Minnesota State University – Mankato discussion notes

Discussion note instructionRead CREATING SHARED STORY ARTICLE
What core argument is the author/speaker/creator making?
• Answer with your own words
• Pull out a quote or two that capture the core argument
What are the main points or subtopics the author/speaker/creator?
• Name the main points or subtopics in your own words
• Pull out a quote for each point or subtopic
What emerged for you? (You do not need to answer all of these. Focus on a minimum of 2.
Use your own words first, then pull out a quote for each point)
• What struck you? (A word, a phrase, an image, a sound, etc.)
• What questions came up for you?
• What feelings did you have? (Share the word, phrase, image, sound, etc. that
prompted that feeling)
• What do you want to learn more about having read/watched/listened to this
material?
• How does the material align with your experience of the world? How does it
challenge you to think differently?
CREATING SHARED STORY:
STORY OF SELF
Why am I called to leadership?
Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz of Harvard
University http://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staffdirectory/marshall-ganz
INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC NARRATIVE & STORY OF SELF
Goals for this session:
•
•
•
Learn WHY Public Narrative is an essential leadership skill
Learn HOW Public Narrative works: values, emotion & story structure
Learn HOW to tell your public narrative
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
When I am only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when?
– Hillel, 1st century Jerusalem sage
Crafting a complete public narrative is a way to
connect three core elements of leadership practice:
story (why we must act now, heart), strategy (how we
can act now, head), and action (what we must do to
act now, hands). As Rabbi Hillel’s powerful words
suggest, to stand for yourself is a first but insufficient
step. You must also construct the community with
whom you stand, and move that community to act
together now. To combine stories of self, us and now,
find common threads in values that call you to
story of
story of
PURPOSE
stor y of
us
Public Narrative
your mission, values shared by your community, and challenges to those values that demand action
now. You may want to begin with a Story of Now, working backward through the Story of the Us with
whom you are working to the Story of Self in which your calling is grounded.
Public narrative as a leadership practice
Leadership is about accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face
of uncertainty. Narrative is how we learn to access the moral resources – the courage – to make the
choices that shape our identities – as individuals, as communities, as nations.
Each of us has a compelling story to tell
Each of us can learn to tell a story that can move others to action. We each have stories of
challenge, or we wouldn’t think the world needed changing. And we each have stories of hope, or we
wouldn’t think we could change it. As you learn this skill, you will learn to tell a story about yourself
(story of self), the community whom you are organizing (story of us), and the action required to
create change (story of now). You will learn to tell, to listen, and to coach others.
Learning Public Narrative
We are all natural storytellers. We are “hard wired” for it. Although you may not have learned how to
tell stories “explicitly” (their structure, the techniques), you have leaned “implicitly” (imitating others,
responding to the way others react to you, etc.). In this workshop you will learn the tools to make the
implicit explicit. We will use a four-stage pedagogy: explain, model, practice and debrief. We will
explain how story works, you will observe a model of story telling, you will then practice you own
story, and you will then debrief your practice with others.
You will learn this practice the way we learn any practice: the same way we learn to ride a bike.
Whatever we read, watch, or are told about bike riding, sooner or later we have to get on. And the
first thing that usually happens is that you fall off. Then, and this is the key moment, you either give
up or find the courage to get back up on the bike, knowing you will continue to fall, until, eventually
you learn to keep your balance. In this workshop you’ll have the support of your written materials,
peers and coaches.
You will also learn to coach others in telling their stories. We are all “fish” so to speak in the “water”
of our own stories. We have lived in them all our lives and so we often need others to ask us probing
questions, challenge us to explain why, and make connections we may have forgotten about so we
can tell our stories in ways others can learn from them.
We all live rich, complex lives with many challenges, choices, and outcomes of both failure and
success. We can never tell our whole life story in two minutes. We are learning to tell a two-minute
story as the first step in mastering the craft of public narrative. The time limit focuses on getting to
the point, offering images rather than lots of words, and choosing choice points strategically.
How Public Narrative Works
Why use public narrative? Two ways of knowing (and
why we need both!)
Leadership requires engaging the “head” and the
“heart” to engage the “hands”—mobilizing others to act
together purposefully. Leaders engage people in
interpreting why they should change their world—their
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motivation—and how they can act to change it—their strategy. Public narrative is the “why”—the art
of translating values into action through stories.
The key to motivation is understanding that values inspire action through emotion.
Emotions inform us of what we value in ourselves, in others, and in the world, and enable us to
express the motivational content of our values to others. Stories draw on our emotions and show our
values in action, helping us feel what matters, rather than just thinking about or telling others what
matters. Because stories allow us to express our values not as abstract principles, but as lived
experience, they have the power to move others.
Some emotions inhibit action, but other emotions facilitate action.
The language of emotion is the language of movement, sharing the same root word. Mindful action
is inhibited by inertia and apathy, on the one hand, and fear, isolation and self-doubt on the other. It
can be facilitated by urgency and anger, on one hand, and hope, solidarity, and YCMAD (you can
make a difference) on the other. Stories can mobilize emotions enabling mindful action to overcome
emotions that inhibit it.
