Why use business narrative techniques?
When people are asked direct questions they tend to tell the interviewer what they think the interviewer wants to hear. The formality of the situation creates a behaviour of compliance. Even when the interviewee is providing forthright responses they are constrained by how the question is told and the desire by the interviewer to obtain specific types of information. The interview approach represents the analytical method of developing solutions. We all, however, use narrative approaches to make sense of what’s happening around but since Fredrick Taylor created the discipline of scientific management managers have shunned narrative methods as merely anecdotal and virtually worthless. The world has changed since the days of Fredrick Taylor. Business is now complex, interconnected, messy and unpredictable. A great way to get a handle on this messiness is to listen and work with the stories people are telling in your organisation. Stories deliver facts in context and with emotion and carr
