Svend-Erik Engh

This is a blogpost I createdI want to raise a new issue: is storytelling the first step or the last step in the journey to revolutionize the world of work.

In Steve’s own journey, storytelling seems to have come first. Up till 1996, he was in the grip of traditional management. Then he discovered organizational storytelling and he pursued that through 2010. His new book is about radical management which means that managers have to start organizing things differently: new goals, new role for managers, new ways of coordinating, new values and finally, as a last step, communicating through stories.

My own journey is in some ways parallel. It also began with storytelling. Up till 2000, I was a traditional storyteller. From 2000 to 2010, I got involved in organizational storytelling, on some occasions together with Steve. This last year, I have come to deepen my work in interactive storytelling as the first step towards organizing things differently.

In Steve’s blog (I love the word revolution) he says: "the intellectual battle to have storytelling accepted in the world of work has been won. What was once seen as absurd is now viewed as obvious. Yet the grim humorless workplaces are still everywhere. That war has still to be fought. Thus I have come to see that storytelling by itself is not enough. In organizations today, we find a set of attitudes, practices and values that cripple the human spirit and hamstring creativity and innovation"

Steve’s argument is that storytelling is not enough to create the principles of customers driven and rapidly changing organizations the world needs today. There are other things you need to do first.

Is this so?

Could it be that storytelling, rather than being the last step and the last chapter in the revolution, should actually be the first step, as it was for Steve himself? Should storytelling really be the first chapter in the revolution, not the last?

The case for putting storytelling first
The seeds of the new organization lie in good communication. My own experience is that a good story told in the right way can create change companies in a positive way. That’s because storytelling creates life. And that’s what this revolution is all about: creating workplaces that are full of life.

Before radio, television, video, PC and SmartPhones, we were dependent on the narrated story, if we wanted to learn something. Narrators were often poor and uneducated, but through storytelling they were able to shape the lives of others in a positive way. These were not just simple tales that were told. They are stories of destiny that people could mirror themselves in, amusing anecdotes to loosen up tense situations, deep stories with gravity and force. All stories were told to delight listeners.

And delight was created not just because it was a great experience (a performance!), but because it was a chance to learn, to know more about life.

And it was always personal, because an oral narrative was and is a personal experience for each listener. The pictures, which are created, are the listeners' own.

And the relation between the teller and the listener could evolve as times changed and the listeners needed new stories. A communication designed to delight the listeners.

Interaction

In the past, organizations talked at people, sending one-way messages. In future, communication needs to be primarily two way.

An oral story is exactly two way. You continually adjusts your story dymanic relative to your listeners, you imperceptibly influenced by their imaging, teller and listener creates a magical 'we'.

An interaction that companies will have to take into everything they do in the future.

This means that
Your company is included in an ethically, socially and environmentally sound interaction with the surrounding community
Your company enters into dialogue with customers
Your company is open about new products and that these be developed in collaboration with customers
Enterprise management creates actual stories that show the future possibilities and that management begins to live it, as the stories tell
Employees act in accordance with the values of the company and they tell stories when it happens - and that it is permissible to tell about the few times where values are being challenged
This is the germ of a new form of organization is first and foremost to the customers, the surroundings and the people best.

In short, we are going to change the organization by changing the way we communicate.

If that is so, shouldn’t storytelling be the first step, not the last?

audio files of presentation

2010-04-21T16:43:00.000+02:00

Listen to some of the stuff I presented at The Smithsonian Institute Thursday night at the annual Storytelling Weekend in Washington D.C. Beginning: http://bit.ly/93QG6x middle:http://bit.ly/afmMhi end: ...

2010-04-20T01:37:00.001+02:00

Washington, D.C., 2006. Golden Fleece, a loose network of storytellers, consultants and businesspeople in Washington. A young consultant has signed up for my workshop to find stories that show the power of storytelling. My presentation at the Golden Fleece seminar is more or less the same as what's in this book. It's something completely new to the Americans. The content really makes them sit up and listen; the room is filled with energy, and new knowledge emerges.

After the workshop, the consultant is not satisfied. It turns out she wants to tell about her own experience with the power of storytelling, not other people's. I criticize her for not taking the opportunity at the workshop, while we were working with the stories. She smiles evasively. I tell her that this moment will never come again. Then she looks up at me with the most amazing eyes and asks if I would work with her stories now.

We run around a little, looking for a place where we can sit. We end up in some oversized armchairs in the middle of the lobby of the activity center where the seminar is being held. She tells me she's left the safe and secure world she knows. She was active in volunteer organizations, where, among other things, she saw Native Americans solving conflicts by telling stories. She saw how storytelling could be used to reach agreement on important issues. Now she will be working with some of the big players in the American corporate sector and is a bit nervous about it. She doesn't think her stories will hold up. I listen to one of the stories that she intends to present for these business leaders.

I stare at her, horrified. The woman sitting there is deadly boring, no sparkle in her eyes, and she's saying something that sounds most of all like homework. I interrupt her and tell her that I think it's one of the most boring things I've ever heard. She stops and looks at me, horrified. She thinks I mean the content of what she's saying. I wasn't thinking of the content at all; that will come later. No, I'm thinking of her face, her eyes and her body language, all of which very clearly indicate that it's not her personality that's there, only what's going on inside her head. She is pure will, nothing else, and that is deadly dull, let me tell you.

I tell her there are three things she has to remember when she tells a story:

1. Tell your story because you can't stop yourself. You are so filled up with what you want to say that you simply need to communicate it.

2. If you don't know what to say, then be quiet. Storytelling is not so much the words you say. It's more all the words you don't say. Some people call these "pauses." It is an unfortunate description, because what happens to the audience is not that they are put on hold: quite the contrary. It is during these short pauses that your audience is invited inside your story.

3. Feel your feet: if they are not planted firmly on the ground, I won't be able to feel your story. I will understand it, perhaps, but it's a poor effort if you just use a small part of your brain, and it's really also disparaging me as a listener if you only appeal to that ridiculously small part of me.

She tries to be the good student and does everything in her power to follow her teacher's advice. I'm still bored, so I stop her. I steer the conversation away from this task that she clearly has way too much respect for. At one point in the conversation, we laugh. Suddenly there's life in her eyes, and she feels great again. So I'm blunt: I tell her to take that energy she now has and put it into the story. She looks at me with surprise, but she's at least starting to understand. Then something happens. She does it, very slowly and quietly, tentatively. She sits with both feet solidly planted on the ground, throws her hair back and begins.

The change is amazing. The story flows, and there is now life in her eyes. I look in wonder at her hair: the light plays on it now, with a glow that definitely wasn't there before. Once we've cracked the code, the rest is easy.

I hear three of her stories and draw the following conclusions:

When you lay the foundations for a story, you must be as brief and clear as possible.
You must be one with your story.
Telling a story should first and foremost be a delightful thing to do.

1 N.F.S. Grundtvig, former of the Scandinavian Folk High School.

The Engh Spring Tour

2010-03-04T11:39:00.003+01:00

This is the places Storyteller and Business Narrator Svend-Erik Engh will visit on his tour.

If you want to hear about a method to change your communication and your organization (if you want to change your organization before you change your communication, it is OK with me), come and experience one of these presentations and workshops:

Svend-Erik Engh brings an almost unique level of enthusiasm and energy and warmth. He is a terrific performer.

Steve Denning, author of five bestselling books on Organizational Storytelling - a new book is released November ´10

10.03.10 noon

Ystad, Sweden - "Lite Mer" - Lunch with presentations on new ways of communicating - MAIL

10.03.16 3.30 pm - 5 pm

"Auditoriet i Lyngby", DTU Scion, workshops on change communication - LINK

10.04.08 3 pm - 5.30 pm

Villaen, Venlighedsvej 2, DTU Scion - go home - workshop. Tell me your story and get useful feed back - LINK

10.04.14 8.15 am - 9.30 am Rockefeller Center, New York City Motivate and communicate through story, limited to 25 part, with local Thaler Pekar - LINK

10.04.14 1 pm - 6 pm Rockefeller Center, New York City Storysharing, limited to 6 part., here you will experience storycoaching when it is best. Come with some raw material for a business narrative and you will leave with a diamond, with local Thaler Pekar - LINK

10.04.15 6.30 pm - 9.00 pm Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.: "The Basis of Organizational Storytelling", with local Thaler Pekar - LINK

What is it all about?

2010-01-22T12:45:00.007+01:00

Basic rules of Business Narrative learned from the

Mutual responsibility in Oral Storytelling

These words are taken from www.historier.dk / Learning Lab

When you listen to a story, you know that you´re having a constant influence on it. It may not be something you notice consciously, but just the feeling of eye contact, the direct and clear communication between two people is enough for you as listener to feel that you are important in determining the direction the story will take.

Each of the people listening to a story affects how the story develops.

It is a strong feeling to transform into the real world: You helped shape the story - now go out and shape reality.

You have to experience it to understand it completely, how the almost hypnotic state a story can put a person in can stimulate action.

Dario Fo, from Italy, the winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature and a wonderful storyteller: “The audience has always been my litmus paper, every second. Are you able to listen to them, does the audience conduct you like a conductor of a major orchestra?”

King and servant

As a storyteller, you interact with your audience.

You swift between the most powerful King (K) and the most humble Servant (S).

S: Before you start telling your story you have to consider: Are the listeners comfortable?

K: Your beginning is crucial. Go straight to the story.

S: In the silence you invite us into the world of your story.

K + S: Tell us your story both as a king and as the most humble servant.

It is a complementary movement between opposites.

K: When you finish your story, you are the king again. Did the story inspire action?

The key word is interaction.

Interacting means a different approach to a lot of things in your daily life, not just concerning

communication.

If you interact in your organization it means that

• your company enters into an ethical, social and environmental interaction with the society of which it is a part

• your company is in dialogue with your costumers and consumers

• your company is open about new products before the new products are released

• your leader offers concrete stories showing future opportunities and starts behaving according to these

• you and your colleagues must act in accordance with the values that are accepted in the company

The organizational tree

There are basically four kinds of stories you tell in your organization

• Metaphors – to make a clearer over all picture - the tree is a metaphor.

Sometimes a simple metaphor can make the most complicated situation easy to understand.

• Future stories – to spark action and create a common goal - the canopy and the fruits on the tree:

Visions of what the immediate and long-term future will bring to the organization.

The Springboard Stories are told in a minimalistic way.

• We stories - hto create delightment and pride - the trunk of the tree:

Stories that create identity. Values become alive in these stories.

Pattern of these stories:

Home – challenge – new home

• I - stories - for a manager the I-stories create trust, for the employees telling I-stories means that somebody sees you – the roots of the tree:

Every person in the organization is important and every voice should be heard. Some of

these stories should stay hidden under the surface.

Often with details and some senses activated.

When you as a manager prepare a presentation for a group of employees, think of these three elements, connected to the I -, We – and Future - stories:

• Have you created trust by telling a personal story? Nobody wants to be lead by 'another

suit'.

• Is there a element in your talk that involves a 'We'? Can you tell what the group have

done in a positive way? If not, can you use a negative story to establish a desire for

change?

• The last part of your presentation is crucial to the outcome of your encounter with your

audience – do you leave them with hope? Is the vision understandable for the group? Is

it desirable?

Future

A vision for the organization in the future is that its members are independent individuals able

to make complex and far-reaching decisions. Networks form, bloom and are transformed into

new networks. One of the prerequisites for a lively and chaotic system such as this being able

to function is knowledge about and actual experience with stories that are told.

Svend-Erik Engh and Thaler Pekar at The Smithsonian institute

2010-01-17T22:25:00.003+01:00

Workshop on Organizational Storytelling at The Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.

Thurs., April 15, 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Storytelling has become an essential skills for managers and organizational leaders because it aids in establishing trust, articulating values, sparking innovation, inspiring action, sharing knowledge, building community, and generating followers and new leaders in organizations. Many leaders, however, have no background in storytelling and are confounded by how and when to share stories. In this seminar two individuals who have worked extensively in the field of organizational storytelling teach participants the basics, including the elements of an organizational story, when and how stories can be most effectively used in organizations, how stories told within an organization differ from stories told outside an organization, and how a story should be crafted to achieve specific goals and objectives.

