Storytelling & Change
Why we’re using storytelling in our change work.
Hi, thanks for popping by.
A few weeks ago I ran a session on Storytelling & Change as part of GDS Services Week. It sparked interest and I’ve had some great conversations with Dorset colleagues and out in the world beyond Dorset. So I thought I’d share it here too. I’d love to hear your views and experiences.
Let me tell you a story, I hope you’ve got a cuppa, settle down, make yourself comfy and I’ll begin…..
People have been telling stories for centuries. We tell stories to inspire, to teach, to encourage and to entertain.
Stories have power, the power to inspire, delight, provoke and even the power to drive change and to change people.
Think of Harry Potter or Star Wars. Powerful stories have the power to change people. That’s why storytelling is such a fantastic great tool to have in your change management tool kit.
Something profound happens when we hear a story. It activates parts of our brain that do not activate when just listening to a straightforward presentation. When you listen to a set of facts, you use just a small part of your brain. When you listen to a story, your whole brain lights up. Research suggests that stories change our brain chemistry, which in turn can change our behaviours
So what makes a good story?
Cast your mind back to school. I’m sure you’ll remember that all stories have a beginning, middle and end.
One of the simplest forms of storytelling is ‘narrative arc’ it’s about something big happening. Think about a powerful story, perhaps Harry Potter, I’m reading these books with my youngest, he’s the youngest of four, so this is my fourth time round. Most stories use the narrative arc and are about change:
These stories usually start in a world before something takes place. This is the exposition, for example Harry Potter growing up with the Dursley’s
Then there’s an inciting incident. This is what compels our hero to action and leads to a change. Harry Potter finding out that he’s a wizard.
The forces of change begin their work and things start to change. Harry starts at Hogwarts.
There’s crisis. There’s always a crisis of some kind. Its similar to change work. There are strange happenings at Hogwarts, Voldemort is gaining strength.
The hero pushes back, that’s our Harry.
There’s a climax. There’s always a battle between Harry and Voldermort. And Harry wins.
And then we return to our world, or a new world. A world where things have moved on and Harry is wiser and stronger.
As you can see, the narrative arc fits really well with change/transformation stories. Change and transformations are about a journey, something big happening, there’
Another thing worth noting, a compelling story always has a problem. If there’s no problem, there’s no story. If there’s no problem there’s no change.
Think of every movie you’ve ever seen. Whether it was Luke Skywalker trying to defeat the Empire in Star Wars, or Anna trying to find Elsa, it’s the problem that hooks us in. Will Luke be able to destroy the Death Star? Will good win over evil? Will Anna find and reconcile with Elsa?
These problems fit into bigger philosophical problems. In Star Wars it’s the battle of good versus evil. In Frozen it’s whether Elsa can accept herself and how she’s different. A challenge many people face.
Why use stories in change and transformation?
Transformation and change also starts with a problem. A compelling story will address that problem.
In Change and Transformation we can use stories to inspire, motivate and encourage people to work together, to achieve more than they thought possible. To build relationships, build connection and understanding. To make things memorable.
We can use stories to help alleviate uncertainty, stress and anxiety. To inform why change is necessary, as well as what to do and what to expect during a period of change and beyond.
Change and transformation isn’t easy. But strong story telling can make it easier. Stories engage your listener in their call to action.
Stories act as a guide in the face of uncertainty. No amount of logical reasoning will help people overcome their fears. People have to find their own way. Stories let people decide for themselves and that’s one of the great secrets of true influence.
Once you’ve got your story tell the story loudly and often! And then tell it again! In Change/Transformation it’s not possible to over communicate!
So what’s our planning story?
Let me take you back to the beginning:
In April 2019 Dorset Council was formed from 6 district and county councils.
We had six legacy planning authorities, 6 different planning, building control, land charges and GIS systems. Each authority worked differently, officers were wasting time jumping between systems to find information and process applications. We had a back log of applications, staff vacancies, and a high spend on agency staff. Officers estimated two-fifths of their time was wasted on tasks caused by complaints, failure demand and poor IT systems. Staff and customers were frustrated, stressed and dissatisfied.
We wanted to create a ‘one team’ planning system that delivers excellent customer service and underpins the growth and economic regeneration of Dorset.
We held a 3 month discovery to fully understand the issues, identify the problems and form a plan. We worked with nearly 250 staff, and consulted agents, town and parish councillors, the public and councillors. We worked collaboratively, in the open, we held regular show and tells. It was one of the best starts we’ve had to transformation work.
Our next challenge was with so much valuable information ‘What was the best way to report this back? We had our end of discovery report (it actually a video). But how were we going to get buy in and understanding from the service and all our stakeholders?
So we took a break. And had lunch.
A working lunch, myself, Mary our service designer and we invited Debs our Corporate Director for Digital & Change. Over the best M&S sandwiches money could buy, we brainstormed. And came up with a solution. Storytelling.
We crafted our story, and a few days later we presented our story to our Steering Group and project team, all huddled in our project room, the walls (and windows) were covered in themes, post-it notes and plans. It was standing room only. I have to admit to being slightly nervous. There was no weighty report for people to pretend to have read. I simply said, I’m going to tell you our story.
Our story was simple. You’ve already heard the beginning and we knew the ending we wanted, what we wanted our new planning service to look like.
The second part is that we’re going to get our own house in order first. We’re going to converge on one IT system, consolidate processes and templates (and make them stick!). It’s important to us, to do this first. It will help us work as one service and feel like one service. It will also give us a firm foundation to build our transformation. We’re going to recruit more staff and we’re going to clear the backlogs.
Convergence first, then transformation.
Once we’ve done that we’ll work on how we present our one planning service to the outside world, we’ll refine our service around our customers, review our web presence. We’ll look at the use of new tech considering chat bots, automation. And we’re keeping an eye on the MHCLG projects and the Planning Portal work.
It worked. We got buy in, approval and continued into our convergence phase.
Fast forward a year
That was nearly a year ago. And we’ve referred to that story many times since then. The old adage you can never over communicate is true — we say it over and over. In fact we’ve said it so many times that within the project team and steering group its now become shortened to convergence first, then transformation, or ‘inside first then outside’
When we have a wobble, or receive grumbles from Town and Parish councils about our website and why we’re taking so long to change it, we stand fast and tell our story. We will change the website, but we need to get our house in order first. We explain what we’ve done so far; we’ve converged North and West, we’re about to converge Weymouth & Portland. That’s 285 staff and over 1.8 million documents, nearly 200,000 planning applications so far.
The feedback we’ve had from the Town & Parish Councillors was that they understood our story and appreciated our open and honest approach. We’ll be working with them closely soon to help shape how we present our new planning service to the outside world.
We’re lucky, Cllr Walsh is our portfolio holder, he attends our steering groups and he’s well versed in our story. When other councillors raise queries Cllr Walsh can also be heard telling our story!
