What exactly is storytelling in the context of KM? Standards Australia provides one of the best definitions – “Storytelling is a technique used in knowledge management to describe complex issues, explain events, understand difficult changes, present other perspectives, make connections and communicate experience.”
Can storytelling be used effectively in organizations made up of adults? Yes. Would the big bosses consider it too childish? As a knowledge manager, you may want to enlighten your boss after doing some research on storytelling.
Kan Siew Ning is iKMS Treasurer, Adjunct Assistant Professor in KM at NTU, and holds at least two other full time jobs with DSTA.
From a very young age, most of us would have been told stories by parents, baby-sitters, and teachers. “The boy who cried wolf” instructed us on the consequences of not telling the truth; “three little pigs” taught about the need for due diligence in building a house using proper materials.
In the TV series, Under One Roof, the character Tan Ah Teck would tell his children stories from a southern province of China; and it always ended up with the family trying to guess what the moral of the story was. The native Indians in America used to sit around campfires, smoked peace pipes and told stories –those with more feathers in their headgear were usually the storytellers. In the Bible, Jesus often used parables to teach his disciples. Stories are often used by adults to inculcate virtues in their wards.
As awkward teenagers, under peer pressure of needing to grow up quickly, we would have lost the “childishness” of storytelling; and by young adulthood, storytelling would have become a lost skill. However, most of us still would go watch a movie that tells a good story – for example, the Star Wars series.
Government officials, too, have used storytelling for best effect. In his 2002 National Day Rally speech, PM Goh told the story of how a group of Singaporean ladies in Shanghai wandered into a hairdressing salon at 11 pm and were pleasantly surprised when the shop recalled off-duty hairdressers who served the customers until 2 am. He used this story to tell the nation how Singaporeans must be more engaged in their work.
What exactly is storytelling in the context of KM? Standards Australia provides one of the best definitions – “Storytelling is a technique used in knowledge management to describe complex issues, explain events, understand difficult changes, present other perspectives, make connections and communicate experience.”
Can storytelling be used effectively in organizations made up of adults? Yes. Would the big bosses consider it too childish? As a knowledge manager, you may want to enlighten your boss after doing some research on storytelling.
Many companies have used storytelling as a means to effect tacit-to-tacit knowledge transfer, and transmit organizational values; for example, 3M uses the technique to promote innovation on a wide scale within the company. NASA and World Bank are also using the storytelling method. These companies use famous war stories to remind existing workers about the proud tradition of the company to “rally the troops” towards more inspired future behaviour.
How does one even begin to tell stories? Other than understanding that good stories usually have a beginning, middle and end (moral of the story), it is useful to also know that stories should be kept to no more than 3 to 5 minutes; this is because the hearers, on the average, have limited human attention spans and would not be able to focus on lengthy stories unless the storyteller is extremely masterful and the story very engaging. Another tip is that stories should not contain too many details so as not to confuse the hearers; only details relevant to the story need to be included.
There is a wealth of books and articles on this subject that are readily available from libraries and Internet websites. Here are a few that you may want to get started with:
• Introduction to Corporate Storytelling
• The Six Stories You Need to Know How to Tell
• Steve Denning’s Storytelling Website
The story of “Peacock in the Land of Penguins” is one of the best I have come across; it comes in book form (ISBN: 1576751732) as well as in video format from the crmlearning website.
With a little bit of research study and some practice, most adults ought to be able to pick up again the storytelling skills they once had when they were children. Why don’t you enhance your work as a knowledge manager by telling a story at your office today?
Written for iKMS Newsletter by: Kan Siew Ning
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