Storytelling is an ancient art that has been used for generations for recording and retelling the history of the people. Over the years stories have evolved into myths and legends where it's hard to draw a line between fact and fiction. Indeed for a story to be useful and entertaining it doesn't matter precisely what elements are based on fact and which on fiction. I have often described a good story as a cheesecake with a biscuit base of truth and a nice thick creamy layer of embellishment. And so it is with personal and organisational stories. Stories are not, nor should they be, recitals of provable evidence with witnesses available who can verify the story as a 'true' record of events.

I recall one of my first attempts to use storytelling to help a client organisation deal with a particularly awkward situation. The details of the specific events are not important for this example, but it concerned a failure to complete a project on time and to the customer's specification. The problem was rectified at considerable cost to reputation and the bottom line. A meeting was held of everyone involved, including representatives of the customer and several important suppliers, to review what had happened. My role was to facilitate the meeting(which was to be recorded).

The chairman started the meeting by reading a statement produced by a consultant on what had happened. As soon as he had finished everyone started to disagree and offer their own version. I intervened and suggested that we spent some time alone each preparing a story of the event. We would then reconvene and each person would tell their story. There was some discussion about this and finally everyone agreed and we dispersed.

When the meeting re-convened each person told their story. The ground rule I established was that after each story there would be a one minute silent pause for everyone to absorb the story they had just heard. After eleven stories had been told and heard, I suggested to the meeting that every story was valid from the position of the person telling the story and that we now had a very rich picture of the event and that there was much that could be learned from what we had heard and very little to be learned from trying to decide who was right and who was wrong.

This example used the idea of point of view, or how we see and experience things from where we happen to be when they occur. This is perhaps the essence of storytelling. To this we can add modes of description. And in this article I want to talk about four modes of description and how we can use these as a basis for creating powerful stories, stories that help to change perspective, bring insight and provide a way of clarifying meaning and understanding.

Modes of description The four modes of description I work with are:

• Metaphor
• Fantasy
• Allegory
• Dialogue

Metaphor is a mode of description where some object or idea is used to describe something else, which it is not, but to which it lends a distinctive meaning through analogy. Working with metaphor with one organisation the following descriptions were all offered as a way of describing the company.

• A swan moving serenely on the surface and paddling like mad beneath
• A runaway train
• A snowball rolling down a hill gaining size and momentum
• A roller coaster with constant surprises, ups and downs and twists and turns
• A chameleon changing rapidly to fit its environment

Fantasy is a mode of description that allows the imagination free licence to create a story that has no literal basis, but which has a strong link to the experienced reality. Here is an example of a story created by the marketing team of a consumer goods company.

It was dark, windy and very wet as the weary travellers struggled through the forest. They were on a kind of path and had been for many days. Dewang the winged wizard who was guiding them said little except for the occasional curse. The journey had started out full of hope and expectation of finding the feather of the dragon bird. This had magical properties that would make anything it touched irresistible to those who saw it. The Dewang had told them that once they had the dragon bird's feather they would never have to concern themselves again about persuading anyone to buy their products at the Weazlebub fair.

Klint their leader was ready to stop the journey. He had thought from the outset that they were on a fool's errand and that Dewang was taking them on a wild dragon bird chase. He called to Dewang and suggested that they turn back. 'We turned back days ago.' The Dewang replied, 'You can only find the dragon bird on the way back, never on the way out.' And so saying the Dewang took flight and disappeared above the trees.

Many days later the exhausted travellers came to the edge of the forest and recognised the place as where they had started so long ago. As they made their way slowly and painfully towards the village they saw a throng of people approaching them waving banners and cheering, and soon they were swept up by the tide of humanity.

Later as they enjoyed a feast in the Manor house their Lord told them that while they were away the Dewang had returned and told them how they had found the dragon bird and that all would be well. 'But that's not true', Klint said, 'We never did find the Dragon bird, and I don't think it exists.' Their Lord was very disappointed and suggested that they rest before they try again.

After hearing this story the company CEO realised that his marketing team were not going to come up with any magical solutions and that instead of spending time and money with consultants he would invest more in marketing resources.

Allegory is a mode of description which connects us with those deeper aspirations that might not be so apparent from normal conversations that take place in an organisation.

'Targets and the bottom line are all well and good, and there has to be something about self-satisfaction and values', the CEO said. 'What would the story of your organisation look like if you made self- satisfaction and values the focus instead of the bottom line?' I asked in response.

In the beginning when we set out on our journey we had a small boat and we were all excited and thrilled about sailing our boat together. We had some stormy times and our boat grew and we had to take more people on board. Then the boat got stuck and we had to rock the boat to get it floating again and once more the boat grew and we had to take even more people on board.

Everyone seemed very satisfied with what we were doing and the direction we were taking and we started to explore our values of service, quality, and caring about each other. And because of this we grew and made profit and were able to pay well and reward our investors, many of whom were employees. Now the boat is large and takes a lot more time and effort to manoeuvre and people are not as satisfied as they were and we don't seem to care as much for each other; it is as if we have lost direction. If we don't care about ourselves how can we care about our customers. Oh, we make good profits, BUT.

After this story had been told the executive team initiated a project to introduce values that would support everyone in maintaining focus on service, quality and caring.

Dialogue is a mode of description that uses conversation between two or more people as a way of telling a story. So the events are seen through the eyes of the characters holding the conversation.

