Beyond the Break starts tomorrow. see conference website here
Went for a drive around the Griffith Uni Campus to see what the location is like - it felt like driving through a bushland area, all the roads are lined with gumtrees so you don't really get a feel for the layout. That will have to wait until tommorow.
On the plane trip to Brisbane, I found myself immersed in a book that spoke very directly to me, The Springboard by Stephen Denning. Denning writes about his experiences in using story telling as a means of engaging people thoughout the World Bank in implementing knowledge management. He argues that arguing a case for change that is based on objective analysis rarely will be successful. By telling stories, we allow people to draw their own conclusions. "When the story rings true, it enables the listeners to generate a new gestalt in their minds, which embraces the main point of the change" (p38)
Denning writes that, "The more I concentrate on the analytics, the more I run into difficulty and resistance. The more I put the analytic thinking to one side and instead put forward the story, the easier things seem to be." (P52)
The difficulty of letting go of the traditional approach to presentations and communicating is recognised - you really feel that you ae hearing a real person from the way that Denning writes. How (or how not) to gather and share stories is also explored. This will be very useful as I start down this path.
Key messages:
'Connectedness' the story, however condensed, has to link to the audience with a positive controlling idea and a protagonist with whom the audience empathises.
'Strangeness' the Springboard story must violate the listener's expectations in some way.
'Comprehensibility' the story has to embody the idea so as to spring the listener to a new level of understanding.
(pages124-129)
The book is written in the present tense which creates a different feeling to being written in the past. It feels like you are sitting alongside the author as he experiences and reflects.
I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in getting a message across - it's not just about using stories for change management, it's about connecting with people, co-creating vision, and recognising the complexity of organisational life.
Posted by Kirsty at June 27, 2004 08:09 PM