Svend-Erik Engh

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 ...

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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?