ACTION
MOTIVATORS
OVERCOMES
ACTION
INHIBITORS
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hope
The Three Key Elements of Public Narrative Structure: Challenge – Choice – Outcome
A plot begins with an unexpected challenge that
confronts a character with an urgent need to pay
attention, to make a choice, a choice for which
s/he is unprepared. The choice yields an
outcome—and the outcome teaches a moral.
Because we can empathetically identify with the
character, we can “feel” the moral. We not only
hear “about” someone’s courage; we can also be
inspired by it.
The story of the character and their effort to
make choices encourages listeners to think about
their own values, and challenges, and inspires
them with new ways of thinking about how to
make choices in their own lives.
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Incorporating Challenge, Choice, and Outcome in Your Own Story
There are some key questions you need to answer as you consider the choices you have made in your
life and the path you have taken that brought you to this point in time as a leader. Once you identify
the specific relevant choice point—perhaps your first true experience of community in the face of
challenge, or your choice to do something about injustice for the first time—dig deeper by answering
the following questions.
Challenge: Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so challenging about it? Why was it your
challenge?
Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get the courage (or not)? Where did
you get the hope (or not)? Did your parents or grandparents’ life stories teach you in any way how to
act in that moment? How did it feel?
Outcome: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way? What did it teach you? What do you
want to teach us? How do you want us to feel?
A word about challenge. Sometimes people see the word challenge and think that they need to
describe the misfortunes of their lives. Keep in mind that a struggle might be one of your own
choosing – a high mountain you decided to climb as much as a valley you managed to climb out of.
Any number of things may have been a challenge to you and be the source of a good story to inspire
others.
Public narrative combines a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now.
A “story of now” communicates an urgent challenge you are
calling on your community to join you in acting on now.
A story of now requires telling stories that bring the urgency of
the challenge you face alive – urgent because of a need for
change that cannot be denied, urgent because of a moment of
opportunity to make change that may not return. At the
intersection of the urgency of challenge and the promise of
hope is a choice that must be made – to act, or not to act; to
act in this way, or in that. The hope resides not somewhere in
a distant future but in the sense of possibility in a pathway to
action. Telling a good story of now requires the courage of
imagination, or as Walter Brueggemann named it, a prophetic
imagination, in which you call attention both to the pain of the
world and also to the possibility for a better future.
A “story of us” communicates shared values that anchor your community, values that may be at
risk, and may also be sources of hope.
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We tell more “stories of us” in our daily lives than any other kind of story: “do you remember when”
moments at a family dinner, “what about the time that” moments after an exciting athletic event, or
simply exchanging stories with friends. Just like any good story, stories of us recount moments when
individuals, a group, a community, an organization, a nation experienced a challenge, choice, and
outcome, expressive of shared values. The may be founding moments, moments of crisis, of triumph,
disaster, of resilience, of humor. The key is to focus on telling specific stories about specific people at
specific times that can remind everyone of–or call everyone’s attention to–the values that you share
against which challenges in the world can be measured. A “story of us”, however, is “experiential” in
that it creates an experience of shared values, rather than “categorical”, described by certain traits,
characteristics, or identity markers. Telling a good story of us requires the courage of empathy – to
consider the experience of others deeply enough to take a chance of articulating that experience.
A “story of self” communicates the values that called you to lead in this way, in this place, at this
time.
Each of us has compelling stories to tell. In some cases, our values have been shaped by choices
others – parents, friends, and teachers – have made. And we have chosen how to deal loss, even as
we have found access to hope. Our choices have shaped our own life path: we dealt with challenges
as children, found our way to a calling, responded to needs, demands, and gifts of others; confronted
leadership challenges in places of worship, schools, communities, work.
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VIDEO REVIEW:
James Croft
We’ll be watching five minutes of James Croft’s Linked Public Narrative. As you watch it, focus on the
elements of SELF – US – NOW that you hear in his story.
SELF
US
NOW
What experiences shaped his
values? Whose choices were
they? Why are they stories?
Who is the “us” to whom he
appeals? What moments of
choice does he recall? What
are the values?
What challenges to those
values does he describe?
What’s the source of hope?
In what action does he ask
us to join?
1.
Why does James Croft begin as he does?
2.
What challenge, choice, and outcome are at the core of each story he tells?
3.
What details, images, moments do these stories bring alive?
4.
What values do these stories communicate?
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TEAM BREAKOUT SESSION:
STORY OF SELF PRACTICE WORK
GOALS
• Practice telling your Story of Self and get constructive feedback
• Learn to draw out and coach the stories of others
AGENDA
TOTAL TIME: 45 min. (40-minutes teamwork + 5 min. transition time)
1.
Gather in your team. Choose a timekeeper and review the agenda and
workshops.
5 min.
Your facilitator will share his/her 2-minute story of self as an example.
