Narrative
Patterns:
The perils and possiblities
of using stories in organisations
Editor's
Note: The
following paper was provided to the Association of Knowledgework
to make a point during the January 2002 STAR Series Discussion
moderated by the author.
Author
Dave Snowden is a former director of IBM's Institute for Knowledge,
a fellow of the Information Systems Research Unit at Warwick
University. He can be contacted via e-mail at snowded@btinternet.com
Organisations are
finally waking up to the power of Story and like all awakenings
the possibilities are as yet dimly perceived through eyes fogged
with sleep; light is starting to penetrate the windows, but the
curtains are still drawn and the shape of objects is unfamiliar.
With this awakening comes danger, too many consultants are geared
up to rapidly exploit new fads and trends with minimal investment
and there is much evidence of exploitation in the field. It is
not enough just to employ a journalist, scriptwriter, actor or
even a traditional storyteller. All have valuable skills within
the context for which they were developed: newspapers, films,
the theatre and the campfire. However the field of story telling
in organisations is more complex in its requirement and wider
in its application.
Most importantly
narrative it is not just about telling, constructing or even
eliciting stories, it is about allowing the patterns of culture,
behaviour and understanding that are revealed by stories to emerge.
Following facilitation of that emergence we need to create an
overall ecology in which both the patterns of narrative and the
patterning capability of narrative interventions is managed in
the way a gardener manages a garden, not the way an Engineer
designs a machine.
This brief article
aims to provide some cautionary comments and a high level overview
of some of the newly developing areas of narrative work. It reflects
the experience of the Institute for Knowledge Management in developing
and patenting methods tools and techniques for narrative work
in organisations.
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