Part
I
Project
Campfire at IBM
I
have been an avid reader of fiction since childhood. The adventures of the The
Famous Five used to make me vicariously experience their thrill and
excitement in solving friendly neighborhood mysteries. Every time I read Harry
Potter (counting more than twenty-five times already!), I would be immediately transported to the towering castle of Hogwarts,
immersed in the fascinating shops of Diagon Alley, nail-bitingly engaged at the outcome of
Quidditch, reeling at the threat of Death Eaters or alas You-Know-Who!
Every time I join Harry, Hermione and Ron in their quest to kill
Voldemort, meet the myriad challenges of growing up in the magical world, and
having fun of a close knit friendship along the way, I forget all about the
outside world momentarily.
That’s the power of a good story—to transport you someplace
you’ve never been. It lets you experience something as if you are actually
there. Leaders throughout history have long known the power of stories to
inspire, motivate and move people to achieve things they never believed they
were capable of achieving.
When I joined IBM, I was introduced to "Unit Campfire", practised
by our Project’s Managers (levels of 1st line, 2nd line),
conducted annually. Idea was for the managers, team members, team leads to go
for an outbound one-day trip, have a day of un, then share inspiring stories
and/or anecdotes that occurred in the year in office, related to clients etc, while
relaxing around a bonfire. Purpose was to inspire, motivate and reinforce the
values of IBM in the employees by the Leaders.
Introduction –
Humans have always used stories to
make sense out of our chaotic world. When our ancestors had to kill animals
they felt were kindred spirits to survive, they created myths to help them come
to terms with it. When they invented agriculture, they created myths that
glorified graft and highlighted the seasonal nature of existence. When they
began to settle, humans created myths imbuing cities with transcendence. As
Yuval Noah Harari describes in his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,
story went on to play a vital role in building all subsequent civilizations.
Fast-forward to the volatile times we live in today, where people
increasingly recognize that tackling problems like climate change, inequality,
and health care requires a systems approach.
The work of systems change involves seeing systemically—looking
at the elements, interconnections, and wider purposes of systems—and acting systemically. Story plays a vital role in
helping us do both of these things.
In
business there is a tendency to think of storytelling as frivolous or wasting
time. Yet, stories are the basis of everything we do. What your organization
accomplishes, or doesn’t accomplish is grounded in the stories that are told.
Whether it’s the story of how you pulled a failing area out of the fire to
recapture your market share. Or how the new CEO is shaping the organization, or
what your employees’ really believe about the company values—stories are
shaping and reshaping your business every day. It’s easy to think when making a
decision based on numbers and hard data there is no place for storytelling. The
reality is that it’s the story that allows us to remember and make the data
meaningful.
(This is Part I of the series Organizational Change through the Art of Story & Story-telling)
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