The power of story

Today in church I was reminded of the power of story and the need for people to know they are in the story. Dr. Cain Hope Felder, professor of New Testament Language and Literature at the Howard University School of Divinity, talked about how people who have traditionally been at the margins can be brought into the community by discovering themselves in the story and by the opportunity to tell their own story. As I listened, I realized how true I have found this to be in my work with collaboratives.

I have learned that one of the important tasks of collaborative enterprises is to harness the power of the story. In sharing and hearing each other’s stories partners can come to understand what is important to each other and why.

All too often collaborative ventures are trying to hard to be efficient partners barely take the time to begin to get to know each other even superficially. Taking time to share stories is too often seen a luxury. However, taking that time near the beginning can save a great deal of time later. Time spent on hearing each other’s stories can move the collaborative process forward based on understanding rather than assumptions. Through listening to stories partners can learn to understand each other's motives and values, which can help minimize faulty judgments and misdirection of effort.

Telling one’s story has benefits the tellers as well as the listeners. The process of telling one’s story helps clarify what is really important and can help prioritize what is needed from the partnership. It helps differentiate between personal from organizational stories. The process of listening is as important as the telling. The opportunity to tell your story is of limited value if you do not feel you are being heard.

Telling stories takes time, space and focus. It also takes preparation. Without preparing groups to share and listen to each other’s stories people the time taken can be wasted. Groups need coaching and structure to ensure that the time spent has positive outcomes. The environment has to be safe and people need to tell their stories within time guidelines and without interruption.

The results of all this effort will be partners that are clear about what their organizations need from the partnership and partners that know and trust each other more than they would without the stories. Time will ultimately be saved - the time that is otherwise spent taking three steps forward and one – or two – back.

If the work of the partnership is worth doing, if the goals are worth pursuing, let along achieving, it is well worth investing the time in storytelling and story listening.