How to transform your leadership with narrative intelligence

Understanding how to build leadership capacity is a tricky landscape to traverse. One of the few points of agreement amongst leadership researchers and scholars is that leadership is amongst the most complex of human endeavours.

A better understanding of leadership seems vital in this age of diminishing ‘universal truths’, with its rampant populism, relativism, fundamentalism, nationalism and other ‘isms’; emerging technologies; increasing corporate scandals; climate change and climate change sceptics; and fake news. It seems we are currently more intent than ever on collectively creating outcomes none of us want. Clearly, we need effective leadership more than ever.

“We understand ourselves inescapably in narrative.” (Charles Taylor, 1989, p. 51)

‘Narrative Intelligence’ is a transformational leadership concept for improving our understanding of why things sometimes work out less effectively than we expect; for reconfiguring our own thinking so that it better supports our goals, aspirations and wellbeing; and for reorienting ourselves to be more effective when engaging with others in pursuing leadership outcomes. It begins with understanding that most of us run an internal commentary on what is happening in our lives, believing that this narrative is ‘true’. Leaders strong in narrative intelligence understand that people act more from deep, personal truths than from objectively testable truths. These truths are created by piecing together fragments of data from lived experience. The data selected and the data overlooked, are determined by core values and other mental models. We then construct meaning of an experience in the medium of a narrative, and this becomes the story we tell ourselves. It draws on causes, key people and events, and the impact they have on what unfolds. The form that our narratives take impact directly on our own capacity to influence outcomes and subsequent developments. There may or may not be much correlation between what actually happened, and our belief in the understanding about it we create.

Once we recognise that we all curate the narratives in which our life unfolds, we can go on to understand how to consciously read them and our role in them; and we can learn how to rewrite those narratives into more effective renderings. This deepening insight into our narrative living has crucial implications for our capacity to execute our leadership goals. This is due to the reciprocity between our self-efficacy and agency, both of which are directly influenced by our very thinking and the narratives in which it manifests.

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” (Anais Nin, 1972, p. 124)

Narrative intelligence is transformational for leadership because it forges a new paradigm which enables leaders to break through – it enables them to see that many of the obstacles they face begin with them and their assumptions, blindspots, hunches and perspectives. Many books and leadership courses argue that leadership is fundamentally grounded in either behaviours, styles or character traits, and that it’s mainly about getting people to do what you want them to do.

“Narratives… are not mere words and images; they can enter our brains and provide models that we not merely live by, but that define who we are”. (George Lakoff, 2009, p. 231)

Leading with narrative intelligence departs from focussing on the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of leadership, to expand into the ‘who’ of leadership. Authentic leadership is more to do with how to exercise positive influence in ways which excite, inspire and engage others. When gaps emerge between what leaders say they stand for and what others observe in their behaviour, trust and credibility erode, leaders sense less commitment from their colleagues than they would like, and they might start assuming the problem is with those colleagues and their commitment. In this situation, many leaders resort to trying to pressure their colleagues, or offering incentives. Leaders with strong narrative intelligence become skilled at not only recognising the narratives they construct about themselves, they also learn how they ‘feed’ the narratives others form about them.

This raises a vital consideration of the moral dimension of leading with narrative intelligence. Raw power has always been abused to serve Machiavellian motivations to achieve self-serving ends. However, successfully manipulating people is not leadership, and nor is power. Anyone with power can wield it to coerce people to conform. Sadly, black parodies of leadership are all too common. Leaders with narrative intelligence understand that when their core values, actions and goals are all aligned, people’s trust in them grows. The remarkable thing that follows is that our influence with others grows in direct proportion to how much people trust us. And this is because influence cannot be imposed, it is something we invite from others when we trust them.

