The culture of an organization—be it an association, not-for-profit, company, or a country—is shaped by the stories it tells and believes about itself. “To bring change, leaders need to tell a better story about where the organization came from and where it is going,” said Greg Smith, NYSAE’s September Luncheon speaker, who talked about shaping your organization by telling your story.
Smith noted that oral traditions were the way cultures were passed down from one generation to the next before the written word. He emphasize that skill (relating stories) is what makes leaders and organizations memorable.
“In this age of PowerPoints and data, stories are the currency of genuine leadership,” said Smith. “Leaders need to be careful not to rely on data. Stories are memorable, where facts and figures are not.”
Smith outline the basics for creating a story, or an image and message out of words. Stories need a character or characters. Stories need a point of view; what’s the perspective? Stories need to unfold over a period of time. Stories need to have conflict, but they also need to have action, a result that comes about from that conflict. “At every step of the way,” said Smith, “you want people to say: ‘and then what happened.’” For an association or nonprofit, the story needs to tell where you have been, where you are, and where you are going.