Leading Change

There can be a good deal of talk about changing the story of a group and that as a means of making their enterprise better. Undoubtedly, stories of lore or founding stories are sometimes replaced but not likely changed. I think this is so because a story of the group's founding is approximated in the real - what is being talked about actually happened and you can't change facts.

What is possible however, is to replace one story with another. Founding stories and the identity they confer upon a group are ready for replacement when the practices they foster are no longer needed or accepted by the larger culture the group purports to serve. Here's an example: an entrepreneur begins a business and as success comes decides that to reward those who have stayed during the lean times there will never be a layoff. In the ensuing years the wisdom of this policy is seen in employee loyalty, low job turnover, high-quality production, and cost containment. Then the time comes when the product loses appeal in the marketplace. There is nothing wrong with either the policy of no layoffs or the product that supports them. What is wrong is that the culture the organization serves no longer supports the organization through the consumption of its product. If it will remain viable it must change. This could entail change to the product and even, for a time, change to its founding story of no layoffs. It is possible that for the company to survive the founding story could be replaced entirely.

Stephen Prickett's explanation of appropriation in his "Origins of Narrative", is interesting. Using the Christian Bible as the template, Prickett develops the idea that much of our sense of narrative in the West is influenced directly by its stories, particularly our allowing one thing to stand in for another. He calls this appropriation. Appropriation is used extensively in the Christian faith. Through it we understand a certain thing or event in scripture to have meaning to our life today. An example is in our appropriating David's triumph over Goliath onto challenges we face and our hope for a similar successful conclusion. Appropriation helps us deduce meaning and in its use we find another story to tell about our life.

We've all heard it before: the more things stay the same the more they change. Perhaps this has risen to a truism because it is true. Change is here to stay. People change yet feel that the systems or organizations that we're a part should never. And some, seemingly don't. I think you would be hard pressed to find a single organization that has not changed in some way, even the most durable and venerable around us. The most enduring has in myriad ways changed since its founding. Not all change is dramatic nor must it be extensive to be change. I believe that incremental change is easier for organization members to accept than that to its entire direction. To accomplish change of this magnitude it is necessary to restory the organization. This can be the work of narrative leadership.