“The universe is made of stories not of atoms.” (Muriel Rukeyser, 1968, p. 111)

Unfortunately, with limited narrative intelligence, there are risks of a narrative becoming fixed, becoming more remote and isolated from the experiences of others. It calcifies so hard that it blinds itself with bias, ignoring contrary evidence; leaving us with self-limiting, personal truths . One of the hallmarks of effective, successful leaders is their preparedness to actively keep refining their unfolding narratives, which sharpens their capacity to read the nuances of what is happening and emerging in their context. This ability sits squarely within our narrative intelligence. Fixed narratives consign us all to a treadmill of delusion and despair, often settling in a self-inflicted pool of victimhood. Ever-unfolding narratives offer new horizons, hope and options.

“… those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.” (Salman Rushdie, 1991)

Narratively intelligent leaders will support and challenge others to become more aware of the narratives in which they dwell and to develop the capacity to shape their own, more self-efficacious narratives. They understand the challenges and potential in leading others to reshape their own narratives. Beyond that, the pinnacle of narratively intelligent leadership is the capacity to generate shared, ethical narratives featuring a communal sense of ‘us’. This involves channelling a sense of responsibility for outcomes, a sense of accountability for personal contributions, and engaging the discretionary energy which people bring to their roles. In its highest expression, narratively intelligent leaders nurture a culture of narrative intelligence.

“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.” (Author of 'Peter Pan' - Sir James Barrie, 1897, p. 4 )

Leaders well-endowed with narrative intelligence understand that it is not the events and developments of the day to which we respond as we navigate through life: it is the meaning we shape about those experiences. Our experience of living always happens in the present moment. We have memories of what has brought us to this moment and we construct our own stories to explain how we got here. But everything ‘happening’ occurs in the complex messiness of right now. Narrative intelligence provides us with the practical wisdom to draw on our previous experiences to make rich, wiser meaning of what is unfolding – in all its disorder and confusion. And this influences directly our emotional responses and the actions we take.

“The trouble with most people… is not that they don’t know much but that they know so much that isn’t true.” (Will Rogers in Cohen, 1978, p. 30)

Current research on leading with narrative intelligence offers new insight and practice for leading effectively with:

• high-performing teams, grounded in rich relationships and accountability
• extraordinary commitment, resilience and efficacy from all, around a compelling, shared vision
• deep, mutual trust and ‘fidelity of influence’
• integrity, authenticity and a rich ethical core
• sound judgement for deeply understanding the complexities of the context
• practical wisdom for responding to what is unfolding
• effective systems and action for executing strategic goals
• unprecedented, positive impact

Interested in learning more about leading with narrative intelligence? Please contact me here at Linkedin, email [email protected] and check out Rewriting Leadership with Narrative Intelligence at Amazon: https://bit.ly/Narrat-Intel

Praise for: Rewriting Leadership with Narrative Intelligence

“This is a landmark book that explains how to do what many people cannot imagine doing.”

Professor Robert E. Quinn, Center for Positive Organizations, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Author of The Economics of Higher Purpose

“This is a book of sweeping scope. For anyone interested in fresh approaches to leadership, this is a powerful resource… it will provide you with a stimulating balance of nods, ahas and ouches.”

Dr John Edwards, Co-author of Schools That Deliver; International Co-ordinator: ‘Schools that Deliver’.

Dr Morgan’s book... opens the window on the mindset of leaders and the power of narratives to shape leadership... [It] is a must-read for all involved in the study and practice of leadership.

Professor Rob Elkington, University of Ontario; Co-Author of Exceptional Leadership by Design

“The senses of narrative and their appropriateness to leadership are cogently and compellingly laid out… This very readable book has an important place today and for the future.”

Malcolm Elliott, President, Australian Primary Principals Association

“… an inspiring and motivating book that commands your presence and opens up possibilities for leading real change. “

Professor Madeleine van der Steege, Webster University, The Netherlands

“Rewriting Leadership with Narrative Intelligence adds something really different and useful to this field. What kinds of stories do we tell ourselves and how helpful are they to the way we lead, communicate and relate to others? Dr Greg Morgan has written at once a scholarly, practical and profound exploration of these stories, how they impact us and how we can best manage and leverage them to be more effective leaders in this complex work world which we now live. I recommend it highly.”

John Campbell, Founding Director, Growth Coaching International, Sydney, Australia; Bend, Oregon, USA