Making Sense Through Story: 7. Being a Storytelling Leader Part 1.

Number seven in a series of articles taken from a dissertation for degree of MA, Storytelling (Distinction) at Loughborough University.

Leaders, followers, sense-making and strategy.

Leaders are responsible for strategy. I argue that the best leaders ensure the creation of a strategic narrative that flows freely throughout the organisation. From experience and research the step from strategy to strategic narrative isn’t often made. Where strategy conversations do take place, they typically flow to middle managers and then stop, excluding the majority of the workforce from engaging.

As a result, change stalls.

Great leaders also role-model personal storytelling to demonstrate why change is important to them. They facilitate a listening organisation, in which a new StoryWorld surfaces new culture. Here, people are freed to share their own stories of their role in the change taking place.

But don’t just take my word for it…. HBR: Storytelling can make or break your leadership

When thinking about leadership, we should also consider followership. Followers expect their leaders to provide moral leadership – to give generously of their time, advice, recognition and support; show empathy and demonstrate they are genuinely concerned for the realisation of a mission or a project.

In other words, leaders help people make sense of why they work there. Those focused solely on their own careers and enrichment are seen as morally flawed.[1]

A measure of authenticity is how leaders ‘use stories to share information about themselves, especially those with negative turning points which enact the true self.’[2] Others have found that in the absence of authenticity, bad stories frustrate positive change. Managers should be concerned about the impact of negative WOM on financial and non-financial performance measures (e.g. by discouraging customers).[3]

Apart from the impact on change culture and performance measures, why should we care about narrative discourse?

The answer is because what is necessary in sense-making is a good story.[4]

Karl E. Weick is a leading authority on sense-making. He argues that the core purpose of leadership is to manage sense-making within the organisation, which means finding the balance between:

a.?????? A need for speed - swift socialization, control over dispersed resources, legitimacy in the eyes of stakeholders, measurable outcomes, and accountability; and…

b.????? Building on the values of the past (the residual) with accomplishments in innovation and intersubjectivity which drive strategic change forward.

‘When people operationalise what they think that means, and then impose meaning on behalf of the organization [through the stories that they tell] … sensible work is done.’

So, why should storytelling be included in all leadership training programmes?

Simon Sinek advises people to ‘follow leaders who follow something bigger than themselves.’

There are three moments in which storytelling can come to the aid of leaders:

1.?????? When your strategy is signed off and you are working out how to communicate it to the world (strategic narrative).

2.?????? When you are sharing why that’s important to you at conference or in a lift with the boss (personal professional storytelling).

3.?????? When you are trying to understand whether people are engaged enough to change behaviours and activate the strategy (story listening).

Some leaders feel that storytelling is childish, but this is missing its’ immense potential to activate change. So, when talking to leaders, I tend to refer to narrative, which sounds more professional, and then ask them to ‘tell me your story.’

Either way, the starting point is opening people’s minds to the potential.

Bringing to life a storytelling culture.

In my research case study, I uncovered an excellent listening culture in the organisation at the heart. People told stories of how this surfaced what was important to them and resulted in positive change. However, in the absence of a strategic narrative, they couldn’t relate personal stories to a strategic vision, but only to changes experienced locally.

The best example I have ever found of a company which puts narrative at the heart of strategic decisions is Amazon.

I was inspired several years ago by Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders, in which he stated that any new initiative is brought to the Board not via PowerPoint (which always stops at the message) but in the form of a six-page narrative. This is read at the start of a meeting in a kind of ‘study hall.’ Bezos notes that ‘some have the clarity of angels singing… while others… come in at the other end of the spectrum.’

I have it on good authority from VP, UK & Ireland Country Manager John Boumphrey that this approach remains very much part of the culture today, and indeed is captured in a book by Bill Carr and Colin Bryar.

The lasting legacy of the ‘doc writing culture’ is apparent when we realise significant learning opportunities are created in crafting the narrative, from which leaders develop a wider appreciation of storytelling. Here is an insight:

Interactive leadership is modelled on the concept of conversation – a dialogue between equals. When you tell a story, there is no implication of submission or rebellion: it is just something that the teller and audience experience together.

The fact that narrative is a thread running through everything that a transformational leader does to achieve extraordinary results receives insufficient attention.[5]

Do these findings resonate with your organisation?

I’d love to have a conversation and further evaluate the views I share here.

The next article will expand on the leadership theme with examples of how as a leader you can bring storytelling to life in your organisation. For more information about the references used in this article, please contact the author.

[1] Gabriel, 2015.

[2] Weischer et al., 2013.

[3] Harris and Ogbonna, 2013.

[4] Weick, 1995.

[5] Denning, 2005.