New platform

I'm happy to announce a new platform for my blog. I chose Wordpress with my own ISP to make it possible to tailor it anyway I want.

The address is the same, i.e. www.enterprisestorytelling.se

However the rss-links need to be updated.

So those of you, not many, but I promise you, highly appreciated readers, please update your feeds.

[I will shortly announce my exciting plans for my blog for this fall]

Water, blood, story

There is a classic saying that blood is thicker than water.

That implies that family ties, the biological ones, are stronger than the bonds between unrelated.

In my opinion, the classic saying is wrong

It’s not blood that is thicker than water.

It’s story.

By that I mean that people who share important stories – about childhood, upbringing, school and so on, have a much stronger relation than those solely based on biology.

When I look at myself.

I grew up with my mother, sister, stepbrother and stepfather.

We share stories about the time I rode on my stepbrothers moped tank as a child. Or the time I sat on my sisters shoulders and fell into a sea of sting nettles. Or the time we celebrated Christmas, birthdays or the time my mom was ill, and so on.

At the same time, I have a biological father and three half siblings. That I did not grow up with. That I have no common stories with. People that I have gotten to know more recently*.

But with my stepfather and stepbrother - who I'm not biologically related to, I share the stories, the origin. There, I sense much stronger ties.

*though the ties are not quite as strong, of course I also love those people.

Storytelling = propaganda

I recently told a friend about my passion for organizational storytelling.

His response was: "Hm... Isn't that newspeak for propaganda?"

My first response was, "hey, what are you thinking?

My second was, wait a minute. This question is highly relevant. Also - it's a question quite common amongst people who first hear about organizational storytelling.

I sat down to think about it.

Tried to pinpoint some of my central ideas.

Tried to answer him in my most honest way:

Yes. Storytelling could easily become an instrument of propaganda. A way to deceive or brainwash even. But I see that more as the way Storytelling is applied. Like much else - in the wrong hands, used with the wrong intentions, it can be a devastating weapon.

But for me, it becomes more and more evident that man is made of stories. Big and small, high and low. We tell stories from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep. But even then, we tell stories in our sleep. Stories is a way to create a sense of meaning and context to our incomprehensible and disparate lives. This is where we define ourselves, where we convey our values, create protagonists and antagonists and share our dreams for the future. The stories are within us, around us - if you come to think about it, stories are everywhere.

Similarly, if you go to a company, sit down in an office chair, in the coffee room, lunch room or anywhere - it's all inhabited of stories. There you'll find the experiences, the large and small events - stories about the company's origin, the present situation and the dreams and hopes for the future. If you listen carefully- there's a hum in each corridor. Nothing that is produced from a central propaganda machine.

What would happen if you collect these stories?

Harvest them?

Look at them from different perspectives?

I know that SAS gathered stories from the tsunami. From staff. The way they acted when they received the vulnerable swedish tourists in Thailand. How they (the tourists) hugged the aircraft when they arrived, how they burst into tears when they received a Swedish newspaper and other objects they recognized from their home country. How they felt at home when they stepped on board. How the staff was very physical with the passengers.

SAS has subseguently attempted to use the stories to see what can be used to improve customer relations. SAS staff felt a tremendous satisfaction - they were important, made a difference and felt a fantastic response.

(clearly it would be annoying if the staff came up and hugged you all the time, but something, anything, in their experience could be re-used to improve customer service and staff satisfaction)

This, is for me a way to apply Organizational Storytelling. To use existing stories. Highlighting those who say something about the company. How they want to be perceived - and how stories is a way to reflect those experiences to create understanding and motivation.

Since the stories come from the people's experiences, told from the heart, I'm convinced that they reach the recipient and become significant.

At least more important than that you should save x percent i y years.
That streamlining internal processes will increase customer satisfaction and quality by x percent.
That you should be number x in the market y in the geographical part z.

In short - I view these stories as a way to supplement logic - numbers and statistics isn't enough.

Try to mention a company that does not lay off personell, reorganize, change the product line, outsource or other. What is often communicated is incomprehensible numbers that creates a feeling of frustration, anger - even illness and sickness.

Using these stories, there's at least an opportunity to give a context in an incomprehensible world. A way to let the company's ambitions and dreams leave the boardrooms and become something other than verbos, unintelligible visions or long term goals.

If the stories are not true or credible, I think the result will be accordingly. A subject of mockery and speculation. Something to make fun of as an idiotic edict from upper management.

If, however, the stories are true and credible, the stories can be an extremely powerful tool to create understanding and motivation for change, to strengthen corporate culture or a way to transfer knowledge that is otherwise difficult to verbalize.

In short, storytelling for strategic development - whether it's Change Management, Corporate Culture or Knowledge Management.

(Storytelling can be used in marketing as well. But perhapst that's a different matter. Or att least can be. A way to use true or designed stories to sell products or services. However, my passion is to make it easier for the small man in the office chair, on the shop floor or where ever he or she may be)

Genesis 2.0 – how IT all began

This is one of my short stories originally published in CIO Sweden.

I've made it shorter and did my best to translate it from Swedish to English (bare with me, English is not my mother tongue)

The short story can be used in Organizational Storytelling to give a perspective on the sometimes present attitude in Software Engineering and Usability - "ooops, is there supposed to be user in the end?"

---

Genesis 2.0
And it happened at that time that our Creator was in the garden. There he planted variables, constants, statements and operators –all kinds of components grew there.

There were classes, objects, methods and primitives who spread all around. Compilers flourished together with virtual machines, operating systems and a large and unwieldy exception.

The Creator was happy and decided to leave the garden. Before he left, he gathered all components and told tem: “Make sure you live in peace and harmony with one another.”
All components nodded and promised to do so.

