Story as a Catalyst for Evolution
At Pelerei, we have found that storytelling (and story listening) is essential to learning and organizational change.
Civilization grows through knowledge and relationships. If civilization were a tree and knowledge and relationships were the trunk and branches, the roots would be our stories. We learn and thrive only when new knowledge comes to us in context. We build relationships through knowing more and more about others in the context of their lives and actions. Stories provide the context for all learning. This is the reason why story has been used for generations to teach the important lessons.
Telling the story is only half of storytelling. A story cannot be told without a listener. Stories are powerful because they allow listeners to relate to the story and find the meaning for themselves. A person's story is neither right nor wrong. A good story allows the listener to participate directly within it. The story becomes part of the listeners' experience...even if it occurred centuries ago, even if it occurred thousands of miles away, even if it occurred to another person.
What if you could tap all of these important functions to benefit your organization? Pelerei can show you how.
Example: When working with a Board of a national association, it was clear that they had brought in Pelerei because they had lost their inspiration. Their mission statement no longer held any power to give them direction or inspiration. We asked the group to begin by telling stories inspired by one of the words in their mission statement. It was felt to be unusual, yet each Board member complied. By the time the last story was told, the Board was already energized. The words of their mission statement that had become flat and life-less were again filled with living power. The Board had all the energy and inspiration it needed.
Our Transformative Storytelling Techniques
Stories Inside Words
Mission statements are often spoken so many times that the words within them lose all their power. Stories Inside Words allow groups to be re-energized by giving new life to the words of their mission statements (or any statement that is used for directing or inspiring others).
Harvest Systems
Story harvesters can be trained to allow for on-going story gathering and archiving. This has been used for assessing culture, capturing history, retaining lessons from those who are about to leave, knowledge management, and more.
Collective Story Harvesting
Although harvest systems have focused on the gathering of stories, newer techniques are now using ways in which the entire group can participate in harvesting the meaning of a single story so that the organization can benefit from perhaps a founder's story and to benefit over several dimensions such as values, staff development, management principles, or whatever is important to the organization. The process does not involve time-consuming training but rather deep engagement that brings value of every minute of time spent.
Future Story
Helps people bridge the change gap with self-generated ideas of what could be on the other side. The future story allows for creating clearer vision that draws the listener. Future Stories simultaneously are grounded in the reality of today and reflect a vision that is attainable. Created in steps, the process begins with the present so that the future vision is recognizable, knowable, and compelling.
Living Stories
An easy-to-learn process that creates an inviting and supportive setting for individuals to get to know about themselves as a group as well as individually. It can be applied to small and large groups alike. It has been used for opening retreats and conferences, creating understanding, building trust in groups, team building, and more.
Narrative Room
A sophisticated process used to transform organizational culture, understand latent meanings, discover blocks to action, and create new stories.
Our Clients
Testimonials
"...The riding the current speech makes me rethink the way I learn, and I am sure, it will save me years of time learning new things I am and will be interested in."
Liu Xuehui, Knowledge Management Engineer at Strategy Planning department of Huawei Technologies
