have the uncanny ability to curate, collect and diffuse stories of innovation which impact and shape our future.

Take a walk through the halls and corridors of any of the global locations of Procter & Gamble Co., and you will see strewn on their walls stories of growth, of success, of mergers, of acquisitions, of challenges faced and overcome by them since their birth in 1837.  In their logs, on their walls amongst the stories, amongst the colors stand out faces of their leaders, their heroes who not only created those stories but also told and retold them in multiple forms and on numerous occasions.

Have a conversation with any one of the thousands of employees of Philippines Long Distance Telephone Company, Smart Telecom, Philex Mining Corp; Beacon, Manila North Tollways Corporation, Maynilad Water Services Corporation, Landco Pacific Corporation, Medical Doctors Incorporated are any of the subsidiaries of the First Pacific Group found by Manuel V. Pangalinan of the Philippines and hear stories of how a single leader inspires and motivates them with forthrightness, ethical action and his pioneering spirit. In less than 20 years, he bought into dormant and decaying businesses and, single-handedly and courageously, brought them back to life to growth by telling future-based stories of increased efficiency, unleashed innovation and growth. Each of these organizations dug up what they valued from their past and attached it to a future they are, together, building.

In my recently published book, the HeART of STORY, there’s a detailed case description of how the Lopez Group of the Philippines successfully used interactive, online storytelling to revive their values and increase engagement across its 14,000 strong organization.

Intentionally, authentically and assertively leading change in human systems is a matter of exercising our imaginations and using our intelligences’ creatively. Leading change through storytelling is the act of backing up our change initiatives with the positive power from our pasts then stretching ourselves into the images and visions of an exciting future. That is the heart of storytelling and that is the creative tension that leaders of change use to transform our worlds.

 

Here’s also a link on How to Tell a Story.

Here’s also the link to the book, the HeART of STORY.

Enjoy!

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