But it did not take long until:
The compiler accused the object to have no class
The operating system thought the primitive was a real type
The primitive got strung out
The virtual machine made the class disinherited

Eventually all components were in a fight. The creator heard the noise and came back. He talked with each one and tried to sort things out.

He gathered them all and said: “Since you can not live together in peace and harmony of your own, I must help you. I have decided to compile you all in one big family. I will call that family Software.”

He took an object and put in the variables, constants, statements and operators and compiled them to executable code. As he run the Software a beautiful user interface was exposed.

"Hm…“, the Creator said. "Everything is fine, but something’s missing. You need a task. A joint project. Something that motivates you every day. "

"I know. You will process information.”

The Software was launched. The objects were initiated and awoke to life, functions rattled through the logic and processed information forth and back through the architecture. From client to integration, database and back. It became a lifestyle. And if a small part of the Software did not feel good, it initiated a large and unwieldy exception so everyone got time to recover.

The Creator was happy again – this Software was a good idea. He decided to make even more. To obtain variation he also created Software in different languages, platforms and standards.

Finally, the Creator created the User and placed her in front of the Software.

“Now I hope”, said the Creator.

“In the same way as the Software work for a common goal, all Users will work together with the Software, with peace and harmony as their goal.”

Storytelling – a basic condition in change management

McKinsey recently published an article on Change Management.

They refer to John Kotter who showed in 1996 that only thirty percent of change programs succeed.

McKinsey verify Kotter's result . In a survey from 2008 including 3 199 companies the result is the same – thirty percent succeeds.

They continue to look at what is important in accomplishing change. They argue that what motivates the upper management does not necessarily motivate the workers on the floor: effectiveness, efficiency, expansion etc.

Instead it’s more important for them to understand and sense a meaning of the change. What impact does it have on me, my team, my organization, my company, the society.

To accomplish understanding and a sense of meaning, McKinsey mean that there are four basic conditions that influence behavior:

1. A compelling story – to achieve understanding and acceptance
   
2. Good examples – they need to see that leaders behave in the new way
3. Reinforcing mechanisms – incentives need to be consistent with the new behavior
4. Capability building – the employees need the skills to make the required change

It’s interesting that the need for a compelling story is in first place. It makes it clear that Enterprise Storytelling is highly relevant for today’s business – regardless of size or type of industry.

The question is how many companies actually are working actively with it?

For me, this strengthens my belief that storytelling is a powerful tool in strategic development – to create a living vision and strategies that translates into long-term change.

p.s. If you would like to read the full McKinsey article, contact me via Twitter, and I send you a guest pass d.s.

One way to create a vision – an imporant component in Enterprise Storytelling

There are, of course, many ways to come up with a vision.

Here is one, which proved to work in a specific case – a municipality that wants to change its IT-operations to a more service-oriented, with all that it implies.

Begin by asking the participants to decide what timeframe they want. Three to five years, five to ten, or what is relevant.

Inspire them to visualize what the future looks like, in present tense, as if they were there. Begin with a story where they approach the city, the buildings, what they see, smell, hear, the people and what they think and feel.

Then, give them direct questions and ask them to fantazise and write down the answers on a piece of paper: What does the organization look like? How is the organization doing? Feeling? How is it staffed? What’s the core competence? Roles? What is the cusomer’s view of the company. The employees? What does the customer relations look like? How do they express their requirements? What does the relationships look like within the company? Prepare questions in advance and ask them anything that is relevant for your particular case.

Switch perspective by asking them to reflect on the fundamental values that led to the above; basic view on human beings, skills, technology, quality, operations, customers, business value etc.

Next, ask them to describe what has been implemented – activities and projects, to bring about the situation today, this prospective future.

Ask them to write down the results, as concrete as possible, in terms of economy, quality and experience. Sum up with a few key words. Can start with:

“X is perceived as …”

“X has become … by …”

“X provides ... that…”

“X helps … by …”

Finally, give the floor to the participants. Ask them to go through and discuss each question. In this way, each have their own idea about the visionary state – and this is where they can meet and create something they together.

This method, in my experience, is a good starting point for further work on Storytelling – you have good ideas about the vision and the shared core values.

Ok, but where does Storytelling come in to this?

To be continued...

Introducing the Enterprise Storyteller

I guess it's time to introduce myself - who is this guy behind this interesting blog on Enterprise Storytelling :)

My name is Robert Stjernström (I know, my surname is difficult to pronounce unless you're Swedish, Robert Star is fine).

I’m a Management Consultant in Strategic IT – with a passion to combine strategy and creativity.

• Strategy I’m a strategist as a person with hands on experience from a range of middle-line positions as well as a management consultant with specialties in the fields of Strategy, Governance, Service Management and Enterprise Architecture.
  
• Creativity I consider myself a highly creative person. I’m a published short story writer with a few literary awards – holds a BA in Creative Writing besides a MsC in Computer Science.
• Unbiased I always try to look at things with fresh eyes, objective from third parties point of view.
• Effective I'm considered to always deliver quickly and above customer expectations.
• Want to change I have a deep inner urge to influence for the common good.

I have an interest for both strategic issues as well as being creative, separately. But when I manage to combine those, as in Enterprise Storytelling, I become highly passionate and feel whole as a person.

Below is a collection of IT Short Stories that I’ve written (sorry, Swedish only…)



Order the book here.

"It reminds me of something Russian. Gogol perhaps, in it’s slow, factual tone” (CIO Sweden,on “Strax”)

“A piece of really great sense of humor” (M3 on, “Jävla kukdator”)