The seminar is led by Thaler Pekar, founder and principal of Thaler Pekar & Partners, a consulting firm specializing in persuasive communications, and Svend-Eric Engh, author of Tell a Story: Be Heard, Be Understood, Get Action (Fokus).

Registration

Storysharing

2010-01-11T22:20:00.002+01:00

Some interesting points on the difference between storytelling (from top to bottom, predictable) and storysharing (in all levels, chaotic)-

http://neurocooking.blogspot.com/2009/08/story-sharing-if-done-right-results-in.html

What is the outcome of Narrative?

2010-01-08T15:52:00.004+01:00

A very good friend of mine is the CEO of a little Green Tech Company in Hoersholm, Denmark. He overheard a conversation between me and a woman, that I don´t know so well. The topic of our conversation was my work with Business Narrative. And she asked me, what´s "in it for the organization"? I thought I gave her a very good explanation. But afterwards in the car my friend told me, that he was confused, because it wasn´t clear for him what benefits the company gained from my work.

We agreed on two things:

1. The people working in the company finds stories, that they can use in encounters with costumers and other stakeholders.

2. I give them techniques to become better in presenting the company and the values it represents.

It was great to hear my friend coaching me!

Who can tell stories?

2010-01-06T17:59:00.004+01:00

I was asked by a norwegian reporter for the NRK, Saanerlivet, 19. sep. 2009, who can tell a story. And off course I gave the 100 $ answer: Everybody.

Later I say something a little bit more intelligent.

I say that the people who knows the answers, the people that are sure about things and the too self confident people are not likely to be good storytellers.

Contrary to this is the people who comes up to me and say that they will never learn how to tell stories - then I know I can work, I can find the the diamonds hidden.

Listen to the whole radio program (in norwegian and danish) here

How to prepare

2010-01-06T01:03:00.003+01:00

I talked to one of my colleagues from USA and she is going to present Organizational Storytelling for a group of CEO´s on saturday. She told me about the importance of these people and how they all have a MBA.

I asked her to give them names, instead of the CEO of Boeing, Macdonald and other major company I asked her to call them Peter, Laurie, Margaret etc. My colleague laughed and that is a good sign. After a while I could hear in her voice that she was preparing for interaction between equals.

When you tell stories, you need to tune in to your audience.

Charisma

2010-01-05T08:20:00.003+01:00

How do you tell a story, so everybody listen? I am listening to Mahatma Gandhi at Youtube and thinking about the words of Steve Denning from his latest book "The Secret Language of Leadership", where he states that Charisma is not just something that happens from one person to the people (the Charismatic person is filled with Charisma and the people are just waiting for the Charisma to be spread). In contrary Charisma is given to the person from the people, so it is an interaction between the person and the people, that creates the Charismatic person.

I -, We - and Future Stories

2010-01-04T18:14:00.003+01:00

Every leader needs four kind of stories.

The Personal stories to create trust

The We stories to share delight

The Future stories to get a direction of the work

(these three kind of stories are descriptions from the reality!)

The metaphors for given a wider perspective

(these kind of stories is often fiction!)

Do you have any experiences with one of these stories?

Morning Exercise

2010-01-04T13:51:00.002+01:00

When I start a workshop, I often start with morning exercise.

In a circle, max. 250 people, needs an equal number.

1. 2 and 2. Tell about this morning.

2. Get feed back from listener.

a. Clarest Picture in story

b. Say something about the way the story was told.

You can extrapolate the exercise, so you let participants turn around and then retell the story they just heard. Now with power, (some say lie, I never use that word!) and let the stories flow.

Same feed back + what was the story about?

End: Let the participants turn back to first partner and retell what they just heard, now like a tale. A king, a princess, a troll, a dragon - whatever make a good fairy tale.

I have used this exercise for years and it never fails.

Narrative in change leadership

2010-01-04T01:21:00.005+01:00

When you as a leader want sustainable change, you need

- a personal story to gain trust

- a springboard story to make the change real for the audience

- to listen and spread the stories of the change already implemented in the organization

see slide on web site: www.historier.dk/thestorytransformer.pdf

New Year

2009-12-20T21:12:00.009+01:00

I fear

New Year

I hope

People

(I know it doesn´t rhyme)

will give

us reason to believe

a new way

like a play

to do things together not alone

so the world will swim and not sink like a stone

The future depends if we can make it

without bureaucrats

(no rhyme there as well, I know!)

Look at the word, it looks like something from Disney - the bureaucrats

The film should have a very simple story line:

The bureaucrats will leave their offices

Throw away the papers with numbers and figures and controlling methods.

Then they will start live a life together with the real people

And they will apologize for all the effort that humanity gave to all this papers, excell documents, controls and academic waste of time and they will all start playing some wildly complicated jazz and we will all let them because playing wild complicated jazz does not harm people like papers, excell documents and controls.

COP15

2009-12-19T10:59:00.001+01:00

Our premier minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen is tired. Understandable. Let us face it. In UN he is an amateur. And the only pro around, Connie Hedegaard, wasn´t allowed to have a success. If you ask why that, I think the major reason is Danish Folkparty (a right wing party that is part of the government) - no goood! This country needs another support party!

I am looking forward to christmas

2009-12-15T20:59:00.001+01:00

I am looking forward to Christmas – there are things that I really enjoy: Spending time with my family, see the excitement in the eyes of the children, sing in the church and the smell in the kitchen Christmas eve. But these joyful moments are not what I am thinking about when I say that I am looking forward to Christmas.

What I am really looking forward to is with the word of Grundtvig to reach beyond christianity, to find traces of a lifestyle connected to nature.

At the brake of dawn on the 25. of december I will go out in the open countryside where I live, find the darkest spot and hopefully my eye will glance at a wonderful phenomena.

I will look towards southeast and find Sirius, the brightest star in the heaven. Sirius is placed on the heaven exactly on the spot, where the sun is soon to rise. I will find Orions Belt, three stars on line, placed on top of the bright shining star – I don´t lye to you, it is as there is a line drawn from the Belt to Sirius and the line points directly to the spot where the sun will rise moments later.

And then I will think about the connection between this phenomena and the story from the bible with the three wise men = the Belt of Orion, and the birth of a King = Sirius/Sun.

Is it a coincidence? Or it is so that this phenomena points back in history before christianity? Does it tell us about what Robert M. Pirsig in his wonderful book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values” talks about when he says that mythos came before logos?

When I see the sun rise, my feet are cold and I rush back to my family. The coffee is warm, so is my beautiful wife and the rest of family is hardly awake. When they do, we will eat breakfast together and talk about the scientific fact that this day, the 25. of december is just a tiny bit longer than the 21. of december. And naturally the conversation will leap to spring and it will make us all very happy.

I sure look forward to Christmas.

Listen to the story here:

www.cocosbrandconcept.com/reflections/First_page/First_page.html

Dall Energy Furnace

2009-12-14T12:19:00.002+01:00

A modern school thinker from 1836 - oral, respect and conversation

2009-11-18T19:34:00.002+01:00

The living word

In Grundtvig’s preface to his 1832 study of Scandinavian mythology, Nordens mytologi [Nordic

mythology], the first glimpses can be seen of the Danish folk high school of the future:

There will be the common centre from which the institution branches out into all the main lines of practical life, and

back to which it endeavours to gather and unite all the energies of society. Here, all the civil servants of the state who

do not need scholarship but life, insight and practical ability, and all those who wish to belong to the rank of the

educated should get the very best chance of developing themselves in a suitable direction and of getting to know one

another.6

Although Grundtvig’s ideas for a folk high school are in the merest embryonic form in ‘Nordic

mythology', nevertheless, this work does contain a full dress-rehearsal for Grundtvig’s later attacks

on the ‘Schools for Death’, as he called the Latin grammar schools. Latin is ridiculed mercilessly;

its literature Grundtvig considers to be an ‘abomination ... imitation work and unlike Greek and Old

Norse did not spring from the life of the people’.7 In Grundtvig’s contrasting of the ‘spiritless and

life-less learning of the Romano-Italian’8 with the vivid oral traditions behind Greek and Norse

mythology, there is a foreshadowing of the great importance Grundtvig was to give to oral

communication in his plans for education.

Read the whole article:

www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/grundtve.pdf -

Storytelling is a modern thing - internet and the rest is so oldfashion

2009-11-17T16:44:00.004+01:00

Two-Way Communication

Imagine a group of managers discussing what to do about communication. One says: “Why don´t we try with storytelling?” and starts explain that stories can make complex messages understandable. The other managers are sceptical. They don´t understand, it sounds a little strange and very modern.

The managers are right. Storytelling (oral!) is strange and very modern.

Old fashion medias - books, Radio, TV, Movies and in many ways also the Internet (even though it is a more active from of communication it is still based on dead computers) - have one thing in common: They are based on one way communication.

So in one sense it gives meaning to say that they don´t really care about you. You can fall in love, you can change your life, you can spend your time eating water melon or fish budding, you can die - they don´t care, because they can´t feel you.

It is the same with power point presentations: The speaker doesn´t really care about you. The whole set up is finished and you as a listener are there as part of a strange ritual, that you have to fullfill without understanding the reason. If you die in front of a presentator with a wonderful PowerPoint Presentation he probably would notice, but you can fall in love, talk to your neighbour, answer your e mails and do a lot of other thing while the PowerPoints seems to have their own will.

But then someone tells you a story, something else happens. The storyteller care! The listener care! You can´t die without the storyteller notice, you can´t fall in love without the storyteller is aware of your reaction. You can´t answer e mails without the storyteller noticing it. So what? I will tell you.

When you listen to a story, you know that you are important. You become part of the creation of the story. And so with the rest of the audience: We can change the storytellers way of telling the story.

It may not be something you notice consciously, but just the feeling of eye contact, the direct and clear communication between two people, is enough for me as a listener to feel that I am important in determining the direction the story will take. Each of the people listening to a story affects how the story develops.

It is a strong feeling to take with you out into the real world. You helped shape the story; now go out and shape reality. You have to experience it to understand it completely: how the almost hypnotic state a story can put a person in can activate and create at the same time.

As the storyteller, you enter into an unpredictable dance between storyteller and listener(s) – where the power and energy constantly shift from one to another. This complementary dance of contradiction is what I refer to as "interplay" or “interaction”.

Interplay Between Storyteller and Listener

The first interaction between the storyteller and the listener is the choice of story.

Try to imagine one of the listeners. What is her interest? Who is his partner? Try to put yourself in the shoe of the listener and from that point answer the fundamental question:

• Is the story relevant to me as a listener?

If you have answered yes to that question, ask yourself the next, just as crucial:

• Does the storyteller learn something new from telling this particular story to this particular audience?

The storyteller must be curious - must have the spirit to explore the unknown. This story will be told once to these people at that moment. So you as a storyteller are excited to learn from the experience.

When you search for a good story, try searching unlikely places. If you are the boss, ask the cleaning staff, if you are a mother searching for a good story, search in your own life. Do you remember your first bike? The first kiss?

Sometimes a story needs to be refined to be a diamond. And the only way to find out if the story is a diamond is by telling it. So find someone to practice on. Ask the person: Will you please listen to this story and give your honest feed back?

Interplay Between King and Servant

You have found an opportunity. The listeners are there. You have an audience.

Before you start telling your story you have to consider: Are the listeners comfortable? Do they hear you? Can you see their eyes?

What about the light? Do you stand in front of a window? Are your face visable?

Your beginning is crucial.

Go straight to the story. Let us hear: Where? When? Who? You know that your story is good. Show it! Be there for the listener. In the silence, you invite us into the world of your story.

You let us, as listeners, create meaning, images and sensa

Stimulate our senses.

It could be done very fast by telling about the looks, the sounds, the smells. And then silence.

If you are uncertain, be honest. Don’t shout, whisper. Instead of throwing more energy to a sceptical audience, you should try the opposite: Give less energy. Create a moment of silence. Invite the listener into a mutual experience.

