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The Power of the Tale: Using Narratives for Organisational Success
" . . . I thoroughly endorse the book. . . Fairtlough is an excellent thinker."
Napier Collyns
"Takes Arie de Geus's thinking forward . . I have no hesitation in recommending it for publication."
Gill Ringland
"The most important aspect is the potential to legitimise the use of storytelling in a business environment . . and help management think outside the box."
Arie de Geus
Story-telling is one of the best ways for individuals, groups, organizations and societies to learn. Skill in story-telling and in other narrative activities allows us to understand complexity, live with uncertainty, communicate well and increase personal and organizational effectiveness. As organizations move away from old-fashioned command and control, they will increasingly need the bonds of shared stories, which create shared language, shared visions and shared values.
Napier Collyns
"Takes Arie de Geus's thinking forward . . I have no hesitation in recommending it for publication."
Gill Ringland
"The most important aspect is the potential to legitimise the use of storytelling in a business environment . . and help management think outside the box."
Arie de Geus
Story-telling is one of the best ways for individuals, groups, organizations and societies to learn. Skill in story-telling and in other narrative activities allows us to understand complexity, live with uncertainty, communicate well and increase personal and organizational effectiveness. As organizations move away from old-fashioned command and control, they will increasingly need the bonds of shared stories, which create shared language, shared visions and shared values.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 20, 2002
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 6, 2016
This book has obviously been conceptualised as a primer. It provides a broad survey of findings in various fields, particularly psychology and to a lesser extent anthropology, philosophy and linguistics. In the treatment of its material, it is very didactic: the language is straightforward and non-technical, themes and issues are gradually introduced and key messages are regularly revisited.
The Power of the Tale starts off rather inconspicuously with a short and very general presentation of the main themes of the book. Then it moves on to the central part, consisting of seven chapters in which the role of storytelling is highlighted in a range of different organisations: formal and informal, small and large, temporary and durable, business and non-business. Some of the settings are fictitious transpositions of the author's real-life experiences; others are existing and recognisable organisations. Thus, we dwell consecutively in a maturing start-up company, a large car producer, an informal community of practice, Britain's National Health Service, a not-for-profit organisation in the cultural sector and a countrywide society. Each of these settings provides the backdrop for a different way of leveraging the art of storytelling: for building trust, for furthering personal and organisational learning, for dealing constructively with dilemmas, for spurring innovation and self-organisation, and for enriching the strategic conversation.
Of course this book implicitly invites to be read as a story. From this vantage point, it reveals a number of interesting subtexts. To my mind, there are at least two protagonists playing a key role in the background of this narrative. First there is 'the stranger', or 'the outsider'. He can be an external or internal consultant, who joins a group and reanimates it with the power of storytelling. It can also be a full member of the organisation who, after having developed a certain level of proficiency in the discipline, takes her leave from her erstwhile peer group. This implicitly forces the insight upon us that stories by their very nature are subversive. The narrative paradigm constitutes a deep antithesis to the command-and-control approach which is still dominating many of our contemporary organisations. Stories are Fremdkörper, wayward entities that develop their own viral logic once they're out in the open. A commitment to introducing storytelling in an organisation, therefore, is a serious affair. It constitutes a leap of faith which over time literally might change the organisational dynamics beyond recognition. It seems that the capacity for storytelling can only lead a tenuous, unstable existence within the confines of organisations as we know them today.
This brings us to the second mysterious protagonist: the 'senior manager' or the 'decision taker'. At first sight she seems conspicuously absent from the scene. But he is present enough, and in not a terribly flattering role, as a 'corporate bully'. Isn't it striking that the capacity for storytelling is, with the exception of the start-up company, invariably injected at lower management levels? It's as if the top of the hierarchy is simply incapable of mustering a level of trust in their own organisations that allows them to constructively embrace the power of the tale.
If Allan, Fairtlough and Heinzen are right, then we have no choice but to wage a guerilla war in our own organisations. Long term viability is at stake. Whether we like it or not, the larger system we are part of is self-organising. So we'd better measure up and, humbly, unleash the power of storytelling. There are no guarantees, only that we'll be better prepared for the pains of failure and the trappings of success. It may not be what the average reader of business books these days likes to read.
