Telling stories to staff

Dave Snowden suggested that storytelling is a powerful tool in the knowledge management arsenal. Consider the role of storytelling in:

* cultural change projects - constructing a compelling story with the desired aim of being able to create a shift in culture within an organisation. Using this technique within IBM, a story was constructed and told around a water cooler at head office on a Wednesday. By the end of Friday, it had been retold in 600 branch offices. Senior management and supervisors were trained in storytelling so that the agreed values and rules were consistently present in the retelling of the story.

* mergers and partnerships: stories can be created from the anecdote base of the acquired company using the values of the acquiring company. This means that staff can be told stories from their own common history by incoming executives.

* HR/induction: what stories are told to new employees? How long does it take for a new employee to acquire key stories? What values are being transmitted by the stories?