Tell us your story both as a king and as the most humble servant. It is a complementary movement between opposites.

When you finish your story, you are the king again. Just finish your story.

Stop talking and let the listeners speak. Don’t apologize and don’t ask for their sympathy. Just relax and let the listeners give their feed-back.

Interplay Between Meaning and Pictures

If the story just contains a lot of beautiful images and the meaning is nonsense, you have lost your audience. And they will never come back to you. So you have to pick a good story with new insights for the listeners and you as a storyteller.

But just as important is the need for clear and creative images in the story.

Read the work of H.C. Andersen. In every story you are stimulated. He creates images, tells about the sound and the smells. In this way, he activates you, he invites you to work.

My Swedish colleague, Anders Granström tells about a city that had a wall around it. When he has finished his story, he asks the listeners, “What colour is the wall?”

A woman on the first row saw a red wall, in the back two men agree on yellow and soon the room is filled with suggestions.

As long as the details are not relevant to the meaning of the story, the listener can create their own images.

There are always two stories told: The story of the storyteller and the story of the listener.

Silence is a key word here. It is in the silence filled with tension that the listeners create images.

Interplay Between Silence and Words

If you don’t know what to say, say nothing

When you are quiet as a storyteller the silence is filled with tension. In the silence the listeners create their own story. They imagine the ending, they ask if it’s a reliable story, they create the images of the story, they are very active here.

The silence create rhythm, the story is like a piece of music. Some of the parts should be told very fast, others are slowly told with lots of details. It depends on the story and the only way to find the rhythm is to tell the story.

Interplay Between Epic and Dramatic Storytelling

Once upon a time is a typical epic phrase. You describe the scenario, where does the story take place? Who is in the story?

When you change your voice, so it sounds like one of the characters in the story, you are dramatic. You can also change your body gestures as long as you remember a story told is not theatre.

It is of the outmost importance that the storyteller links organically with the movements, the gesture and the changing of the voice. If it doesn’t feel natural, don’t do it.

There has to be a balance between the two, the epic and the dramatic parts in your storytelling.

2009-10-27T10:44:00.001+01:00

Billederne på bordet

Mødet

Der sidder en mand på 67 år overfor mig ved det runde spisebord i stuelejligheden i forstaden Glostrup. Han læner sig frem for at se de fotografier, jeg har med til ham. Et sort/hvidt billede af en gammel motorcykel, en række mennesker foran en stor bondegård, en ung arbejder stående med rygende bly på Poul Bergsøe og Søn. Jeg ser på manden, en fremmed.

Manden er min far.

Jeg kan ikke huske, at jeg nogen sinde har siddet sådan. Koncentreret om at finde ud af, hvem han er, hvad han står for og hvad jeg kan lære af ham.

Min far gik på arbejde, jeg husker Larsen og Nielsen Betonelementfabrik, hvor Brøndby Strands beton blev støbt. Det var min far, der skabte elementerne i Brøndby Strands grå mure.

Min storesøster døde, da jeg var 8 år og efter det begyndte der en tid for mig med masser af ballade, oprør og tisse i bukserne. Min far stod på sidelinjen og lod mig forbløde i min mors følsomhed. Den tids mænd overlod al føleri til deres koner, der så passende kunne blive lettere hysteriske.

I ti år, fra jeg var 15 år til jeg var 25, syntes jeg at han var åndssvag i ordets bogstaveligste forstand. Og at det ikke kunne passe, at den uintelligente mand, som hver aften sad i lænestolen, uden at sige noget klogt og uden at have læst nogle af de bøger, som jeg mente man skulle have læst, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer og Platon - at han skulle være mit fædrene ophav.

Jeg lyttede til Simon Spies´ stemme i radioen og var overbevist om, at der var min far. Simon var klog, han var provokerende, han var følsom, alt sammen egenskaber, jeg kunne genkende hos mig selv. Det var straks sværere, når jeg så over på den mand, der sad og læste Ekstra Bladet og røg Mac Barens Mixture. Jeg syntes, den mand var dum som en dør og havde kun foragt overfor ham.

Da jeg mødte min nuværende kone og fik bare en anelse ro på mit liv, fik jeg lyst til at fortælle min fars historie. Jeg ville lave en video om hans sidste arbejdsdag. Jeg ved ikke, hvor idéen kom fra. Men jeg var overbevist om, at verden ville lytte til min fars historie. Da jeg præsenterede ham for idéen, var han ikke specielt interesseret. ’Hvad skulle det nu være godt for?’ Men jeg var stædig og mente, at det ville være godt for ham, for mig og for verden. Han accepterede uden entusiasme.

Derfor sidder jeg nu i hans stue ved spisebordet. Min mor sidder ved sofabordet i den grønne lædersofa og strikker. Min far smiler ved billederne fra Bergsøe og Søn og fortæller om at han ikke havde lyst til at være på treskift og ville på dagholdet. Det kunne han ikke komme. ’Så holder jeg i morgen’, var min fars kommentar. ’Det kan du ikke’. Jo, det kunne min far. Så næste dag afleverede han sit værktøj. Og da var det lige før, han kunne komme over i direktørstolen.

Jeg ser fascineret på min far. Han er en beskeden, ordholden og yderst sympatisk mand, som jeg godt ville have haft som far, dengang jeg havde brug for det. Men han fik vel ikke lov. Min mor var hele tiden i vejen.

Pludselig blander min mor sig i snakken. Jeg vender mig irriteret. Men så hører jeg min fars stemme. Den er afvisende på en behagelig måde. Han siger bare til hende, at det ikke er hende, der er på i aften og at mikrofonen slet ikke kan optage hendes stemme. Stille og roligt får han hende til at tie stille, så vi kan gå videre med vores projekt.

Min far

Aage Verner Jensen blev født i 1922 i en søskendeflok på 13. Han var 10 år gammel, da han blev sendt ud for at tjene. 25 år gammel blev han forkarl på Bostrup Østergård oppe i Salling, hvor han kom fra. Han havde ansvaret for over 20 heste og tre karle skulle hele tiden beskæftiges. Da han ikke kunne blive enig med manden på Bostrup Østergård om lønnen, skaffede han sig hyre på Glostrupgård, 13 kilometer fra København, hvor han med det samme vidste, at her blev han ikke længe. Maden var elendig, så efter 3 måneder søgte han arbejde på Poul Bergsøe og Søn, en fabrik, hvor bl.a. bly og andre giftige metaller blev samlet, opvarmet og støbt til store firkantede klodser.

Jeg lytter fascineret til min fars fortælling. Den er præget af at han har en 100 % konkret indstilling til livet. Der er intet abstrakt i måden at favne og forstå verden.

Jeg tænker over, hvor meget anderledes min verden er. Der er næsten intet konkret, alt er abstrakt.

1951 blev han gift med min mor, Rigmor som kom fra Norge og var en følsom kvinde. De fik to børn, hvoraf den ene døde af kræft, da hun var 13 år.

Vi taler ikke længe om min storesøster. Det er ikke et emne, min far har lyst til at dvæle ved.

I 1972 blev han jord – og betonarbejder og har været det lige siden.

Min far har talt sig varm. Han fortæller om kollegaer, der betyder noget for ham og hvordan man ikke skal finde sig i alting.

Han fortæller om Sven Flugt, en ingeniør han helt tydeligt har meget respekt for. Men sådan har det ikke altid været. I starten havde de deres kontroverser. En dag havde Svend Flugt sagt til min far, ’så nu kan du gå ned i skuret og køle af’. Min far kendte reglerne på en byggeplads og det er ikke ingeniøren, men sjakbajsen, der kan give den ordre. Så det fortalte min far en ophidset Sven Flugt. ’Du kan ikke sende mig ned i skuret, det er kun Jørgen der kan det.’ Og sådan blev det. Aage stod fast på sin rettighed og Sven Flugt måtte kapitulere.

Min far konstaterer tørt, ’at siden den dag har vi været de fineste venner’.

Jeg tænker på det der med at kunne sætte grænser for andre mennesker, når de træder ind over ens enemærker. Og jeg mærker en irritation mod min mor og det hun står for.

Jeg kunne godt have brugt noget af min fars power i mit liv. Det tog mig mange år at lære at sige fra. Måske fordi det eneste jeg havde med mig i bagagen var min mors tolerante og forstående følsomhed.

Set i bagspejlet var det ikke min mors skyld eller fejl. Det var sådan, verden var. Mændene skaffede pengene, kvinderne passede børnene. Eller sagt på en anden måde: Mændene handlede, kvinderne følte.

Min generation gjorde oprør mod de traditionelle kønsroller. Vi prøvede at definere en ny følsomhed fra mændenes side. I det projekt manglede vi vores fædre som rollemodeller. Borte havde taget dem og vi, de nye følsomme mænd, anede ikke, hvordan vi skulle tackle verden.

Denne aften får jeg lov til at spejle mig i min fars måde at gøre tingene på. At det bl.a. er muligt på en stille, håndfast måde at markere, hvor ens grænser er.

Respekt

Mødet forandrede mit liv. Og det havde afgørende betydning for vores fælles liv. Vi begyndte at tale sammen om forskellige emner, som vi aldrig havde berørt før. Der var kommet en gensidig respekt ind i vores samvær, som vi begge nød.

En vigtig ting var, at min far opdagede at jeg også arbejdede. Det havde han aldrig forstået før. Før arbejdet med filmen om ham i 1989 havde jeg lavet teaterforestillinger i Ungdomshuset på Jagtvej, organiseret teater - udvekslingsprojekter med italienske og afrikanske skuespillere, udgivet digte i Hvedekorn samt studeret Dramaturgi på Århus Universitet – alt sammen noget, som min far ikke kunne forholde sig til.

Da vi optog filmen på byggepladsen, var vi de første der kom om morgenen og de sidste, der tog af sted om aftenen. Vi opførte os ordentligt overfor hans sjak og blev taget godt imod. Vi knoklede for at lave en god film, og det skabte respekt.

Videoproduktionen fortsatte uden at min far forandrede attitude overfor projektet. Han var høflig og stillede aldrig spørgsmålstegn ved de ting, vi foreslog ham at gøre. Han gjorde det med en suveræn naturlighed i alt, hvad han foretog sig. Min far spillede aldrig min far. Min far var min far. Hele tiden.

Det kom der en rigtig god film ud af, Aage takker af, som TV2 Danmark købte til visning den 4. juni 1991. Da var min far og mor flyttet over til os i Jylland og min far var berømt i Galten en hel uge. Det tog han naturligvis, som han tog al anden virak: Med ophøjet ro og et ’nå ja, så vigtigt er det vel heller ikke’.

Min far døde i 2004 efter et langt og virksomt liv.

Se filmen

Reklame for Kurs i Muntligt Berättande Ljungby

2009-06-14T18:22:00.002+02:00

Du kan tilmelde dig vårkursen 2010 her

Kurs Muntligt Berättande i teori och praksis

2009-06-14T17:53:00.002+02:00

Reklam för Kurs på Högskolan på Gotland, Högskolacentrum & Sagomuseet, Ljungby våren 2010 - tid at tilmelde sig!!

Ljungby Storytelling Festival -

2009-06-14T17:12:00.004+02:00

Her er hele videoen fra Ljungby Berättarfestival, Kurs Muntligt Berättande, teori och praksis.

2009-06-13T07:19:00.003+02:00

I am excited. I have been blogging for a week now and is looking for first comment. Who is being be the first person telling me, that he or she actually reads what I am writing?

I think I am going to send an e mail to my wife :-)

I am in Ljungby to one of the biggest storytelling festivals in Scandinavia. For 20 years these people have been organizing this event. I heard my former colleague Anders Granström telling a story that I have heard three times, first at a dinner table somewhere along the road, next in Kings Garden and now here. Still it made me cry, he is good!!!

2009-06-12T17:51:00.003+02:00

In this moment, as I write these lines in a train bound for Ljungby Storytelling Festival, Thaler Pekar, a wonderful New Yorker filled with great knowledge on how stories can transform organizations is going to deliver a workshop on Sustainable Storysharing, and will be sharing a quote of mine,

“We enter into the world by listening to stories about it. We begin changing the world by telling about it.”

