Design Prospectus
Project Description
Corporations often communicate goals and strategies in the context of one MBA to another. Naturally, the result is abbreviated communication, filled with acronyms and words that only contain meaning for business-school alumni. These communications do not provide the full picture to all employees. I am interested in what happens when every employee understands strategy to the extent it can inform their individual, day-to-day work.
To support leadership who would like to explore a narrative approach to communicating strategy, I developed a training presentation on how to frame corporate strategies within a narrative/storytelling framework. This presentation was based upon the research from my literature review. As part of this presentation, I also provided an example of such a narrative, designed to communicate the original business strategy for Starbucks.
Methodology
The first step was to complete a thorough literature review, focusing on texts discussing how storytelling functions in organizations, how it can be used to communicate corporate strategy, and best practices for story design.
Next, I researched approaches to storytelling, industry leaders in the craft of corporate storytelling, and resources for learning more about storytelling.
Then, I created a consulting presentation to train managers on the benefits of storytelling and best practices for story design, including an example narrative based on Starbucks' early go-to-market strategy.
Ethical Considerations and Challenges
As stated in my philosophy of communication, the chief ethical concern for storytelling within an organization is to ensure the company can walk its own talk.
Apart from this, broader challenges for this project included the fact that some people are naturally better storytellers than others. As Dennehy (1999) noted, not all executives “are good public speakers, have wildly imaginative minds, lead thrilling private lives or can recall key events or individuals from their past” (p. 43). To this end, Dennehy recommended that executives observe others tell stories—an easy task 20 years ago, but even easier now in the age of endless TED Talk playlists on YouTube. Dennehy, like Denning (2001), also recommended practice, especially with an audience—even a spouse. According to Denning, an audience “provides a sounding board, returning to the presenter live human emotions” (p. 205).
Objective and Outcome
The overall objective of this project was to help employees internalize strategic narratives and make them their own, so as to define and guide the reasons we show up to work every day (i.e., engagement) and enable employees to help achieve strategic goals.
Assessment and Analysis
The objective of this project could be measured following the training presentation. As Dennehy (1999) and many others have observed, employee engagement, pulse, or satisfaction surveys would be one way to measure if the storytelling was successful. Overall, however, measuring the impact storytelling can have within an organization “isn’t always easy . . . [c]hances are, if a company improves its performance in more measurable ways, few will give storytelling the lion’s share of the credit” (Dennehy, 1999, p. 43).
Outline and Process
Context
Given my recent transition to a new company, the original design of this project was adjusted to reflect a more generic storytelling model and sample strategy. As such, although the management training would eventually be conducted within an organization, no focus group research was conducted as originally intended.
Design
The design of the artifact was based on a template from the website Slidesgo, formatted for use in the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation format. I then recorded a script using QuickTime, and created a video using WeVideo.
Process
- Conducted literature review
- Researched modern approaches to storytelling by organizations
- Researched facts on storytelling and resources for learning more
- Developed training materials
- Posted video to my professional network via LinkedIn