Power of the Tale

JULIE ALLAN is a chartered occupational psychologist in private practice, whose work is focused on supporting sustainable individual and organisational development. She draws on a wide range of whole-system approaches, including gestalt and complexity, to help individuals address both strategic thinking and behavioural change. With a prior career in writing and publishing with the BBC, she is particularly interested in communication and applied creativity, and has recognised and put to use the vital role played by storytelling across all her working involvement, as well as in general life. GERARD FAIRTLOUGH is a biochemist with 25 years' experience at Shell. Later he was founder and CEO of biopharmaceutical company Celltech, and has helped set up several other businesses in biotechnology and IT. Gerard has been specialist advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee for Science and Technology, advisor to the LIFT Business/Arts Forum and is widely published in the areas of organisation learning and innovation. He is currently a director of Xenova Group plc and Chair of the Advisory Panel of SPRU at Sussex University. BARBARA HEINZEN is a geographer and freelance consultant in long range scenario planning and policy analysis. She specialises in working with organisations to help identify the driving forces of change in developing and restructuring societies. Barbara has worked with a variety of major multinational companies and public and voluntary organisations in Europe, Asia and Africa on both commercial and public policy issues. Like Gerard, she is an advisor to the LIFT Business Arts Forum, but also co-founded BEAD, Business Exchange on AIDS and Development, and is a Senior Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

• Acknowledgements 1 Stories in Action Resistance to story-telling How story-telling works its magic Types of narrative Ways of creating stories Story-telling skills Seven histories The rest of the book What readers will get from the book 2 M4 Technology -Stories for Truth and Trust Communication This chapter A theory of truth and trust Practices and stories Accept vulnerability Seek empathy Seek transparency Promote dialogue Avoid groupthink Support truthful politics Conclusion 3 AutoCorp -Learning Individual learning AutoCorp: the past AutoCorp: stories for the future A training tale A coaching tale A mentoring tale A cautionary tale about not learning Conclusion 4 Themis -Using Stories in a Professional Development Community Lyn's story Perspectives and practices The history of Themis A note on written stories Conclusion 5 Matters of Life and Death -Using stories in the National Health Service Value conflicts Embracing error Trusting your judgement A positive approach to dilemmas Stories about stories Barchester District Complexity Conclusion 6 AutoCorp -Evolving Facilitating change Coping with complexity Another virtuous circle AutoCorp's change programme Uncertainty Ambiguity Self-organising change at AutoCorp An experiment in self-organisation Conclusion 7 LIFT -Stories for Innovation The London International Festival of Theatre Imagination, vision and stories Stimulating your imagination Making connections The right space to tell the tale Boundary spanning Building an organisation Expanding the vision Renewing the vision Conclusion 8 Kenya -Scenarios for a Country's Future The Mont Fleur scenarios The benefits of scenarios Kenya Story-telling and scenarios Mount Kenya Safari Club The research workshop Detoxifying the mind Further workshops -Lake Baringo, Mombasa and Amboseli The scenarios Influence of the scenario project Conclusion 9 Thinking about Stories Story characteristics Stories in organisations Stories and learning Stories and society Conclusion 10 Tools and Techniques for Story Use A note on ethics Chapter format Story-telling frameworks and starting points Workshop games and activities Developing your own skills A note on story-telling and organisational research Conclusion 11 The Future of Story-telling in Organisations Key points from the seven histories What we learned while writing this book Story-telling and complexity Respect for other people Art and emotion Negative possibilities Story-telling and sustainability References Further Reading and Resources Index of Stories Subject and Author Index

".... the approach allows management teams to think constructively, help personal development and can be used to explain complex issues." (People Management, 21 March 2002)  "…definitely a book to recommend to those with curiosity…" (Journal For The Association Management & Development (Organisations & People)"…The Power of The Tale is itself full of entertaining stories. The authors hope you will be entertained by the stories they tell, because while stories will aid your organisation’s performance, they should also be fun!…" (Management Abstracts)"…an interesting and thought-provoking book, which I am sure will encourage many to attempt the story-telling technique…" (Personnel Review, Vol.32, No.3, 2003)