My daughter is in Ghana, Africa and my words are spreaded all over the world. Great feeling! I miss my daughter, though, I don´t miss my words :-)

2009-06-12T14:36:00.001+02:00

Stein Bagger, Ronaldo, rain puring down in June, financial crisis - the world is trembling. Answers: Human Beings being human.

2009-06-12T12:27:00.006+02:00

I am choked - on behalf of my children I have to shout: Beware. Please look at this: Stein Bagger is accused of fraud for app. 150 mill. Euro. See the video of a star. He is cool, he is elegant and he ask the photographers: Did you get your pictures? And he turns around, so everyone can have the best shot. This world is really in a moral crisis.

Did any of the photographers ask them selves what they were doing?

Ronaldo - a soccer player is worth 150 mill. Euro. Crisis? What crisis?

I visited a special school and made them tell stories. Great lies and big creativity. Then I told them stories from my own life. One of the boys had told the teacher he did not want to tell stories and he thought it was a waste of time - he made a drawing of the TV set in my story about my sister, that you can read in my book, see www.historier.dk - I told the teacher to start from there. Let them make drawings inspired by the story. He was delighted and filled with energy when I left him. It is going to be exciting to hear whether or not he succeed.

2009-06-11T12:45:00.003+02:00

I am going to Ljungby Berättarfestival tomorrow and I am going to teach students how to tell a story, visit Ljungby City Council for improvement of their stories and holding a workshop on Organizational Storytelling. For the first time in the six years I have been at the festival, I am not going to tell stories - So Steve Denning is right: I am no longer a storyteller, I am a business person.

One of the things I find interesting is how to ask questions that stimulates stories, questions that is answered by a narrative example.

I will try figure out whether or not anybody else is doing research on this.

Return with more.

2009-06-10T15:03:00.005+02:00

Funny how things change. This is history, like digging in the past. I don´t tell stories anymore, I don´t arrange stories in Kings Garden, I don´t make stories, the only picture in this film that is updated is the Novozymes picture, I still work for companies and help them tell their stories.

If you want to buy my stories, you can buy them on www.historier.dk - a shop with stories in danish and english will soon be online.

Stories in Kings Garden, Copenhagen

2009-06-09T13:07:00.002+02:00

For 10 years I arranged Stories under the Branches of a tree. This is last night in Kings Garden for me. Now someone else has to take over.
Interaction is the key word for storytellers.

2009-06-07T18:12:00.003+02:00

I am not a storyteller anymore. This is a public announcement. My new life is teaching how stories can be used for the benefit of people. So I stop entertain people and start teaching people instead. WOW.

Tree Stories

2008-08-12T00:30:00.002+02:00

I do believe that every organization is like a tree.
You have to be rooted, the flow of information is like the flow of water in the tree, the trunk holds the branches, and the fruits needs water to be juicy and delicate.

I love to tell stories in Kings Garden. There is a wonderful coppar beech, that is so beautiful. Wednesday the 13. of Aigust we will invite swedish and danish storytellers to tell their stories, while the castle from 1604, Rosenborg is listening in the background.

You will find more about this event here: www.historier.dk/english.htm

2008-05-08T16:48:00.002+02:00

Guidelines to become a better storyteller
Content
Ch. 1 – "Interplay or interaction" – a story on the basis of storytelling
Ch. 2 – "An interesting story" - how to find stories
Ch. 3 – "Learn a new story" - two strategies for learning stories
Ch. 4 – "King and servant" – take and give responsibility
Ch. 5 – "Images and meaning" - two sides of the same coin
Ch. 6 – "Who is telling stories?" – simple answer: Everybody
Ch. 7 – "How to collect stories" – ooops stories as well
Ch. 8 – "The organizational tree" – I -, we – and future

Ch. 1 – Interplay or interaction

"I started teaching storytelling in 1994.
We offered our students a program with two lessons twice a week in four months. I had to prepare 26 lessons filled with theory, practical exercises and inspiration to work out side the classroom.
When I started my preparations, I realized how little I knew about the subject. At the time I had been a theatre director for 10 years and my experience with storytelling was limited. Therefore, I looked around.

One of my main interests was to investigate the basis of a story:
I believe that the storyteller is influenced by the listener. The creation of the inner film is a mutual responsibility. It is like a dance where you are not a 100 % sure of who is taking the lead.

In 1994 I asked myself this fundamental question: How does the storyteller involve the listener in the creation of both meaning and flow of the pictures?
Could I find a daily life expression to describe the phenomena?
The word interaction wasn’t sufficient, because interaction covers only the mutual responsibility for the content of the story. There was something much more interesting at hand!

In 1994, not a lot of people were involved in storytelling, and the few books that I have borrowed at the library weren’t of much help.
I went looking in rather strange places.
I read some interesting points about Verfremdung in the work of BertolthBrecht and others. I looked and found inspiration in the work of Eisenstein, a film director from the 1920th.

Then, one day I found a book describing the conversation between Albert Einstein and the Danish Nobel Winner Niels Bohr. At a certain point of time Bohr talks about an expression that caught my attention. Bohr described what happened when you send out a proton. It can either be a wave or a particle and the decision is taken by the spectator. Bohr called it a complementary movement between opposites. Bohr and others found inspiration in the ancient Chinese Philosophy, Taoism.
Here was something. Then I read a fragment of a book about the founder of my school. His name was Grundtvig and his school took its basis on the following:
1. Respect for every student and interest in what each individual can bring into the room
2. The spoken word as a base for the talks around any subject and
3. then I noticed that the Danish word, vekselvirkning, could be the expression, I had been looking for. The closest you get to an English translation is the word mutual.

vekselvirkning : mutual reaction; reciprocal action; reciprocal effect; inter-relationship (The inter-relationships of the process technical measures); interaction (the Interaction between people and technology at work); interplay; with ~ interactive; (adv) interactively; reciprocally acting; mutually reacting.
In 1996 I went to a master class with Dario Fo, from Italy, the winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature and a wonderful storyteller: "The audience has always been my litmus paper, every second. Are you able to listen to them, does the audience conduct you like a conductor of a major orchestra? But sorry that storyteller that get flattered and carried away; the audience can also be your wild horse, that throws you off the saddle"

When I started my classes in storytelling, the first thing I wrote was the word mutual. The students went looking for connections between storytelling and mutuality.

Ch. 2 - An interesting story

First step of the storytelling process is to find a good story. And that is the first mutual meeting between the storyteller and the listener. Try to image one of the listeners. What is her interest? And ask the question from another view: Who is his partner? Try to put yourself in the shoe of the listener and from that point answer the fundamental question:

• Is the story relevant to the listeners?

If you have answered yes to that question, ask yourself the next, just as crucial:

• Does the storyteller learn something new from telling this particular story to this particular audience?

The storyteller must be curious - must have the spirit to explore the unknown. This story will be told once to these people at that moment. So you as a storyteller are excited to learn from the experience.

When you search for a good story, try searching unlikely places. If you are the boss, ask the cleaning staff, if you are a mother searching for a good story, search in your own life. Do you remember your first bike? The first kiss?

Sometimes a story needs to be refined to be a diamond. And the only way to find out if the story is a diamond is by telling it. So find someone to practice on. Ask the person: Will you please listen to this story and give your honest feed back?
Exercises to find good stories – 2 persons, a storyteller and a listener. Can be done in groups.

Tell a story about this morning. 1 minute. All the details.
Tell about a certain time in your life where you overcame an adversity.
Tell about a room you like – one specific spot that you like. Could be outdoor, could be an open space.
Tell about a person that meant something for you in your past.
Preparation: Choose at least 25 different pictures from different sources with different subjects pictured. Put them in a bowl or a hat. Every participant picks one picture. Turn to a partner and tell a story about that picture. Remember: A story needs who, where and when!
Read the newspaper, find a small story that attacks your emotions, tell it.

Ch. 3 - Learn a new story

In the motion picture from 1992 by Tarantino "The Reservoir Dogs" there is an undercover agent, Mr. Orange. He is told by his police partner to learn a story for gaining confidence from the members of the gang. Mr. Orange is handed over four pages filled with the anecdote. Then Mr. Orange asks his partner, how he can learn all this? His partner tells him that he should learn it by using two strategies:

1. Hard work - "You shall say it, say it and say it".

2. You have to imagine the environment. The story in the film is a story from a loo. And Mr. Orange is told to imagine the smell of the loo, if the soap dispenser is full or there is granulated soap, if the hand dryer is from the company Katrin etc.

See it here

There are no experts in storytelling. Of course, it is possible to consult professional storytellers and get them to give you some good tips on how to become a better storyteller and listener (the two are connected: the better a listener you are, the better you can tell a story!).

But once this is said, there is still only one way to learn how to tell stories: Tell stories.

Start by finding a good short story. If it moves you or you have fun, then your audience is probably reacting the same way. Then you have to learn your little story by heart. Find its images and get to know them.

1. Tell the story to yourself, no spoken words - I like to walk when I do this – when you have told the story like that, ask yourself: Where do you feel comfortable and where are you lost? Ask yourself why? Whereever you find a weak spot in your telling, focus on it. Something interesting could be hiding.

2. Tell it out loud to yourself – you can pretend that you are talking in your headset – it is different to tell with no words than it is with the voice – make notes

3. tell it to a one-man audience – let the listener give you response (see page 6)

Ch. 4 - King and servant

Now you have chosen a story. You have found an opportunity. And the listeners are there.
Before you start telling your story you have to consider: Are the listeners comfortable? Do they hear you? Can you see their eyes?
Your beginning is crucial.

Go straight to the story. Let us hear: Where? When? Who? You know that your story is good. Show it! Be there for the listener.

In the silence you invite us into the world of your story. You let us, as listeners, create both meaning, pictures and senses.
Stimulate our senses.
It could be done very fast by telling about the looks, the sounds, the smells. And then silence.

If you are uncertain, be honest. Don’t shout, whisper. Instead of throwing more energy to a sceptical audience, you should try the opposite: Give less energy. Create a moment of silence. Invite the listener into a mutual experience.
Tell us your story both as a king and as the most humble servant. It is a complementary movement between opposites.

When you finish your story, you are the king again. Just finish your story.
Stop talking and let the listeners speak. Don’t apologize and don’t ask for their sympathy. Just relax and let the listeners give their feed-back.

Exercise for king and servant - in a group, min. 15 people.

Create a space for the storytelling performance. The storytelling space is empty. The group members sit on chairs. Everybody has prepared a story. One by one they get up and stand in the storytelling space.
The person who had left the audience and now is a storyteller stands firmly on both feet and tells his story
1. the first meaning (king)
2. silence (servant)
3. the last meaning (king)
4. silence (servant)
Now leave the storytelling space and return to the audience.
The next listener becomes a storyteller. By this way you can hear 15 stories (or part of 15 stories) in a very short time.

Ch. 5 - Images and meaning

If the story just contains a lot of beautiful images and the meaning is nonsense, you have lost your audience.
And they will never come back to you. So you have to pick a good story with new insights for the listeners and you as a storyteller.
But just as important is the need for clear and creative images in the story.
Read the work of H.C. Andersen. In every story you are stimulated, he creates images, tells about the sound and the smells. It is a voyage de senses. In this way, he activates you, he invites you to work.

My Swedish colleague, Anders Granström tells about a city that had a wall around it. When he has finished his story, he asks the listeners which colour the wall had.
A woman on the first row saw a red wall, in the back two men agrees on yellow and soon the room is filled with suggestions.
As long as the details are not relevant to the meaning of the story, the listener can create their own images.

There are always two stories told: The story of the storyteller and the story of the listener
Silence is a key word here. It is in the silence filled with tension that the listeners create images.

Feed-back to a told story
Ask for feed-back and use these guidelines:
The first three steps are given in a one way communication from the listener to the storyteller.
1. What was the clearest image?
2. What was the theme of the story? What was it about?
3. Give positive feed-back to the storyteller – rhythm, voice, body language, eye contact etc.
Mutual response:
4. Discuss the process of the three steps and find ways of improvement.

