Impact of stories

A story is a narrative, a recounting of what is known and imagined in a way that places the factual and fictional parts of experience on equal ground. Most conversations are story constructs, and much of what we learn through communication is essentially story-telling. A story can be factual, invented, mythic, metaphoric, cautionary and visionary, often all at the same time, as many "voices" or individual interests can be represented in the same context.

Improvisational stories allow for folks to “belch forth” undigested experience rather than simply engage in regimented argumentation – it allows the introduction of 'messy' experience which can then be processed as a group, and tends to connect better (give an 'emotional hit'). Structured stories, on the other hand, can be the result of centuries of refinement and conscious craft, thereby revealing important nuances of the culture and individuals that produced them.

Stories can be a simple recounting (oral or written) or can entail movement, mime, masks, video, theatre and other embodied, sensory and multi-media forms of performance.

Benefits of stories for group process

Stories enable connecting on human level – shared access to human experience. They can build trust, when the story is shared, and knowledge of individuals in the group, and they are more memorable than simply reporting data or giving instructions. Stories provide context that is difficult to achieve in analytical reports and suggest an authentic way to convey feelings around an issue / event. They can be persuasive, even subversive, and can shock and shift worldviews by directly engaging values and beliefs. Perhaps most valuable at this time in history, stories can translate andn build bridges across cultures. A story also provides value in the telling: in shaping the experience into a story and sharing it with the group, one takes a risk and invites trust.

Cautions & Caveats

Stories always propose a worldview and can be manipulative, especially when facts are distorted or omitted, just as information may be presented as fact in order to obscure the truth when the stories behind the data's collection and framing are not shared.

As a facilitator there is a fine balance between honouring a story and the time it can take with the group's need to move the process forward. It can be hard to discern whether a story is necessary or a distraction. Confidentiality can be an issue, especially if other participants or known parties are depicted in the story. There is also the risk of appropriation of a story - by participant or facilitator - without checking details, obtaining permission or citing the source when it is re-told.