The Power of the Tale starts off rather inconspicuously with a short and very general presentation of the main themes of the book. Then it moves on to the central part, consisting of seven chapters in which the role of storytelling is highlighted in a range of different organisations: formal and informal, small and large, temporary and durable, business and non-business. Some of the settings are fictitious transpositions of the author's real-life experiences; others are existing and recognisable organisations. Thus, we dwell consecutively in a maturing start-up company, a large car producer, an informal community of practice, Britain's National Health Service, a not-for-profit organisation in the cultural sector and a countrywide society. Each of these settings provides the backdrop for a different way of leveraging the art of storytelling: for building trust, for furthering personal and organisational learning, for dealing constructively with dilemmas, for spurring innovation and self-organisation, and for enriching the strategic conversation.
Of course this book implicitly invites to be read as a story. From this vantage point, it reveals a number of interesting subtexts. To my mind, there are at least two protagonists playing a key role in the background of this narrative. First there is 'the stranger', or 'the outsider'. He can be an external or internal consultant, who joins a group and reanimates it with the power of storytelling. It can also be a full member of the organisation who, after having developed a certain level of proficiency in the discipline, takes her leave from her erstwhile peer group. This implicitly forces the insight upon us that stories by their very nature are subversive. The narrative paradigm constitutes a deep antithesis to the command-and-control approach which is still dominating many of our contemporary organisations. Stories are Fremdkörper, wayward entities that develop their own viral logic once they're out in the open. A commitment to introducing storytelling in an organisation, therefore, is a serious affair. It constitutes a leap of faith which over time literally might change the organisational dynamics beyond recognition. It seems that the capacity for storytelling can only lead a tenuous, unstable existence within the confines of organisations as we know them today.
This brings us to the second mysterious protagonist: the 'senior manager' or the 'decision taker'. At first sight she seems conspicuously absent from the scene. But he is present enough, and in not a terribly flattering role, as a 'corporate bully'. Isn't it striking that the capacity for storytelling is, with the exception of the start-up company, invariably injected at lower management levels? It's as if the top of the hierarchy is simply incapable of mustering a level of trust in their own organisations that allows them to constructively embrace the power of the tale.
If Allan, Fairtlough and Heinzen are right, then we have no choice but to wage a guerilla war in our own organisations. Long term viability is at stake. Whether we like it or not, the larger system we are part of is self-organising. So we'd better measure up and, humbly, unleash the power of storytelling. There are no guarantees, only that we'll be better prepared for the pains of failure and the trappings of success. It may not be what the average reader of business books these days likes to read.
February 23, 2014
Amazon reviews for this book suggested it might be a good primer in narrative theory and storytelling practice within organisations. Other comments suggested it was a call to subversive guerrilla tactics to overthrow command and control thinking. Having read and enjoyed the book, I see it more as the former than the later.
It gives some stimulating ideas on how storytelling, individual and collective, planned and emergent, influences the way people think and act within organisations - taking them as social and relational systems.
I liked the way the authors bring together theory with useful concepts, practical examples and some suggestions for action by practitioners. It was good to see how they identified links with the work of Lewin and Regine, Snowden and Gabriel - plus some really stimulating thoughts about how storytelling supports people working with complexity and ambiguity as well as developing self-organising behaviour .... all the stuff that I like.
When I first read Gabriel's book Storytelling in Organisations I thought it was too abstract to use. I wish I had read this book first as it would be made better connections for me at that point.
The authors do raise an interesting point on the ethics of using storytelling within organisations as a mechanism for sense-making, exploration and probing - highlighting the need to provide appropriate boundaries and "psychological safety" ... something which practitioners need to consider.
It gives some stimulating ideas on how storytelling, individual and collective, planned and emergent, influences the way people think and act within organisations - taking them as social and relational systems.
I liked the way the authors bring together theory with useful concepts, practical examples and some suggestions for action by practitioners. It was good to see how they identified links with the work of Lewin and Regine, Snowden and Gabriel - plus some really stimulating thoughts about how storytelling supports people working with complexity and ambiguity as well as developing self-organising behaviour .... all the stuff that I like.
When I first read Gabriel's book Storytelling in Organisations I thought it was too abstract to use. I wish I had read this book first as it would be made better connections for me at that point.
The authors do raise an interesting point on the ethics of using storytelling within organisations as a mechanism for sense-making, exploration and probing - highlighting the need to provide appropriate boundaries and "psychological safety" ... something which practitioners need to consider.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews