Telling Stories & Creating Meaning in the Workplace:

An Interview with David Hutchens

by Kali Saposnick

In the following interview, David Hutchens, author of the Learning Fables series published by Pegasus Communications, shares how storytelling creates shared meaning. He also illustrates how managers can use his four books (see "Pegasus Highlights" in the right-hand column for a list of titles) to purposefully convey important organizational learning principles to their staff.

For more exploration of these ideas, see David Hutchens' Storytelling Matrix model. 

Leverage Points: Why do stories appeal to such a wide cross-section of readers?

David Hutchens: The more attention I pay to it, the more I'm struck how people in business settings talk in unnatural ways. There was an article in the Harvard Business Review a few years back titled something to the effect of "How PowerPoint Will Be the Death of Business Communications in the 21st Century." It’s true. How many of us really think in bullet points?

The unspoken assumption that drives a lot of our business communications is "I have certain information in my head, and I want to replicate it in your head." That is, we communicate with the intent of getting the other person to perceive and understand the same things WE do.

Often, that's appropriate. But research from the cognitive sciences shows that most people think relationally. That is, they grasp information by how it connects to other information. That’s how stories are structured; The reader (or listener) can see how one element or episode fits within a certain context, and connects to other events and episodes. This is very complex information, yet stories manage to present it the most simple and memorable of ways. For instance, in my book "Shadows of the Neanderthal," rather than trying to convey the concept of mental models by walking you through the ladder of inference tool, it instead shows how two clans of cave people developed different, ridiculous assumptions about how the world works. People invest in the story, and before they are ven conscious of it they are immersed in the concept of mental models. They get it.

LP: How have readers responded to the Learning Fables?

DH: When I first began writing the series, I wasn’t sure if a business audience would embrace talking animals, cartoon illustrations, and absurd humor. But I’ve learned not to underestimate the element of play is important in assimilating abstract theory. For example, in my first book, "Outlearning the Wolves," the disappearance of the main character, Otto the sheep, early in the story is handled irreverently. When I’m in sessions with work groups, having serious conversations about how an organization learns, somebody invariably asks, "Is Otto really dead?" Then another colleague will add, "Well, the text never really says. I think he’s still alive," and the group starts musing about Otto’s fate. In each of my subsequent books, we have inserted "hidden Otto’s" — and readers are very invested in finding them. In business learning, adults like to play, and I think play is a frequently overlooked element in organizational learning.

LP: Why are stories so powerful in creating shared meaning and generating organizational change?

DH: I really like how Stephen Denning explains this in his book "The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations" (Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000). A former executive with the World Bank, Denning was instrumental in making knowledge management a key initiative there, back when KM was a new and emerging concept. In the book, he shares how he’d promoted KM for a long time, but nobody really got what he was talking about. Then one day at a large meeting, he said, "Let me tell you a story about a small health clinic in Zambia, one of the world’s most underdeveloped countries." He described how doctors had cured malaria in their village by using their computer to get treatment information from the U.S. Center for Disease Control’s web site. "That’s knowledge management," he concluded, and suddenly, everyone got excited. They recognized how urgently their organization needed that capability and many even acted as if KM was their idea.

People begin to own the ideas from a story so quickly because a story connects us with our unique set of perceptions and emotions, validating and enriching what we already know. Denning describes this process as lighting a fuse–and you don’t know how it’s going to go off in each person. I call it opening "the black box of meaning" inside of us. A story helps me lift the lid off that box and access my inner experiences, assumptions, and mental models at a very deep level.

Storytelling triggers the mind to ask questions and explore what’s going on. When we communicate with bullet points and models, people become more evaluative about what they’re hearing and they question whether the communication applies to them. With stories, they’re more receptive. Why? Because they can’t say, oh, that didn’t happen. Of course it did; it’s my story. So they open up and their judging goes away. They become engaged and make connections. In "The Lemming Dilemma," they don’t think, well, technically, our organization is not going through the same situation as the lemmings, that is, we’re not all jumping off cliffs and dying. But they relate to the concept of taking irrational actions without thinking about the consequences.

LP: Would you recommend that all leaders use storytelling when training their staff?

DH: All things in moderation. You have to be intentional. Do you want people to memorize data? Or do you want to engage them? Either may be appropriate.

Let's say, for example, there's about to be a change to the way your performance is being evaluated. In that case it's pretty important to share that data in a straightforward and accurate way... and for the listener to be able to understand it in the same way.

However, this kind of communication is less effective if we're in a context where there is uncertainty, where innovation and creativity are desired, where the organization needs to be adaptable and flexible... in short, where people need to LEARN. In that case, I as a leader don't need drones who can memorize what I just said and regurgitate it. Instead, I need them engaged, connected and thinking... thus, I need to change my communication style for this different outcome. In this context, stories are a good way to go.

Just remember that by communicating through stories, you run the risk that people will make connections that you might not have intended. In that sense, storytelling is "dangerous." But the up side is a big one. People naturally become invested in the information; you don't have to convince them to embrace it.

That’s why the Learning Fables books are divided into two sections: A story, and a more linear application of the models and metaphors in the back section, titled "A Closer Look." Depending on their objectives, managers can use the end matter to help their staff connect the story’s metaphors to the body of business theory they’re trying to convey. I know many trainers who want people to associate freely and develop divergent communication, so they ask participants not to read the end matter, just the story. Others want their department to develop a common nomenclature about a concept, so the end matter is required reading.

Many people find that the new terminology and diagrams help them make sense of their learning experience. "The Tip of the Iceberg" end matter, for instance, helps you understand why the penguin-walrus collaboration represents a limits-to-growth cycle. Armed with new tools, you can be much more purposeful about thinking and acting systemically.

END

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Copyright (c) David Hutchens, 2007