The King summoned Parsifal
'Yes sire what can I do for you?' Parsifal said cheerfully
'Well first of all you can stop being so cheerful'
'So tell me more,' Parsifal responded more quietly
'It's that blasted Chancellor again getting in the way of my plans for the Beltane celebrations,' the King said angrily.
'And how is he doing that?' Parsifal asked.
'He's crying poverty and telling me that the treasury can't possibly pay for my plans.'
'So your plans are extravagant are they?' Parsifal asked.
'Well no more than usual, I don't know what's got into him,' the King grumbled.
'Should I have a word with him?' Parsifal suggested.
'Yes that's a good idea'. The King replied brightening up.

Later Parsifal requested a meeting with the King and when they were together with a glass of wine each, Parsifal reported on his meeting.

'It is really quite simple sire,' he started, 'the Chancellor would have liked you to have talked to him before you presented your plans to the Privy council. He wanted to be included by you and he felt ignored. It's not really about money at all.'
'Stuff and nonsense! I can't include everyone in my decisions,' the King responded frostily. 'No not everyone sire, just those whose support you need, if you want your plans to be approved. You know sire, sometimes asking for support goes a lot further than demanding it. It shows people that you value them,' Parsifal offered.
'Yes, well I suppose you could be right. I'll talk to the chancellor,' the King responded.

The effect of the CEO hearing this story was to realise that his chief finance officer could provide support if he were to ask for it. And that resulted in a vast improvement in their relationship and a smoother working of the organisation.

The elements of story

Every person and organisation has at least one story, and some have many. These stories are often akin to folklore where the stories are well known and yet not recorded except in the collective conscious and unconscious of the organisation's inhabitants, past and present.

Unearthing or surfacing the organisation's story or stories provides perspectives that might not otherwise be available to those within the organisation and by those who are served by, or serve, the organisation.

Working with the organisational story involves creating the story by looking at the four elements of story. These are:

• The setting/environment/field in which the story is played out - Place
• The characters who inhabit the story - People
• The plot, or key events and happenings - Plot
• The script or the unfolding storyline that brings the story to life and gives meaning to the story

The characters should fit into the setting without any mental gymnastics to make them fit. If we are using the boat metaphor the characters would be the captain, the bosun, sailors, etc. They also need to reflect in some way the real characters, either by inference, analogy or through caricature. So for example the CEO might be the king, the HR director might be the court jester, and so on.

The plot is the sequence of events. What happens and when and to whom and is usually and most helpfully produced in chronological sequence, though it is possible to vary this with flash backs. I find that it is usually most effective to keep the plot as simple as possible. The aim is not to produce a convoluted 'who-dun-it' thriller of a story, but to provide clarity and insight. There is no problem in introducing surprises and a few twists and turns as long as the plot leads to understanding.

Once we have these three elements sorted out we can move to the script or storyline that gives life and meaning to the story. If you can imagine our story creating process as a theatre stage, we have the back drop and scenery, the characters standing immobile ready to follow the plot, and now we have to breathe life into our production through the script. This is more about how things happen than what happens (the plot) and how people behave rather than who does what (the plot).

This process of creation can be done by the people who inhabit the organisation and/or the storyteller who is a visitor to the organisation and is able to share observations and opinions in story form.

Ways of working with story

There are many ways that we can work with stories. The following are some of the ways that I find effective.

One way to do this work is to invite representative groups from the organisation's stakeholders to work through each element in the order given above, or in the order they think relevant. This might take the form of asking each group to work through each of the first three elements and to draw up their ideas and display them in some way. Each group can then move round and look at what the other groups have done and add to, or expand what they find. This continues until each group have completed all three elements. And then each group put their story together by completing the fourth element.

Another way is for each of the groups to work through all four elements without any contact with the other groups and to complete their own story. Each group then read out or act out their own story.

Once the story is created the group who created it look at the implications, meanings, and new perspectives and then go on to look at - what happens next in the story.

Yet another way is for the storyteller to produce their own story and to share it with the various groups from the organisation and to ask them to determine what meaning it might have for them.

The power of working with story is the freedom to see what isn't being seen, to hear and to say what isn't being said, and to develop an agreed and shared perception of organisational reality.

Sometimes what emerges from the story telling process can be unpalatable especially for those in charge of the organisations hierarchy. This is the point at which the power of story makes it possible for the organisations reality to be acknowledged and accepted without a corresponding sense of responsibility for having made it so.

Using storytelling to support change

Because storytelling offers different ways of looking at events and situations it can support the change process by bringing to the surface the issues that might be being experienced as resistance.

All change requires shift and shift requires understanding and through understanding a willingness to see how things might be different and how benefits can accrue from shifting. This is another way of paying attention to resistance and valuing the lessons that can be learned from listening to the voice of resistance. It is often easier and more effective to do this through storytelling.

'Once upon a time, actually round about now, a King ran his kingdom with a fist of feathers. Every time there was a problem he would bang the table with his fist and feathers would fly everywhere creating a feather fog of confusion.

'What his people wanted was some direction and clarity, but all the King kept doing was banging his fist and creating confusion. Then one day, actually one day soon, along came . . .'

This simple perceptive story helped the CEO to make a real shift towards a more consultative way of working throughout the organisation.

Conclusion

Storytelling is effective, creative, fun, involves people, stimulates interest and facilitates and supports change. It is an exciting and experimental way of engaging with and intervening in organisations at a systemic level.