What is a narrative and why does it matter? Considerations for business leaders
Gone are the days when we as professionals could refer to developing social-emotional skills in the workplace as a simple “plus” or “would be nice.” Countless studies from reputable universities and the WeForum’s famous “10 Essential Skills” have de-bunked the myth that soft skills have a soft effect on the bottom line. The reality is that these skills have a huge effect on companies’ productivity, culture and yes, bottom line.
But this is a post about narrative, so where are you going with this?
Right.
Consider just a few of those top 10 skills for workers across industries and regions by 2022: leadership and social influence, emotional intelligence, critical thinking and analysis, and creativity.
Did you know that storytelling and narrative skills under gird each of the aforementioned?
Pioneers in Artificial Intelligence development considered the importance of narrative from the very beginning decades ago; narrative is fundamental for forging human connection and sense-making.
So, what do I mean when I refer to narrative?
A narrative is a particular way of telling an ongoing story through connected or seemingly connected events, whether true or fictitious. In a narrative, the narrator(s) weaves together various connected stories which are consistent in upholding perspectives, beliefs or literary themes throughout.
This has a lot to do with “soft” skills and human interaction in general: think about our own narratives as individuals.
We are all influenced by our own internal narratives, and by the narratives that dominate our communities—and in the business world, this translates to our teams and corporate culture—which are called collective narratives.
But, let’s go back to this idea of strengthening social-emotional skills as a business leader. Internal narratives are the ongoing stories we narrate to ourselves consciously or unconsciously, through our own thoughts. And these narratives are about nearly everything going on around us, but most poignantly,often our strongest internal narratives are about ourselves--what we are capable of, what we are not capable of, where we're going, what we're about (at time of posting: trust me, there is at least one story you have told yourself about COVID-19 even though it has been influenced by many sources).
Our actions, behaviors, beliefs and mindsets are borne of our narratives. Inidividually, in community, but all of our behavior is under girded by the dominant stories.
Your team reacts initially to challenges and change in a similar way every time, despite your best efforts to motivate and persuade, because of the stories they have created together over time. Passive-aggressive Nancy is like that because of some deeply rooted stories she has regarding conflict and communication. Your team stresses out and plays the blame game when there is a project setback because they have the Icarus narrative arc etched in their collective stories. You get the picture.
So, how could we possibly develop emotional intelligence, empathic communication and creative collaboration skills without taking into consideration the invisible narratives that affect us? More importantly, how is narrative not our starting point for developing these human skills?
What are you doing to strengthen your social-emotional skills?
Is narrative your starting point?
Sources mentioned:
Wanna know more about collective narratives and how leaders can be at the steering wheel of their teams’ collective narratives? Hope you decide to stay tuned, this story is to be continued…
BUSINESS STORYTELLING IN COLOMBIA, BEING BI-CULTURAL AND OTHER STORIES: A CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD MCCOLL ON THE PODCAST "COLOMBIA CALLING"
2019 has been full of surprises, and one of these happy surprises happened just a few weeks ago when I was invited to be featured on the podcast “Colombia Calling.”
The creator and host of the show, Richard McColl is a fascinating and brilliant journalist and writer who hosts this weekly show on topics that have to do with living and working in Colombia. It’s a fantastic honor to have been invited as a guest on his podcast, which has over 10,000 regular listeners and is a part of the Overseas Radio Network.
I hope you have a chance to enjoy listening to this conversation, which was recorded in one inspiring sitting at Richard’s Bogotá studio with a breathtaking view of the capital city’s savannah. We didn’t only cover how I go about the work of business storytelling for organizational transformation, but even got into some more personal subjects at first, like my father’s bohemian influence and growing up bi-cultural.
You can listen to Episode 269: “Storytelling for Business in Colombia” on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, iTunes, or by clicking on this link:
Check out the Colombia Calling Radio episodes here:
UNA CHARLA SOBRE STORYTELLING CON "EL FLOW RESONANTE"
Hace poco, fui invitada a ser entrevistada para un episodio del podcast El Flow Resonante con el host Andrés Valencia. El Flow Resonante es un podcast que explora la creatividad y tecnología para la transformación social y la innovación educativa a través de entrevistas a emprendedores inspiradores que están generando un impacto positivo en nuestra sociedad.
Así que, es un gran honor para mi compartir con ustedes este episodio del podcast en el cual conversamos acerca del poder del storytelling para generar cambios positivos en los líderes y en las empresas.
Nuestro regalo para el oyente en esta conversación grabada una noche fría en Bogotá, aparte de las risas y la buena energía, es un contenido acerca del storytelling que enseña y unos tips contundentes para aplicar en su empresa.
¡Disfruten!
Puedes escuchar el podcast en iTunes, Spotify, Spreaker, o siguiendo este link:
https://www.spreaker.com/user/akordefd/con-alma-de-storyteller
Para seguir al podcast El Flow Resonante en la plataforma de Spreaker y Akorde FD, puedes seguir este link:
TO THE ROOTS
I had an interesting conversation with an almost-client today.
He's currently the manager in a multinational here in Colombia, and he looked me straight in the eyes and asked me earnestly, with that strained tone that accompanies unfulfilled longings mixed with unwanted skepticism:
"Alma, I've been through so many different company culture change initiatives in my professional life and seen companies spend so much money on these projects with consultants, but they usually just fail miserably because the higher-ups, the leaders, they never actually change.
They just hire consultants to change the rest of us so they can check off their KPI's. How do you face this challenge? How do you get any results?"
A smile spread across my face. I’ll admit that I drool for these kinds of questions and challenges.
Naturally, I answered him by drawing my favorite, albeit unoriginal, metaphor for culture change.
A tree with deep roots.
And I started to tell him about how we business leaders who so desperately want the pears on our trees to become apples, we shake the branches, paint the pears red, or even spray them with apple-flavored body splash, but we rarely go to the roots, or move around the soil.
I love business storytelling because it is what allows us to go down to the roots, where real change is born.