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Organizational Change through the Art of Story & Story-telling - Project Campfire at IBM


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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