In this Talent Tales episode, talent.imperative Founder Nicole Dessain had the honor to interview Dr. Bruce Pereira, Global Learning Design Lead at a Large Professional Services Organization.
Bruce describes himself as a “narrative and systemic archeologist” - someone who uncovers hidden meaning through the power of storytelling. Bruce’s superpower is helping people unearth their unique stories and exploring the systemic impact these stories have on teams and organizations.
Bruce shares his observation that storytelling in a corporate context is often seen as a functional skill like communication. While knowing the parts of a story and how to craft an impactful story are parts of storytelling, there is so much more to it. Stories connect people. Stories are change catalysts.
Bruce uses storytelling to help people think differently, especially when it comes to complex organizational stories that have developed over time. He points out that each organization has dominant stories which are heavily managed and marketed. What his research reveals is that when you intentionally elicit stories from employees, they often vary from the dominant narrative. You need to understand and help bridge that disconnect.
That’s where design thinking and storytelling intersect. It’s about spending time to discover trends and patterns in the stories. It’s about being curious to create meaning, both at the individual and the organizational level. Storytelling is a way to connect with people on a very human level and talk about what’s important to them. Bruce’s tip is to focus on discovering, reflecting, and sense making – the solutions will emerge from there.
As you dissect storytelling data, you also want to pay attention to whose voice is not represented as part of the dominant narrative and how to bring those in more – especially if working in a global context.
Bruce shares that barriers to bringing storytelling to the organization depend on the level of cultural maturity in this space (transactional vs transformational value of storytelling). It is then about articulating the value of storytelling and helping people understand that a narrative design thinking approach might initially feel as though the process gets slowed down. In the end though, solutions are much more robust, and change can be managed much more effectively.
Want to learn more how to excavate stories like an archeologist? Watch the entire interview on YouTube or listen to the Podcast.