The organization had determined a new shared vision with which the Province wanted to create a position with the government, the media and other stakeholders. They felt they needed a shared story to communicate and carry out this message through a story that would engage not only employees but also their partners and network. It was extremely important for the management to create new connections within and outside the provincial borders. The shared story had to explain the specific and unique position of Zeeland and the consequences of this on demography, geography, politics and the social and economic implications of consisting of a group of islands, with a relatively small population.
My role in this process
First we needed to understand where the organization stood, where they came from and what the choices were for the future of the Province of Zeeland. So action number 1 was to talk to the Queens Commissioner, a number of her Directors and senior Communication advisor. Desk research showed the history of the organization and how the vision was created with approx. 450 employees. Action number 2 was to evoke stories from outside and within the Organization. We talked to relevant target groups about themes related to the vision. The stories were transcribed and we put them into a database, we call a storyweb. The stories show the experiences, wishes and expectations of the narrator. When you take stories serious you realise that they are always true: the truth of the storyteller. Once all the stories were transcribed we could determine patterns in them. They made us understand the Organization, the hold-ups but also the progress even management is often not aware of. This insight into the organization and the external target groups, proved to be invaluable in change communication. Together with the deskresearch (the history/past of the Organization) and the vision (the future of the Organization) the storyweb (the present of the Organization) they formed a complete insight in the challenges management was facinf. We used this as input when we co-created the story of Zeeland with a selected Group of staff and management.
Result
The process of evoking stories, sharing stories and co-creating a shared stories gives the Organization a focus, shared starting point and a common goal. It made the abstract vision concrete. The story that emerced from the session of co-creation is adopted by everyone and is shared, in its own form, by everyone within the organization. When the stories is told, often with the narrators own experience, the vision is communicated, is translated into goals and the role of the narrator in the realization of the vision becomes clear. Its as easy as that: we all tell stories, it comes natural and whilst we narrate we make sense and attribute meaning to what we say. And so the stories spread through the organization and outside the province. It jumps people into action and naturally and without much effort the vision is communicated, by the very people that have to work with it.

Call of mail me so I can tell you more about working with co-created and lived stories in your own organization:

Suzanne Tesselaar
Stories of Change
Telephone: 06-55357770
suzanne@storiesofchange.nl