Exercise, in group of min. 14

Phase one
Stand in a circle. Turn to a partner.
Choose one direction. Everybody facing this direction in the circle is no. 1. And the rest is no. 2.
No. 1 tells the story of this morning to no. 2.
No. 2 listens carefully. 1 minute of storytelling.
Feed-back from no. 2 in two steps: Clearest image and positive feed-back to the way the story was told.
No. 2 tells about their mornings.
Feedback from no.1.
Phase two
Everybody turns around and faces a new person.
No. 1 tells no. 2 the story that they have heard from the first partner.
They focus only on the clearest image given in the feed- back and therefore they are forced to exaggerate, so -the clearest image can last one minute.
Feed-back, clearest picture and positive feed-back on the way the story is told
No. 2 tells story to no. 1.
Feed-back, clearest picture and positive feed-back on the way the story is told
Phase three
Turn around to the first partner.
No. 1 tells the story last heard, now as you wish to tell it, without any limits.
Feed-back.
No. 2 tells the story last heard.
Feed-back.
Did you learn something about storytelling in this process?
Did you or any other member of the group become a better storyteller?

Ch. 6 - Who is telling stories?

My son, 1½ years old at the time, and I sat playing in a pile of sand lying right by the road. It was a beautiful autumn day, and when we left that place, we both felt good.
One week later, the rest of my family came walking by the place where we had played. When my son spotted the sand pile, he began gesturing and speaking in incomprehensible baby talk to my wife. She laughed and looked at my son with loving eyes, and then we all felt good when we left there.

Stories have been told as long as people have existed. It is a way for a person to become one of the tribe. My son demonstrated one of the fundamental things about storytelling by telling the story to my wife, not to me, although it was me that was pushing the baby carriage. But I had been there, you see, when it originally happened, and to create a new space, the story had to be told to my wife. This allowed our son to take part in the world twice:
1. by doing something with his father that made us both happy, and
2. by telling his mother about it, thus creating a new happiness, one not unlike the first.
We enter into the world by listening to stories about it. We begin changing the world by telling about it.

It is the same in organizations. An employee enters his or her new workplace by listening to stories about it. He or she begins to become a part of the company, when stories are told about him or her. The new employee listens to other stories and gradually becomes a part of the company’s history him- or herself. The wise manager understands this and encourages it to happen.

Ch. 7 - Collecting Stories in the organization

Everyone can tell and listen to stories, and everyone recognizes the elements of the story that are relevant to them. Recognition also arises from the type of story it is. When you use an easily recognizable format such as that of a fairy tale to tell a story, then your listeners can concentrate on the content rather than the form. Almost all good stories about an organization can be put in a fairy tale format, with heroes and villains, dragons and princes.

Stories told in the company can be collected in several different ways. When the project, all levels of the organization are informed, and everyone is asked to find the stories most often told.

Then you need to create space and quiet for informal meetings. Formal meetings, where there is an agenda and a chairman, require knowledgeable assistance, of course, but the most important thing is that there is room for informal meetings as well.

Formal meetings can take the form of story circles, where groups of people sit around in circles and tell each other stories. Exercises are good as well, e.g. everyone trying to tell the worst story they can (this can get pretty wild), or who performs a certain task best. Changing perspectives is good practice: tell the story from your point of view, changing its focus. How does one of the other people in the story tell it?

"Oops" Stories

We do not need to focus only on successes: on the contrary, remembering only part of the past only makes us poorer. It must be legitimate to tell about the "oops" mistakes we make: they happen to all of us.

In the beginning, this will cause a great deal of uncertainty, and ethics rules should be introduced for this work – it is very strong forces we are unleashing when we do this. After a while, however, we can see that it doesn’t hurt (all the time) and that it is an effective way to share knowledge.

Ch. 8 - The organizational tree

There are basically three kinds of stories that can be used in your organization:
• I - stories – the roots of the tree: Every person in the organization is important and every voice should be heard. Some of these stories should stay hidden under the surface.
• We stories - the trunk of the tree: Stories that create identity. Values become alive in these stories.
• Future stories – the fruits on the tree: Visions of what the immediate and long-term future will bring to the organization.
Future
A vision for the organization in the future is that its members are independent individuals able to make complex and far-reaching decisions. Networks form, bloom and are transformed into new networks. One of the prerequisites for a lively and chaotic system such as this being able to function is knowledge about and actual experience with stories that are told.

101 Storytelling in Washington D.C.

2008-04-05T17:07:00.003+02:00

The 8. of may I will be doing a workshop with Steve Denning on the basis tool of storytelling.

I will focus on the interplay, the most important thing in storytelling - Dario Fo, from Italy, the winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature and a wonderful storyteller: "The audience has always been my litmus paper, every second. Are you able to listen to them, does the audience conduct you like a conductor of a major orchestra? But sorry that storyteller that get flattered and carried away; the audience can also be your wild horse, that throws you off the saddle"

It is a revolution going on. We have to rethink our way of communication.

The responsibility of the communication is not just the sender, it is a mutual work. We are used to one way communication, that it will a while to understand the real transformation.

It makes your preparation as a communicator very interesting. Your focus have to move away from the content of your communication.

You can find more about the workshop:
http://www.stevedenning.com/Conferences/SmithsonianMay08.htm

Empati

2007-02-09T17:48:00.000+01:00

I min sidste kommentar talte jeg om, at det gør os trygge, når vi kan analysere indholdet i en historie. Vi har ikke lært at tale om de elementer, der bærer en fortalt historie.
I stedet lærer vi allerede i de første klasser at sætte i system og at putte historier ind i formularer. Det vigtigste i en historie er ikke at barnet kan sætte sig ind i et andet menneskes livsvilkår (som jeg mener er kernen i at lære mennesker om historiefortælling).

Når en dreng eller pige laver en dansk stil allerede i 2. klasse arbejder dansklærere med at katagorisere, analysere og sætte i system. Dansk bliver et fag, hvor det handler om paratviden, at kunne svare på genrer og den slags. For mig er det rimeligt ligegyldigt, i hvilken kasse du sætter historien. Hvis vi skal tale indholdet i en historie (og ikke snakke om historiefortællingens helhed), vil jeg foreslå empati som kvalitetsmåling. Hvis et barn kan sætte sig ind i et andet menneskes livsvilkår og forestille sig, hvordan dette menneske føler, er det kvalitet. Det er så ikke så vigtigt at barnet ikke lige fatter, hvad historien er for en, om det er et eventyr, en fabel, en skrøne eller noget andet.

Det minder mig om, at da storytelling var på sit højeste engang i 2003 undrede det mig meget, at rigtige historiefortællere var filminstruktører, forfattere, journalister, tegneserieforfattere etc. Meget kan disse mennesker få kredit for (copy right er meget vigtigt i den verden) - men ingen af dem har et sprog til det fundamentale i en fortalt historie: At den, der lytter har et lige stå stort ansvar for fortællngen som den, der fortæller. OG de kan derfor slet ikke fatte, hvilke perspektiver dette giver, bl.a. at indholdsanalyserne med aktant-modeller og Graimas osv. kun er indholdsanalyser. Vekselvirkning, empati og lignende parametre er ikke indeholdt i den verden.

vekselvirkning 4

2007-02-02T23:01:00.001+01:00

Det her bliver en lille smule kompliceret.

Vi starter stille og roligt med at fastslå, at der foregår en vekselvirkning mellem den, der fortæller og den, der lytter til en fortælling.
Hvis vi undersøger, hvad det er der sker, vil vi se, at der også er en vekselvirkning mellem de elementer, som ligger i relationen fortæller/lytter. Først og fremmest er der historien. Og her er vi lidt på hjemmebane. Så skal vi tænke. Analysere. Finde ud af, om vi kan putte historien i en af de bokse, som gør os så trygge. Er det et eventyr? En fabel? En skrøne? Når vi har gjort det, kan vi analysere historien. Det gør os trygge og fortælleren kan føre os afsted på et trygt hav.
Men så sker det. Pludselig bliver vi utrygge. Der opstår noget magisk, noget uforudsigeligt. Fortælleren og lytteren indgår i et komplekst samspil, hvor billeder, lyde og dufte udveksles og lytteren opdager, at det er muligt at påvirke fortællerens rytme, åndedræt og energi.
Så opstår det, der ikke kan beskrives med ord. Det nærmeste nogen er kommet til beskrivelsen af dette vidunderlige fænomen er Grundtvig, der i en samtale om ånd og krop siger, at de "så underligt vekselvirke". Suverænt. Underligt. Vekselvirke.
Fortælleren skal altså sætte noget på spil, før dette magiske opstår. Det kan ikke nytte noget, at alt er tillært som en teatermonolog. Så bliver jeg som lytter ikke inviteret indenfor. Det skal være sådan, at jeg fornemmer at fortælleren ikke er 100 % sikker på retningen af historien. Hvis nu ... Det får mig op i stolen og jeg bliver aktivt lyttende.
Det kan heller ikke nytte noget, at fortælleren ikke har bearbejdet din historie. Hvis fortælleren har fundet historien i en bog og ser ud, som om der læses op. Du kan se det på øjnene. De leder ikke efter ordene hos lytterne. De leder efter ordene i det manuskript, som er klistret op på hjernebarken.

Nu kommer det, der er lidt kompliceret.
Vekselvirkningen mellem fortæller og lytter er afhængig af eksistensen af en god historie og det er essentielt for oplevelsen, at lytteren er 100 % sikker på fortælleren som rejsefører. Historien er alligevel ikke det eneste, der bærer denne vekselvirkning. Det er selve relationen fortæller/lytter, der bærer fortællingens vekselvirkning.

Historien er spændt op i et venligt vibrerende vekselvirkende samspil med fortæller og lytter.

Historien bliver på den måde ikke det første, der skal analyseres, hvis du som fortæller vil forbedre det, der sker mellem fortæller og lytter. Det skal snarere være det fundamentale vekselvirkende forhold, som du skal kigge på. En god fortæller har jordforbindelse og er i kontakt med sine lyttere igennem denne jordforbindele og igennem den kontakt, der er visuel. Du kan som fortæller se, om de er begyndt at glide fra dig. Selv om der er 500 børn i en gymnastiksal. Alle er livsvigtige for at du trænger igennem.

En god fortæller sætter noget på spil, når fortælleren danser sin venligt vibrerende vekselvirkende dans med lytterne.

Hvad skal jeg undervise i?

2007-02-01T15:58:00.000+01:00

Jeg er ved at lave planer for forårets undervisning. Det er svært at vælge emner. Foreløbig har jeg skrevet forskellige forslag op: At blive en bedre fortæller - for begyndere, for lidt øvede og de rigtigt seje. Springboard Stories, Steve Dennings metode til at skabe varige forandringer. Den organiske organisation - ikke helt klart hvordan dette skal sælges. Men det handler om, at der er en konstant sammenhæng mellem den fortalte (og det er kun den fortalte historie, der virker) og virkeligheden.

undervisning på CBS, den 4. oktober

2006-10-08T12:24:00.000+02:00

Bøger brugt som inspiration til dette forløb ud over Steve Denning og Rolf Jensen:

Jesper Højbjerg Christensen: ”Mod et nyt paradigme for organisationens kommunikation”, i Jørn Helder og Leif Pjetursson: Modtageren som medproducent, Samfundslitteratur, 2002, ISBN 87-593-1000-6, pp. 167-210

Jesper Kunde: ”Corporate Religion”, Børsens Forlag, 1997, især kap. 3 og 8 - om at demerge: model p.263

Klaus Fog, Budtz og Yakaboylu: ”Storytelling, branding i praksis”, Samfundslitteratur, kapitel 3 og 7.

Søren R. Nymark: Organizational Storytelling, Forlaget Ankerhus, kap.11, 12 og 13.

Majken Schultz og Yun Mi Antorini: Corporate Branding, kap. 8 og 9.

