I read just about anything I can get my hands on, and a book that I’ve read a few times is The Leadership Challenge, by Kouzes and Posner. In it, they discuss the idea of perpetuating the stories. Effective leaders, they say, “want to see and know firsthand what’s being done right not only so that they can let that person know to ‘keep up the good work’ but so that they can tell others about this and other examples of what it means to put into practice and live out shared values and aspirations.” I absolutely love this concept. Humans, by their nature, want to be part of something larger, something bigger. They want to be part of an ongoing story, and they hope to play an integral role in that story. Every story we perpetuate is but a piece of the larger organizational narrative, and each one serves multiple purposes.
As leaders and/or employees within organizations, what practical benefits do you see to “perpetuating the stories”? Do you have any examples of how sharing stories has had a positive impact on organizational culture? What ideas do you have in regards to implementing this mentality within a team or organization?
Another great read is ‘The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know’. Distills down a lot of the ideas in The Leadership Challenge, but keeps the same great viewpoint.
I too love that book and the idea of sharing stories. I am currently facilitating a team at our credit union that is creating a new service training program and we are weaving our own service stories into the materials. It has been a great experience to see the excitement that sparks when people start sharing their stories.
That’s so cool, Robyn! All organizations have a story, and then there are stories within that larger story, like the service stories you’re talking about. Telling those stories helps take the rather abstract and ambiguous idea of “service” and give it a very human element. Stories make the ideas you’re training seem more real. I hope to hear more about how it goes!