Leveraging the Power of Organizational Narratives to Shape Culture & Change

Stories hold an intriguing power - the ability to make sense of the past while igniting change for the future. As leaders and organizations navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain world, the emerging field of narrative psychology offers valuable insights on the role of stories in managing change.

By intentionally shaping organizational narratives, we can influence mindsets, cultures and strategic transformations. The stories we tell about where we've been have immense potential to inform where we're going.

?

Redemptive Arc Stories

Narrative psychology examines concepts like “redemption” stories versus “contamination” stories. A redemptive narrative involves depicting challenges or setbacks as leading to positive renewal over time. Leaders can purposefully frame the organization's journey as an arc where past difficulties led to critical lessons that guide progress. Conversely, a contamination narrative depicts a negative event as ruining an otherwise positive state of being or story. The bad experience contaminates the goodness and casts a shadow that subverts learning and moving forward.

?

For instance, a redemption narrative can communicate how an unsuccessful product launch generated key insights about customer needs that shape current innovation. Or how it demonstrated the organization’s willingness to take risks and quickly launch new product ideas – an embodiment of John Maxwell’s adage, “Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward”. This narrative can energize the organization to lean into innovation, rapid prototyping, and ways to optimize speed to market – building a culture of adaptability and resilience. ?In contrast, that same unsuccessful product launch, if allowed to manifest in a contamination narrative (“we stink at new product launches”, “our R&D is subpar”, “our sales team isn’t effective”), can result in a loss of confidence, finger pointing, and a loss of trust and empowerment.

?

Even painful layoffs could be positioned as instigating vital restructuring. The negative becomes meaningful context for positive outcomes.

?

Of course, authenticity is critical. Redemption narratives should honestly acknowledge loss and suffering before showing how they propelled rebirth. When thoughtfully constructed, these stories can promote organizational resilience, cohesion and purpose during change.

?

The Wisdom in Life Chapters

?Organizations, like individuals, evolve through distinct chapters. It is frequently a mistake to try and write the chapters prematurely or to make them too short and discreet. Attention to how you define the chapters can have a big impact on the narrative. For example, if you write the narrative “chapter” of a change initiative during the most challenging period of implementation, it can seem like a “contamination” story (“we were doing just fine, then this change was implemented and now everything is messed up and people are unhappy”). If you hold your assessment and define the chapter of change after the organization has stabilized from the change the narrative can mine the merits and richness of the full story (“we identified a need for change, asked our people for their input, and incorporated the wisdom of our valued employees to craft a successful transformation”). Context and a longitudinal perspective make all the difference.

?

Similarly, a contextual and longitudinal narrative of the organization’s history can provide insight and inspiration that wouldn’t be accessible if the past is too compartmentalized into discrete chapters. Leaders can ask questions like:

?

- What strengths emerged in our early start-up days that we should reignite?

?

- How did we lose our way in the scaling up years and how can we draw on that learning now?

?

- What bold vision arose during rapid growth that we can reconnect to?

?

Our organizational narratives are living treasures offering hard-won wisdom to guide a better future if we take time to unearth their gifts. By curating redemptive stories we open new possibilities.

DM me if you'd like to talk about your organizational change initiative.