Majken Schultz: ”The classic perception and application of branding has been dominated by a product mindset based in the marketing discipline. This model focuses on creating a strong market position for stand-alone products and services, attracting and retaining customers by an optimal marketing mix. More recently, the focus has shifted from a branding stand-alone products and services to a branding of the organization itself.” P. 24

Angående branding:
Steve Denning påstår, at et brand betyder et løfte og at løftet skal blive indfriet ved den varens kvalitet. Bemærk, at det engelske reklamebureau, som Novo har engageret, siger det samme.”What is the promise, your brand signalizes?”

Bemærk også, at Steve Denning i den første bog, hvor de syv former for fortællinger figurerer, nemlig ”The Squirrel Inc: ” kun har syv former for fortællinger og at den ottende, branding kommer på i hans bog fra 2005, ”A leaders Guide to Storytelling”: Her er Steve´s ord om branding:

Se min blogg, http://seengh.blogspot.com/ for en diskussion af, om Springboard Modellen virker i en iværksætters arbejde med at sælge sit produkt.

Vi snakkede om Heartstorm, Rolf Jensen.
Side 82-83 gennemgår han, hvordan aktantmodellens modstander/hjælper – akse udvides, så den kan bruges i fortælle-hjulet.
Hovedpersonen en en mand, der repræsenterer kunden (protagonisten kan altid genkendes på, at vedkommende gennemgår den største forandring)
Modstanderen er alt det, som fastholder ham i det, som han gør nu.
Hjælperen er den, der gør kunden i stand til at få sit ønske opfyldt, at få produktet.

Den gode fe er brandet.

Når du har købt en Hestens seng til 100000,- kr. forventer du, at vennerne spørger om den er god (og de har et glimt i øjet, når de spørger) – der skal altså være publikum for at gøre hovedpersonens erhvervelse af et dyrt brand værd at gå efter.

Målet er beskrevet ovenfor.

Klaus Fog + arbejder i bogen Storytellling, branding i praksis med

Aktantmodellen

Der er bestemt ingenting i vejen med aktantmodellen, blot er den ikke repræsentativ for en moderne opfattelse af strukturen i en historie.

Eller rettere: Aktant-modellen er udtryk for, at en forsker har set indholdet i en række russiske folkeeventyr igennem - han har altså ikke analyseret fortælleform, fortællemåde, social kontekst etc. Derved afskærer han en væsentlig del af den mundtlige kommunikation. Når vi ser på, hvordan folkeeventyrene er opbygget nærmest skabelon-agtigt med tre-taller, genkendelige modstandere og hjælpere, kan det forekomme paradoksalt, at de har haft en så stor gennemslagskraft, som de har.
Grunden til dette er at folkeeventyrene fungerede langt mere komplekst end vi kan forestille os i vores fortrinsvis envejskommunikative verden. Form og indhold er uadskillelige størrelser og var det allerede dengang, hvor mennesker fortalte folkeeventyr, ikke for at underholde, men for at overleve. Interessant er det, at bl.a. den danske forsker, Evald Tang Kristensen altid fortæller om, hvor han har sine historier fra. Ved at læse Evald Tang får vi et enestående indblik i, hvem og hvordan disse historier blev fortalt, og forstår, at det langt mere interessant at se på hele konteksten end kun analysere indholdet af historierne.

Der er en scene i filmen Reservoir Dogs, af Tarantino hvor en politagent, der i banden har fået navnet Orange spørger sin politikollega, hvad han skal gøre for at blive accepteret i en bande. De to mænd sidder i en bar. Den anden politiagent fortæller ham, at han skal bruge en historie, der foregår nede på et toilet, hvor der står fire politibetjente og en schäfer. Han har en taske fyldt med mariuanna på sig og han går ned på toilettet og tisser, mens hunden gør og politfolkene kigger mistænkeligt på ham. Historien skal vise, at manden han en kriminel fortid og at han ikke har nerver.
Sekvensen starter i caféen – rammehistorien. Derefter er der en passage, hvor vi bevæger os tre fysiske steder. Starter på et tag, hvor Orange får udleveret historien som et firesidersmanuskript, fortsætter i agent Orange´s lejlighed, hvor han lærer historien udenad, går videre til en generalprøve ude på en forstadsscene med den anden agent som lytter. Samtidig ser vi progressionen, både i historien om potten på toilettet og i Orange´s arbejde med historien, han bliver bedre og bedre til at fortælle.
Markant klip - forberedelsen er slut, nu gælder det banden. Klip ned til en bar, hvor banden står og lytter til Orange. Det er lige der i historien, hvor han er på vej ned på toilettet.
Klip. Nu går han i filmen ind på toilettet, stadig med lyden fra Orange, der fortæller i baren. Klip i billede tilbage til baren. Kamera rundt, mens Orange fortæller at han blev bange.
Markant klip til toilettet - nu både billede og lyd – Orange fortæller ikke mere hen over billederne. Den ene politimand er ved at fortæller en helt anden historie om en mand, der var ved at blive skudt. Orange tisser, vasker hænder og tænder for håndtørreren. Slow motion. Meget dramatisk.

Klip tilbage til baren, hvor Orange fortæller færdig. Kommentarer fra de andre i banden.
Klip tilbage til caféen, hvor sekvensen startede og hvor Orange´s politkollega spørger, hvordan de andre medlemmer i banden er.

Vi har minimum været seks locations og sprunget min. ni gange fra et fiktionslag til et andet - ubesværet er vi sprunget ned og op af fiktionsstigen.
Den logiske progression er båret oppe af Orange´s arbejde med at lære historien at kende.

Du kan se klippet her: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-xKD8KmpQDQ

LOU GERSTNER, Chief Executive Officer of International Buisiness Machines Corporation 1993-2002
Bog: ”Who Says Elephants Can´t Dance?”
Status april 1993: IBM var på vej til at blive opdelt i forskellige afdelinger og divisoner og der var mere end 70 reklameselskaber involveret i at fortælle historien om IBM. IBM taber 3/4 mia. dollars om måneden og er på vej til et rekordstort underskud på 8,1 mia. dollars.
Status 2002: Selskabet er fokuseret. Tabsdivisionerne er skåret fra og der er et overskud på 7,1 mia. dollars.
Hemmeligheden: Enkel og klar kommunikation. Walk the talk. Fokus på kunden.

Et eksempel på enkel kommunikation:

Lou Gerstner opdagede, at IBM var fyldt med gode idéer, som der ikke blev arbejdet videre med – lunkne projekter.
Så han sendte en mail til samtlige medarbejdere (ca. 300000) og fortalte dem, at de skulle tage alle deres projekter frem. De lunkne skulle så enten kastes i skraldespanden eller de skulle have fuld opmærksomhed. En streg i sandet.

Former for historier i en organisation

2006-09-25T13:01:00.000+02:00

I "Fortæl en historie" påstår jeg, at der er grundlæggende tre former for fortællinger i en organisation:

jeg-historier, vi-historier og fremtidshistorier - her er ingen målsætninger med historierne. Formålet ligger implicit og jeg tegner et træ som metafor for en organisation. Organisk og vekselvirkende.

Jeg har scoret opdelingen fra en artikel af Noel M. Tichy: - se den her:

Steve Denning påstår, der er syv former, som han udvider til otte i sin seneste bog, "A Leadership Guide to Storytelling", Jossey and Bass 2005 - se mere om Steve her.

1. Springboard, 2. jeg-historier, 3. branding (den senest tilkommende af de otte!), 4. værdi-historier, 5. teambuiliding, 6. dræbe rygter 7. vidensdeling 8. visions-historier.

Steve Denning´s tilgang er 100 % formålsorienteret. Hvad skal historien bruges til?
se også hans skema i bogen "The Squirrel",

I Eva Christensens artikel "Og det kaldte vi populært for skunk work" i bogen "Historiefortælling i praktisk kommunikation", Roskilde Universitetsforlag, 2004, nævnes en kulturanalytisk tilgang til historierne: The Uniqueness Paradox in Organizational Stories, Joanne Martin, Martha S. Feldman, Mary Jo Hatch, Sim B. Sitkin, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 3, Organizational Culture (Sep., 1983), pp. 438-453, doi:10.2307/2392251 - her nævnes syv former:
What will happen if I break a rule? Is the Big Boss human? can the little person rise to the top? Will I get fired? Will the organization help me when I have to move? How will the Boss react to mistakes? How will the organisation deal with obstacles?
Interessant er det, at artiklen er fra 1983, lang tid før nogen interesserede sig for storytelling, og at der udelukkende fokuseres på hvad resultatet af historien er.

Springboard Stories / Eventyrmodel til iværksættere

2006-09-23T12:50:00.000+02:00

Iværksættere har et konkret udfordring: De vil gerne sælge deres produkt til potentielle kunder. De henvender sig derfor til mig og spørger, om Springboard Story-modellen kan bruges til at få kunder til at købe deres produkt. En Springboard Story fortælles for at få en effekt - lytterne skal konkretisere den forandring, som historien fremviser. De skal tænke: Hvad skal jeg gøre, for at den forandring bliver effektueret? Iværksætteren spørger mig: Er det ikke en ønsket forandring, at få en kunde til at købe mit produkt?

Der er tre udfordringer i dette:

1. Steve Denning´s udgangspunkt er den interne udvikling. Springboard Stories ër et ledelses-redskab, ikke historier, der er velegnet til at brande. I branding skal du lede efter personlige succes historier, der er relateret til dit iværksætterprodukt. Hvis du så kan linke din personlige historie, så den er organisk forbundet med dit iværksætterprojekt - se "Fortæl en historie, pp. 74-76 - opskriften for
succes.

2. Hvis du ikke lykkes med Springboard modellen, kunne du prøve at konstruere en historie efter følgende eventyr-skabelon:

- inspiration kan også findes i Rolf Jensen´s "Heartstorm".

I går var jeg ude ved nogle iværksættere. Vi hørte to succes-historier. Begge passede til eventyr-modellen.

Da de to iværksættere fortalte, gav jeg følgende respons: Fortællerne manglede markeringen af vendepunktet. Ikke for at fortælle skabelon-agtigt. Men her var det tydeligt, at en pause i det mest spændende punkt (iværksætteren var lige ved at miste en stor kunde) ville have gjort underværker.

3. Når du konstruerer en Springboard historie, er der tre momenter:
A. Formuler et ønskværdigt, konkret fremtidsønske.
B. Fortæl en historie fra fortiden, hvor dette fremtidsønske allerede er sket.
C. Link historien til virkeligheden ved at sige: Forestil jer, hvis .. Tænk hvis ...
Punktet C er et kernepunkt. Det er det, der skaber effekten af historien: At lytterne springer frem for at tage ejerskab til idéen og gå i action-mode.
Du skal være meget omhyggelig med at lave en elegant formulering af linket, når du taler med en kunde. Vedkommende skal langsomt finde linket selv til den handling, du vil have ham til.

Nogle erfaringer med at være en iværksætter, der skal sælge et produkt vha. en historie?

At give respons på en historie

2006-09-23T11:04:00.000+02:00

Et menneske fortæller en historie til et andet menneske. Lytteren bliver ikke helt fanget, historien er for lang, det er ikke helt til at finde ud af, hvorfor lytteren skal høre den historie lige nu, fortælleren bliver i tvivl undervejs og ledes på afveje. Når historien er slut, er det sin sag at påpege de fejl og mangler, der var ved historien.
Mange oplever det meget personligt og sårende at få respons på en fortalt historie.
Derfor er det vigtigt at give folk redskaber til respons.
I min bog, "Fortæl en historie" angiver jeg en måde, hvorpå en sådan respons kan gives:

1. angiv det klareste billede.
2. fortæl om en ting ved fortælleren, som du godt kunne lide
3. fortæl hvad du lærte af historien
4. giv et godt råd til fortællerens måde at fortælle historien på
5. giv et godt råd til hvordan historiens effekt kan blive bedre

Jeg har brugt metoden, bl.a. på Ollerup-kurset i foråret. Den har fungeret OK, men ikke optimalt. Der er noget med opdelingen i positiv (de tre første) og negativ (de to sidste), der ikke fungerer.

