What story & who will tell it?

What is your purpose for gathering people, what story would serve this purpose and who should tell it?

An outreach of the Methodist Church was about to have a strategy planning session. We focused first on their strategic goals and how they wanted to be seen and positioned in society. This created a solid frame.

While the strategic plan took center stage, underneath the surface, we used this activity as a solid team building initiative for geographically widespread team members.

And there was a story rife in the organisation that one part of it was about to be sold off. This wasn't true, but how to stamp out this story?

In the end three stories were told -- the story of the founder and his mission; the story of the community based aged care and why it was staying firmly part of the business; and the organisation's very cutting edge work with youth and gangs.

There were three different storytellers and we worked to make sure the stories fit and flowed together.

What will we listen for?

What are the topics we want to inquire into? What do we want to learn from our stories? 

Each topic we want to pursue acts like a lens on the story we're listening to. Through multiple lenses, the story becomes a prism of potential. Suddenly we are working together as a multi-faceted team to make deeper sense and meaning of the lived experience of the storytellers.

This is particularly important for project teams, founders, and those stewarding large initiatives. Often the train keeps on rolling so fast important learning is overlooked or left by the wayside. We end up either in burnout or reinventing the wheel.

Targeted listening really works because the brain loves a task and a focus brings deeper listening and committed attention. And not only the group benefits -- storytellers always report they've learned something new too!

Listening lenses, called "Harvesting Arcs" are always crafted prior to working with the method. 

Who is Invited to listen?

Who do we want to listen to this story and why?

One thing we quickly find out using this method is that people have different skills and talents around listening.

Some of us are deeply topic based and narrative focused. Some of us listen somatically or through a different medium, like music or visuals.  

Choosing the listening audience presents its own unique opportunities. Is it only those involved you want to include so it becomes a group sensemaking? Are there those in or outside our wider system we'd love to have onboard? Are there those with specific skillsets whose expertise could be helpful? 

For a leadership conference of 200+ people, we used 14 different stories to inquire more deeply into the question: What do we know about making change for good?

We harvested each story simultaneously using the same lenses, then came back into the full group to inquire into what we learned across all the stories.

What will we do with what we find out?

What will we harvest and how will we use our harvest?

There are many layers to what Collective Story Harvest can do. The first layer happens in the room as the harvesters present back what they've learned through the lens of the theme they were listening for.

This layer builds collective understanding and collective intelligence. We have enriched our mutual understanding and learning.

That might be all that is needed or it might be only the start.

Perhaps our work points to the next story or theme that needs attention. Perhaps a different group configuration is needed to listen again. Perhaps next steps are identified.

After a Collective Story Harvest for a group focused on supporting children from separated families, we worked more extensively on a set of principles, a calling question and strenghtening volunteeer roles.

In working with the story of Denmark's 1813 bankruptcy over a number of years, we continued to find conversation threads, and offered an experiment around Constitution Day. It became an installation in the state museum and eventually influenced a new political party.