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| Path: Main Street > Resources/Library > Research Articles > Feature Article |
Why stories matter in the next generation of collaboration
By Pattie LaCroix
September 29, 2008
So many of us working for a more just and equitable world are faced with trying to broaden and deepen public engagement in this movement toward change. In our attempts to extend the invitation of civic engagement, narrative is playing a more and more important role.
Narrative practitioner Kate Lutz explains well why stories are an essential way to craft our communications: "Stories are the way we naturally think; the way we sort the natural information in our brain. They are also a way to remember - they cement ideas in our brain."
Today, we are not only looking at how we want to improve the lives of those living in communities around the world, but we are also talking about different ways to get the job done. While we have always valued collaboration, it has largely resulted in very tactical one-off efforts that over time have gained very little traction in supporting vibrant movements for change. But a new way of working together is rapidly emerging. "Open" refers to the next generation of a collaborative process.
"Open" is a transformative way of working; a process that can be disruptive while at the same time identifying patterns and identifying what is already working. Many of us associate "open" with open source software; today that openness, collaboration and participation are rapidly moving beyond the boundaries of technology into new uncharted territory. Here, the "open" process strategy of working together is about value...and values.
The authors of Getting to Maybe, an exploration of social innovation, articulate the value that process strategies such as "open" collaboration can hold. "Process strategies delineate patterns for interaction that stimulate strategy creation, but do not determine specific content in advance...managing patterns to create the climate within which a wide variety of strategies can grow and then detect the emerging patterns and help them take shape."
Communicating the narratives of "open" ways of working together is proving to be instrumental in nurturing cross-sector, multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural knowledge sharing.
David Hutchens explains why stories are required when communicating the benefit of this "open" collaboration. He observes that, "a story is a narrative that illustrates complex interconnections between agents, ideas, events, and even abstract concepts."
For example, there are many NGOs that have for decades been working in the area of food security, to support global small food producers, genetic diversity, and fight against growing corporate ownership of our food producing seeds. Decades later, our global food supply remains in growing jeopardy. Should we not be providing leadership and energy into looking at new ways of addressing this serious issue? This is the potential promise that "open" process strategies holds for social innovation.
More and more civil societies are exploring new ways to create sustainable and just communities. Communicating new and innovative ways of working together is becoming equally as important as program outcomes. As communicators of social innovation, the telling of how we do what we do is emerging as a central narrative of public engagement.
Pattie LaCroix has provided strategic leadership in crafting integrated communications and fundraising strategies to nonprofits for more than a decade. As CEO of Catapult Media she is passionate about the power of storytelling in engaging your audience and building support for your work. You can reach Pattie at www.catapultmedia.ca.
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