I går var jeg ude og undervise en gruppe iværksættere.
Uden at jeg tænkte over, hvad der skete, udviklede jeg en ny metode, som fungerede langt bedre.

I stedet for at dele repsonsen i positiv/negativ, delte jeg den i oplevelsesorienteret respons (billede og fortæller) og indholdsmæssig respons (indhold og effekt)

To adskilte responsforløb:

1. angiv det klareste billede & fortæl om en ting ved fortælleren, som du godt kunne lide

Opsamling.

2. Hvad var historiens tema og kan den forbedres, så den kan fortælles til en bestemt gruppe mennesker med et bestemt formål.

Opsamling.

Det var 100 % naturligt og der var ikke en, der så tvivlende ud - der var flere, der nikkede, da de forstod opdelingen - super. En måde, som jeg vil arbejde videre med.

Har du erfaringer med at give respons på en fortalt historie?
Har du erfaringer med at få respons på en fortalt historie?

Steve Jobs

2006-09-18T10:48:00.001+02:00

Sidder og forbereder mig til undervisning på CBS.
Læser Steve Jobs interview fra 1995, hvor han var ude af Apple.
Det er en visionær person, der taler.
Men det er også en skrøbelig, på kanten til det bitre, menneske, der taler om sit livsværk og hvordan det skamrides af de forkerte personer - et lærerigt interview.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/comphist/sj1.html

Berättar slam i Skåne

2006-09-18T10:04:00.000+02:00

Onsdag den 12. september var jeg i Malmö for at deltage i Beretter Slam. Vi var syv fortællere, der skulle konkurrere med hinanden.
Lokalet var fyldt, konferencieren var i rødt, sort hår, smuk profil og et godt overblik. Dommerne delte point ud på en skala fra 0,1 til 9,9.

Christina Claesson, min kollega i Beretter Akademiet, begyndte.
Hun var klar i sin fortælling om manden, der blev til et træ.
Anders Granström, min anden kollega i Beretter Akademiet, var nr. 2. Hans performance var som altid brilliant.

Jeg havde forberedt en hel ny historie, som jeg havde lavet aftenen før. Om en præst, der står oppe på Øresundsbroens højeste punkt i sin kjole. Han står oppe på rækværket og læner sig ud mod vandet. Vinden er det eneste, der holder ham oppe. Magareta Olsson og hendes makker, Pelle et eller andet, kører op på broen - Margareta taler ham stille ned fra rækværket. Anders Hansen, en rigtig dansk cowboy-politibetjent, er ved at ødelægge det hele. Kun fordi Margareta træder imellem de to, forhindrer hun præsten i at kaste sig ud i vandet.
Margareta og Pelle kører præsten hjem til præstegården i Borup.

Lytterne var meget glade for det, de hørte og dommerne gav mig næstflest point.
Kun Anders Granström fik flere.

I finalen gentog dette sig.
Jeg fortalte historien om Ravnen, som jeg også fortæller mimisk på russisk. Jeg har lært historien af Dario Fo og den er mit hjertebarn.
En af dommerne gav mig aftenens eneste ni-tal.

Anders blev skånsk mester, men jeg var meget tæt på at vinde. Det var sjov.

Det er en meget fin form - lytterne aktiveres direkte og der er klar respons. Folk kommer over og giver tomlen og opmuntrer dig. Der er intet af det der lidt hellige, som nogen gange hviler over historiefortælling.
Lad os gøre det i Danmark.

dagbog fr

2006-09-18T10:02:00.000+02:00

Dagbog fra 2005

Torsdag den 17. marts/fredag den 18. marts:Præsentation og workshop med Steve Denning i Stockholm i forbindelse med Fabula Festivalen, en af Skandinaviens største festivaler. Steve lavede en øvelse, jeg har set på Smithsonian event i 2003. Det var en fantastisk oplevelse. Derefter hans præsentation. Altid med Steve: Han er sin historie. Han forandrede Verdensbankens Knowledge Management strategi og han er en kedelig historiefortæller ved aftensmaden. Det er den historie, der er fantastisk.
Jeg lavede præsentation og var tilfreds. Om aftenen spurgte Steve mig, hvordan jeg synes det var gået. "Godt", sagde jeg. "Fint", sagde Steve. Jeg havde mit oplæg på Mini Disk og hørte den, lige før jeg skulle sove. Det var ikke så godt, som jeg synes det havde været at gøre.

Om morgenen ved morgenmaden sagde jeg det til Steve. "Jeg er ikke så tilfreds med min præsentation." "Nej", sagde han stille, "den var heller ikke så klar". Han roste mig for at være en fremragende historiefortæller, men præsentationen manglede klarhed. Jeg havde introduceret fire punkter, men havde kun gennemgået de to. Det vidste han allerede dagen før, men han sagde intet, før jeg var klar til at tage imod responsen. God og klar respons, som jeg kunne bruge til at skærpe min præsentation. Jeg havde fortalt en historie om første gang, jeg mødte organisationsverdenen i 2000. Den arbejdede vi videre på i løbet af formiddagen og da frokosten blev serveret, roste Steve mig for at historien var klar, enkel, præcis og at han forstod, hvofor han skulle forføres (hvilket han endnu engang gjorde mig opmærksom på, at jeg var ganske skrap til). Jeg er først og fremmest historiefortæller - derfor er det essentielt, at jeg ved retningen på min historie, når jeg skal bruge den sammen med business folk. En meget produktiv formiddag. Jeg har senere skrevet historien om min første præsentation ned. Se den her: Historie om første præsentation.

Fredag den 18. marts:Åsa Håkansson, violinist og sanger af de sjældne. Hun er fantastisk: Vi spillede et nummer på åbningseventen af Fabula Festivalen - bagefter kom Anders Granström, min kollega fra Beretter Akademiet og sagde, at jeg aldrig havde været mere klar på en scene. Jeg var direkte i mit udtryk, jeg undskyldte ingenting, jeg gav den power, jeg havde. Mit sammenspil med Åsa var suverænt. For dælen, hun er en dejlig dame.
Beretter Akademiet lavede Bagdad-variationer, en fræk suite af forskellige historier over den samme skabelon. Vi er altså nogle af de mest interessante historiefortællere, der findes. Vores metoder kopieres i en uendelig strøm, razziaer, historier under et træ etc. Beretter Akademiet sætter dagsordenen.

Onsdag den 6. april:
Slangerup Skole undervisning af 13 elever fra 7.-9. klasse. De skal ud på en anden skole i morgen og fortælle. Det var en helt igennem fantastisk dag i dag. Startede med, at der var en af eleverne, der stillede sig op i projektør-lys og ’læste op’ af en selvkomponeret historie. Det var min 'fejl'. Hun kunne ikke andet. Der var spot på hende. Hun stod på scenen højt over de andre. Hun kunne sin historie. Hun havde selv skabt historien. Det var en vidunderlig historie om et pindsvin, hvis mor blev kørt over. Åh, så tragisk, men det gik ikke ind. Fordi hun var blevet stillet deroppe af mig og vi sad langt væk, nede i salen.
Så fik jeg de tre næste ned på gulvet, væk fra den høje scene. Det var bedre. Stadig med spot på som på teater. De tre havde selv skabt alle historierne. Det var sgu flot. Gode historier. Masser af fede pointer. Men de ’læste’ op af historierne. Spottet, de andre siddende på stole, alt gjorde at stemningen var lidt stiv, lidt famlende. En af pigerne havde lavet en super krimi. Spændende og overraskende. Jeg stillede mig ved siden af hende og begyndte at snakke med hende. Om hvad der var sket. Som om hun selv havde været der. Det var sjov. Hun begyndte stille at snakke om kærlighedsakten, mordet, opklaringen. Hun stod på sine fødder og var umådeligt koncentreret, og glad. Jeg sagde til dem alle sammen, at de skulle slappe mere af. En fortæller til. Lidt bedre. En meget smuk, nærmest Andersensk historie. Så pause.
Spotten blev slukket, alle sad på gulvet på scenen. Vi fandt en fortællehat. Tre og tre fortalte. Så lidt pause. Super. De grinede, slappede af og fortalte på den mest afslappede og fantastiske måde. Det var en åbenbaring for alle, også for mig. Fordi jeg ikke rigtigt vidste, hvordan det skulle foregå fra starten, blev processen en åben, deltagende erkendelse for alle de tilstedeværende. Sikke vi ku grine og gyse. Historiefortælling er ikke så svært: Slap af, mærk de andre, mærk dig selv, fortæl med glæde. Simpelt at fortælle om, en kunst at mestre.
Glæder mig til fredag, hvor vi skal sidde på scenekanten, spise popcorn, lade fortællehatten gå rundt og fortælle og høre historier. Der kommer 300 elever og skal lytte til mine elever.

Tirsdag den 12. april:
Slangerup Skole undervisning af 13 elever fra 7.-9. klasse. Mail fra ane Vestergaard Hansen,
Kære Svend-Erik! Tusind tak for din indsats i sidste uge. Det var en dejligt at opleve eleverne på scenen om fredagen og deres engagement og sammenhold i løbet af ugen. Du formåede virkelig at få dem til at udgøre et hold, der bakkede hinanden op og havde det sjovt, samtidig med at forløbet flyttede elevernes grænser og øgede deres selvværd. Jeg vil til hver en tid anbefale et tilsvarende forløb til andre skoler.
Mange hilsener Ane

Onssdag den 27. april:
Beretter Akademiet afholder razzia på Kulledalskolen i Skåne. Det er som altid en forrygende oplevelse at se ansigterne, at læse historierne i børnenes øjne (læse skal her forstås som at se den film, som børnene ser!). Anders Granström fortæller mig, at et af børnene (en af de stille eksistenser). Han har med stor entusiasme og glæde en af de historier, han havde hørt i løbet af dagen.
Jeg har læst et citat af Salman Rushdie, som jeg ikke rigtigt kan glemme. Citatet lyder: "Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, trylu are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts." Salman Rushdie, her fra "The Power of Personal Storytelling", Jack Maguire, 1998. Det bliver udgangspunktet for en god snak om at være et fleksibelt menneske. Hvis du ikke er fleksibel i din fortid, er du det heller ikke din fremtid og det, du gør lige nu, påvirkes af stivheden i de to virkelighedsopfattelser. Et fleksibelt menneske er altid parat til at tage sin historie op til revurdering. Også kernefortællingen om dit liv.

Elefanter

2006-03-23T21:46:00.000+01:00

Når elefanter slås, går det ud over græsset.

En situationsrapport fra verden. Det er som om, to modsatrettede kæmper har sat hinanden stævne og nu gælder det for os andre om at komme i dækning, i hvert fald ikke agere græs på kamppladsen.

Med håb om en fremtid, hvor græs og elefanter finder en måde at leve på, som ikke skader hinanden.

Svend-Erik

At fortælle om sit eget liv

2006-03-23T18:17:00.000+01:00

Personlige historier er nemme at fortælle fordi
- Du kan godt genkalde, hvordan der så ud i et rum, du selv har været i
- Du kan beskrive detaljer om en person, som du selv har mødt
- Du kender den følelse, der opstod i situationen. Du var der jo selv og det var dig, der blev glad, vred, irriteret, oprørt …
- Det giver energi og er meningsfyldt.
- Det skaber sammenhold - en god latter er et fantastisk middel til at få et hold til at fungere.
- Det skaber ejerskab. Den enkelte medarbejder får lov til at fortælle sig selv ind i arbejdspladsens historie.

Personlige historier er svære at fortælle fordi
- Du fortaber dig i uvedkommende detaljer
- Din relation til den, du fortæller om, skinner for tydeligt igennem
- Du overvældes af følelsen og kan ikke fastholde strukturen
- Du bliver så optaget af at det er sjovt at du glemmer hvorfor du fortæller historien
- Du går så meget efter pointen, at din måde at fortælle på bliver søgt
- Du bliver for personlig. Din historie opleves ikke som en, de andre medarbejdere på arbejdspladsen må fortælle videre på.

