As they draft a new Comprehensive General Plan, East Palo Alto officials are collecting oral histories of residents — a process praised as a novel approach to…
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Scooped by Karen Dietz onto Just Story It |
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Karen Dietz's insight:
Love this story! It's about a city using the power of storytelling to chart their future. Hooray!
Don't you wish more organizations -- whether businesses, nonprofits, or governments -- would do the same? I know everyone's experience would be much richer with better outcomes, too.
My only little criticism of the process the City of East Palo Alto is using are the questions they are asking. They are OK. But if they reaslly wanted stories they would be using story prompts to make sure they really heard stories. The questions they are now using will get them information or opinions and maybe not stories.
Instead of asking, "How do you make use of the city's parks?" they could ask, "Tell me about some of the best times you've had in the city's parks..." The first question gets you information like, "We go picnicing, we use the playground, I like running in the park..."
If you ask the second question you actually get a very rich story that tells you more. "I really like to run in the park every morning. The scenery is beautiful and I like how the city replants its flowers each season so the park is constantly changing and pleasant to be in. I run with my buddies. It is easy to find parking and we can hang out at the picnic tables afterward."
You get the idea. We now have meaningful experiences to help guide decision-making about plant maintenance, parking facilities, places to congregate, etc. that we never would have gotten by asking the first information-based question.
So if you plan to do something similar in your organization, focus on the "Art of the Question" and investigate story prompts and the Appreciative Inquiry process for more help.
Many thanks to fellow curator Bill Palladino @LocalEconGuy for sending this article my way!
This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling atwww.scoop.it/t/just-story-it
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Tell me if you’ve heard this one before – you’re on a project that was thrust on your stakeholder groups from high above. They were insufficiently consulted during the problem definition phase, and they are now questioning everything during implementation. These stakeholders can’t get the project to be outright cancelled, but they can cause it to be ultimately unsuccessful if they don’t commit to putting their time and energy into ensuring that the solution being developed is appropriately used. Sound familiar? It sure does to me! So what is a leader, manager, consultant to do? Add stories into the mix. I like this article because it directly addresses the difficulties of project management, enrolling people to your cause, and how stories can be one of the remedies applied. The author includes 3 steps to shift the situation and get your projects back on track. If you are stuck -- read this. And if you consult with others, tuck this list in your back pocket to keep your clients & project on track. Read the full article here: http://www.batimes.com/articles/the-power-of-story-in-business-analysis.html This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it 
Karen Dietz's comment,
June 23, 2012 12:39 PM
Glad you like it Jan! Thanks for the comment. Have a great weekend :)
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Story telling makes for good city planning