Everyone is a Storyteller

Elizabeth Gilbert?mused?that the universe buries strange jewels deep within us all and then stands back to see if we can find them. We think these jewels often show up in the form of?stories...?and, we believe stories are everywhere.?Indeed, we don't always see them right away, but they're out there (or inside us) waiting to be found, shared, and shaped. And if we can tap into the power of stories, we can win hearts, build stronger connections, inspire a collective vision, enable others to step up, or even challenge the status quo. Because, whether we realize it or not,?we're all storytellers.??

Stories Give Meaning to Experience

As we work with leaders to become more effective storytellers, one of our goals is to shift their?stories about storytelling itself. Rather than viewing stories as mere anecdotes to be sprinkled into discourse in special circumstances, we invite folks to recognize that our brains are ceaseless storytelling machines. In fact, we churn out narrative explanations for what we encounter faster than we can keep up! To paraphrase one of our favorite cognitive psychologists,?Jerome Bruner, it is hard to distinguish story from meaning making itself.?

When looked at this way, we see that storytelling does not just involve recounting experiences. It’s also the act of?structuring messages that have narrative arcs that drive toward a moral?(aka a key message or call to action). And story skills become not just the skills of “telling” but?skills of listening?for and?discerning others’ meaning making.

The Ambient Narratives Floating Around

When we get good at noticing the “story is meaning” phenomenon, we begin to recognize that our cultures and subcultures are vast webs of shared stories that float around our environments… often consciously unarticulated. We call these stories “ambient narratives”.?(Shout out to the brilliant?Micaela Blei,Ph.D. for her work with us on this.)?Ambient Narrative is the aggregate of the implicit and explicit, past and present stories that exist in the ecosystem. These are underlying assumptions, understandings, or themes that run under our communication. For example: “Joe is the responsible one,” “The merger was the beginning of all of our challenges with growth,” “Our best hope for success is getting an experienced team together.”

When we can identify and name them, we?empower the system?to examine, address and embrace or discard them as the community sees fit. On the other hand, when we do not recognize this truth–that?storytelling is a constantly occurring process?and that our environments are already filled with scores of narratives that may align or contradict whatever explicit messages we are attempting to communicate–the probability our stories of influence survive the Darwinian narrative fray are slim.

Exploring Your Culture's Ambient Narratives

The stories we tell provide clues to our existing culture.?Think about the tales and legends people within your organization recount repeatedly.?What do they tell you about the environment??Here are a few questions to help spot your organization’s ambient narratives:

Ask yourself:

• What do I hear people saying over and over? (especially as?throw-away lines, e.g. “Well, you know what they say…”)
• What does everyone know to be true about working here??About working for a particular boss?
• What would you say if the new person on the job asked you: “What is really important for me to know that they didn't tell me at Orientation?”
• If you’re hoping to influence others on something, what is currently true about that topic or issue?

Then ask yourself:

• What are the current ambient narratives that can help me??How do I build with and from these stories??
• What are the current stories that oppose or resist me? What new information do I need to add to change these opinions?
• How big is the gap between the current opinion and my desired opinion?
• What new stories do I need to add into the system to push the current ambient narrative toward my desired message or goal?

Remember:?we’re all storytellers.?The question is–what jewels are waiting for you to find, share, and shape?