Lysets kræfter

2006-03-21T12:46:00.000+01:00

I dag er det forårsjævndøgn. Lige meget lys og mørke og i morgen er der mere af lyset end af mørket.

Inspirerende at tænke på. I går hørte jeg raido, DR P1. Jens Gaardbo havde en gæst på besøg, Steen Møller - ham med Daimi og halmhuse og en herlig nordjysk accent. Han havde ingen gæld, ingen tilskud. Han fortalte om de mørke kræfter, som han ser. Det mørke, som omgiver os, når vi køber endnu en dims, endnu et substitut for det, som er virkeligt: Mennesker og poesi, historiefortælling.
I 2005 skrev jeg ligesom alle andre en kronik om H.C. Andersen. Da jeg har snakket færdig med H.C. og sagt, at jeg hellere vil snakke med hans bedstemor end med ham, smiler han og siger, at han vil hilse. Så går jeg derfra med en tanke om poesien. her er sidste del af kronikken, bragt i frederiksborg amts avis den 23. januar 2005:

På stien hører jeg, at der er meget vand i bækken. Den klukker. Den har en egen sang, en poetisk tone. Jeg har aldrig hørt en bæk klukke sådan. Som om den klukkede og gjorde glad kun for min skyld. Og det er det, der måske er det største. Jeg ved, at det er til kun for mig, men samtidig mærker jeg og forstår, at det ikke som alt andet i vor tid ellers er. Jeg leder for at finde det rigtige udtryk. Så slår det mig. Aleneskabende! Det er det, vi hele tiden omgiver os med. Ting, som gør os mere alene. Poesien, derimod, gør ingen alene. Snarere får den mig til at hænge sammen med andre mennesker. For de kan også, hvis de bare lytter på den måde, opleve det samme. Det er der. Lige foran vores øjne, i vores ører, på vores krop.

Vekselvirkning 3

2005-09-19T12:49:00.000+02:00

N.F.S. Grundtvig´s bog ”Nordens Mythologi” fra 1832 er ikke nem læsning. Det er den bog, hvor han bl.a. siger ”Frihed for Loke såvel som for Thor.” Bibliotekaren har fortalt mig, at beskrivelsen af Balders død, Ragnaroks komme og den nye verdens opståen er stærk og fyldt med billeder. Jeg læser det pågældende afsnit og noterer, at der her er noget at arbejde videre med.

Jeg bliver interesseret. Jeg har aldrig før læst noget af Grundtvig og der er ingen på højskolen, der har bedt mig om at forholde sig til skaberen af den skoleform, som vi lever i til daglig. Det er ikke så nemt at læse, men jeg bliver fanget. Især de indledende betragtninger er interessante.

Bogen indeholder et forord, skrevet af Poul Engberg, som i 1994 stadig var aktiv som bestyrelsesmedlem i Borups Højskole. Derfor læser jeg det med ekstra interesse.

Jeg læser:

”1. Med sit videnskabsbegreb sprænger Grundtvig positivismens snævre grænser og livsreducerende lænker og peger frem mod en videnskab, der befinder sig i en frugtbar samtale med et syn, der rummer agtelse for mennesker som et gådefuldt væsen og for naturen som en poetisk virkelighed. Synet lever i nordisk mytologi.”

Brændet inde i ovnen giver et ordentligt smæld. Lyden forplanter sig i mit sind. Jeg lægger bogen fra mig et øjeblik og kigger ud på den snedækkede have. I sneen er der tydelige spor efter ræven, som har været forbi vores hønsehus for at checke, om vi da ikke lige kunne glemme at lukke for døren ind til hønsene.

Jeg ser mit liv passere revy. De nordiske guder har aldrig været andet end tom underholdning. Min skolegang var ikke fyldt med agtelse for poetisk virkelighed. Snarere tværtimod. Skolen havde et meget vigtigt budskab til os børn. Verden er en målbar størrelse. Der er noget, der er fast og fikseret. To og to er fire. Det er vigtigt. Det er vigtigere end at udforske mennesket ”som et gådefuldt væsen og naturen som en poetisk virkelighed”.

1967, Vestervangskolen, Glostrup. 5. b. i dansk. En kvindelig vikar står oppe ved tavlen. Hun skriver en række konsonanter ”… ngstskr …”. Vi får at vide, at der mangler en begyndelse og en slutning. Det er vores opgave. Vi skal gå hjem og finde ud af, hvad der mangler i begyndelsen og i slutningen. Fascinerende opgave, synes jeg (og det synes jeg sådan set stadig at det er!). Det er jo ikke mange danske ord, der har så mange konsonanter samlede.

Jeg går hjem, arbejder intensivt med opgaven. Og da vi skal have vikaren næste time, er jeg klar. Hun skriver konsonanterne på tavlen, vender sig og spørger, om der er nogen, der har fundet løsningen.

Nu, hvor jeg sidder og skriver dette, kan jeg se, at jeg allerede her burde være blevet advaret. Vikaren er jo ikke interesseret i konstruktive, spændende løsninger. Hun er interesseret i Løsningen med stort, den rigtige løsning. Men det kunne jeg ikke se dengang.

Jeg rækker som den eneste fingeren i vejret. Lærerinden siger venligt, at jeg skal gå op og lave ordet færdigt, skrive begyndelse og slutning.

Jeg går op til tavlen og skriver hi foran konsonanterne og ål efter. Ordet: ”hingstskrål” er altså min løsning. Jeg vender mig mod lærerinden og forventer en eller anden form for ros. Hun stirrer lamslået på mig og siger, at jeg godt kan gå ned på min plads. Hun er tydeligvis vred og skuffet. Mit rygte som ballademager er vel også nået til hende. Og det kombineret med, at jeg ikke har givet hende Løsningen med stort L, gør hende utryg og hun føler virkelig, at jeg har gjort grin med opgaven.

Jeg ved ikke, hvor den lærer er i dag, men hvis du læser dette, kan jeg bare sige, at jeg med opbydelsen af al min tankevirksomhed ikke kan finde et provokerende motiv for løsningen ”hingstskrål”. I stedet for at give mig det der meget lidet charmerende ”mor er ikke vred, hun er skuffet”-blik, skulle du i stedet have rost mig for en ganske original og sjov løsning. ’Hingstskrål’ er i hvert fald mere livsbekræftende end den løsning, som du endte med at skrive på tavlen.

Nytænkning i virksomheder

Steve Jobs, Apple´s legendariske leder siger om kusnt og business: ”I actually think there's actually very little distinction between an artist and a scientist or engineer of the highest calibre. I've never had a distinction in my mind between those two types of people. They've just been to me people who pursue different paths but basically kind of headed to the same goal which is to express something of what they perceive to be the truth around them so that others can benefit by it”. Steve Jobs, 1995, one year before he returned to Apple.

Virksomheder i dag savner nytænkning. Derfor vender de sig mod kunstnere af enhver slags. De skal absolut være velkomne. Men hvis de kommer for at finde færdigstøbte løsninger og færdige verdensbeskrivelser, må vi skuffe dem. Der kan komme udsagn, der minder om Hingstskrål. Og hvis det er upassende, må virksomhederne være parat til at tage imod disse uden at ville styre dem i en bestemt retning.

Labcom nede i Kolding havde opfundet begrebet ”husforfattere” i 2003. En forfatter blev inviteret indenfor en virksomhed. Der skulle de skrive nyhedsbreve som litteratur, dvs. en gang om ugen skrev forfatteren sine oplevelser ned som skabte metaforer, dyrebilleder, lange lyriske passager etc.

Den ene, Klingspor, tillod at forfatteren skrev det ned, som hun ville. Når hendes nyhedsbrev blev sendt ud på nettet mandag morgen, var det en nyhed for alle, også bestyrelsen. Dette forfatternyhedsbrev blev en kæmpe succes og virksomheden er i dag kendt som et inspirerende og spændende sted at arbejde.

Et andet sted greb man det anderledes an. Der læste ledelsen på forhånd, hvad forfatteren ville skrive. De accepterede kun det, som passede ledelsen. Og ledelsen havde naturligvis ikke plads til nogen ”hingstskrål”. Der blev kun plads til det, som ledelsen i forvejen kunne stå inde for. Kunstneren blev en nikkedukke. Dette nyhedsbrev blev absolut ingen succes.

Vekselvirkning 2

2005-09-06T12:42:00.000+02:00

Når du læser dette, har jeg ikke en chance for at justere mit budskab. Det kan jeg, når jeg fortæller historier mundtligt. Jeg kan lynhurtigt fange en usikkerhed i øjenkorgen hos dem, der lytter. Og efterfølgende kan jeg korrigere min historie, så den passer til dem, der lytter. Og det er umærkeligt, det der sker.

En fortalt historie er en vekselvirkning mellem billeder og handling. Hvis ikke billederne er klare, ingen lyttere. Hvis ikke historien føles gennemarbejdet, hvis fortælleren fortæller, mere for sin egen skyld end for dem, der lytter eller hvis historien er for færdig, som de af mine kollegaer, der laver teater og derfor ikke overlader ansvaret for billedskabelsen hos lytteren, så er der ingen god historie.
Billederne, der skabes inde i lytterne, påvirker vekselvirkende fortællerens billeder. Det er en af de mest fantastiske egenskaber ved den mundtlige fortælling: Lytteren skaber verden sammen med den, der fortæller. Du betyder noget, når du lytter. Når du ser fjernsyn eller ser en film i biffen, kan du ret beset dø midt i det mest spændende øjeblik. Filmen og fjernsynet er da hamrende ligeglade. De fortsætter envejskommunikationen, selv om der ikke er nogen til at overvære det. I den mundtlige fortælling betyder din tilstedeværelse noget. Og grunden til at det er sådan, er den venligt vibrerende vekselvirkning.

Når nu WWW er blevet gennemkommercialiseret eller overtaget af vanvittige mennesker med aparte tendenser, så må vi andre nogenlunde normale sætte vores lid til den næste revolution: VVV, venligt vibrerende vekselvirkning.

Vekselvirkning

2005-09-05T16:19:00.000+02:00

Da jeg begyndte med at undervise i historiefortælling for 10 år siden, opfandt jeg et begreb, VVV, venligt vibrerende vekselvirkning. Det har siden vist sig at være meget holdbart.

I forhold til at være historiefortæller arbejder jeg med VVV på følgende måde: Venligt Vibrerende Vekselvirkning er min fordanskning af det kinesiske begreb dao eller tao Det er ikke muligt at adskille begrebet i enkeltdele, venligt - vibrerende - vekselvirkning. Begrebet er helt og udeleligt.

Du er som fortæller spændt op imellem forskellige modsætningspar. Der er myriader af dem. Jeg vil her blot introducere begrebet gennem at fokusere på relationen historiefortæller/lytter.

Du indtræder som fortæller i en uforudsigelig dans mellem forskellige modsætningsforhold, som evigt veksler mellem hinanden. Og denne komplementære modsætningsdans er det, som jeg kalder venligt vibrerende vekselvirkning. Jeg er "på" som fortæller og fanger lytterens opmærksomhed med noget, der fx. kan skabe latter, forundring, beundring, ja, hvad ved jeg, noget der berører den enkelte. Jeg "giver slip" igen med fx. en pause, som giver lytteren tid til at skabe et tydeligere billede for sig selv. Så griber fortælleren fat igen og går videre til næste billede. Find det gode sted i rummet, et ankersted, hvor du kan fortælle, så du har kontakt med lytterne, og de har kontakt med dig. Den ydmyge kontakt skal du blive ved med at bevare til slut, hvor lytterne gerne vil give deres billeder tilbage.

Historiefortælling

2005-09-05T13:33:00.000+02:00

Jeg vil på denne blog fortælle om, hvordan en historiefortæller ser på verden. Jeg vil bidrage med oplevelser, overvejelser og advarlser. Jeg er historiefortæller og har bl.a. skabt Historier under Bøgen, historiefortælling under et smukt bøgetræ i Kongens Have.
Jeg bliver inviteret ud til skoler, virksomheder, organisationer. Alle steder med samme resultat: Folk kan lide at få fortalt en god historie.