For what?
As part of cultural transformation projects, we are often initially faced with questions such as: Where do we currently stand in terms of our organizational culture? What kind of culture do we have in our organization? How do we find a good way to start a conversation with our employees? What understanding of purpose prevails - and how can we reconcile the expectations of management, employees and customers? We have found that collecting stories is often the best way to start a cultural project. Stories already connect "now" - i.e. at any given time.
Time - members of organizations with stakeholders by bundling knowledge and experience from the past and implicitly including the bet on the future (antenarrative). Those who tell stories automatically report from within themselves and about their relationships with others - this tool is therefore universally suitable for creating emotional connections within an organization.
Example
Two new organizations are being acquired as part of an acquisition process.
together. Let's use the example of two medical technology companies that want to combine their business models and make a successful start into the future together. The acquiring company is based in Europe, the other in the USA. The management of the acquiring organization feels that bringing the two cultures together is a key lever for the acquisition as a whole: Merging the cultures in such a way that a common motivation is created among the employees is an essential prerequisite for the realization of the merger strategy and the transformation as a whole. As part of story sourcing, employee and customer stories are collected in order to develop a sustainable and resonant future story for the merger project as a whole.
What matters
- When collecting stories, the ability to listen is the most important thing. We do not conduct interviews in the style of management consultants using fixed checklists, nor do we carry out "assessments". The aim is to find out about specific situations and events from the interviewee's world.
- Interviewers therefore take on the role and attitude of moderators who radiate curiosity and do not evaluate what is said, but rather keep asking questions in order to find out images (metaphors) and individual details.
- An important element is to clarify the intention of the story sourcing at the beginning of the interview or conversation: Place the intervention in the ongoing transformation process and explain that you want to gain insights into the organization's emotional compass.
- Instead of working through a fixed questionnaire, lead the participants to social-emotional prompts and ask them to put themselves in concrete situations. This approach opens up the conversation and allows stories to be shared openly, even in a group context.
- Focus the conversation on one, maximum two prompts. The following two prompts are particularly suitable for gaining an insight into the culture:
- Success - to get to know the principles and mechanisms that work in the organization
- Purpose - to determine what is personally important to the participants and what makes the organization "tick".
Step by step
Step 1 - Preparation
- Define/revise the questions to fit the specific context and purpose.
- Schedule interviews or group appointments for 60 minutes.
- Find a quiet place for the virtual or face-to-face meeting.
- Obtain information about the interviewee and his/her organization.
- If several interviewers will be conducting the interview, agree on the roles (main interviewer, note-taking).
Step 2 - Tuning in to the call
Before you meet the interviewee, plan some quiet preparation time or silence, for example 15 minutes - this will open you up so that you can enter the interview without any preconceptions.
Step 3 - Have a conversation
Start the conversation. Use the sample questions below for inspiration, but deviate from them to allow the conversation to develop its own direction. Ask for permission to record the conversation for further, anonymized processing of the stories in the context of
of story sourcing!
Step 4 - Reflection on the interview
Take some time immediately after the interview to look back:
- What did I notice in particular? What surprised me?
- What touched me?
- Is there anything I should follow up on?
Step 5 - Summary
After all interviews have been completed, review the interview data, summarize the story passages and record them on the story mapping board if necessary.
Step 6 - Thanks
Close the feedback loop: send a thank you after every interview!
Sample questions for story sourcing with employees
- Clarify intention (example): "We are working out how the people at [your organization] are coping with the current challenges and want to find out what the success factors of our culture are that need to be strengthened in the future."
- Success prompt: "Can you remember a moment when you had an inner feeling of happiness because you succeeded in something that was not easy to achieve or initially seemed unsolvable? What comes to mind?"
- Purpose prompt: "Imagine coming to work in the morning and smiling on the way there because you already have the feeling that what's going to happen that day really makes sense. It's a fulfilling day at work. What does such a working day look like for you?"
- Try to ask in-depth questions about both prompts to find out more about the people involved and the emotions at play:
- What exactly happened? Which people are important in this context and why?
- How does this example show the best of what the organization can currently do?
- What factors are important to make this example special?
- Conclude the conversation with an outlook on important changes and disruptive elements in the culture.
Framework
Duration: approx. 1 hour (plus some preparation time)
Format: virtual (e.g. video conference accompanied by virtual whiteboard) or in person
Participants: Individual interviews or in teams (scalable for large groups)
You can find more information on this and other tools for overcoming business challenges with communicative means in the book