2 min.
2.
Take some time as individuals to silently develop your “Story of Self.”
Use the worksheet that follows.
5 min.
3.
As a team go around the group and tell your story one by one.
25 min.
For each person:
– 2 minutes to tell their story
– 3 minutes to offer feedback from the group (use the worksheet that follows
to write down your feedback)
NOTE: You have just 2 minutes to tell your story. Stick to this limit. Make
sure your timekeeper cuts you off. This encourages focus and makes sure
everyone has a chance to tell their story.
4.
Facilitator invites someone to tell their story of self to the larger group.
Rejoin the larger group.
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3 min.
WORKSHEET:
DEVELOPING YOUR STORY OF SELF
Before you decide what part of your story to tell, think about these questions:
1. Why am I called to leadership? Why am I called to ?
2. What values move me to act? How might they inspire others to similar action?
3. What stories can I tell from my own life about specific people or events that would show
(rather than tell) how I learned or acted on those values?
What are the experiences in your life that have shaped the values that call you to leadership?
FAMILY & CHILDHOOD
Parents/Family
Growing Up Experiences
Your Community
Role Models
School
LIFE CHOICES
ORGANIZING EXPERIENCE
School
Career
Partner/Family
Hobbies/Interests/Talents
Experiences Finding Passion
Experiences Overcoming
Challenge
First Experience of organizing
Connection to key books or
people
Role Models
Think about the challenge, choice and outcome in your story. The outcome might be what you learned, in
addition to what happened. Try drawing pictures here instead of words. Powerful stories leave your listeners
with images in their minds that shape their understanding of you and your calling. Remember, articulating the
decisions you make in the face of challenges ultimately communicates your values.
CH A L L E N G E :
CH O I CE :
OU T C OM E :
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For Further Reflection
We all live very rich and complex lives with many challenges, many choices, and many outcomes of
both failure and success. That means we can never tell our whole life story in 2 minutes. The
challenge is to learn to interpret our life stories as a practice, so that we can teach others based on
reflection and interpretation of our own experiences, and choose stories to tell from our own lives
based on what’s appropriate in each unique situation.
Take time to reflect on your own public story, beginning with your story of self. You may go back as
far as your parents or grandparents, or you may start with your most recent organizing and keep
asking yourself why in particular you got involved when you did. Focus on challenges you had to face,
the choices you made about how to deal with those challenges, and the satisfactions – or
frustrations—you experienced. Why did you make those choices? Why did you do this and not that?
Keep asking yourself why.
What did you learn from reflecting on these moments of challenge, choice, and outcome? How do
they feel? Do they teach you anything about yourself, about your family, about your peers, your
community, your nation, your world around you—about what really matters to you? What about
these stories was so intriguing? Which elements offered real perspective into your own life?
What brings you to this campaign? When did you decide to work on improving education, for
instance? Why? When did you decide to volunteer? Why? When did you decide to give up a week to
come to this workshop? Why?
Many of us active in public leadership have stories of both loss and hope. If we did not have stories of
loss, we would not understand that loss is a part of the world; we would have no reason to try to fix
it. But we also have stories of hope. Otherwise we wouldn’t be trying to fix it.
A good public story is drawn from the series of choice points that structure the “plot” of your life –
the challenges you faced, choices you made, and outcomes you experienced.
Challenge: Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so challenging about it? Why was it your
challenge?
Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get the courage – or not? Where did
you get the hope – or not? How did it feel?
Outcome: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way? What did it teach you? What do you
want to teach us? How do you want us to feel?
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COACHING TIPS:
STORY OF SELF
Remember to balance both positive and constructive critical feedback. The purpose of coaching is
to listen to the way stories are told and think of ways that the storytelling could be improved.
DON’T simply offer vague “feel good” comments. (“That was a really great story!”)
DO coach each other on the following points:
þ THE CHALLENGE: What were the specific challenges the storyteller faced? Did the
storyteller paint a vivid picture of those challenges?
“When you described
, I got a clear picture of the challenge.”
“I understood the challenge to be
. Is that what you intended?”
“The challenge wasn’t clear. How would you describe
?”
þ THE CHOICE: Was there a clear choice that was made in response to each challenge? How
did the choice make you feel? (Hopeful? Angry?)
“To me, the choice you made was
, and it made me feel
.”
“It would be helpful if you focused on the moment you made a choice.”
þ THE OUTCOME: What was the specific outcome that resulted from each choice? What
does that outcome teach us?
“I understood the outcome to be
relate to your work now?”
, and it teaches me
. But how does it
þ THE VALUES: Could you identify what this person’s values are and where they came from?
How? How did the story make you feel?
“Your story made me feel
because
“It’s clear from your story that you value
a story about where that value comes from.”
.”
; but it could be even clearer if you told
þ DETAILS: Were there sections of the story that had especially good details or images (e.g.
sights, sounds, smells, or emotions of the moment)?
“The image of
really helped me identify with what you were feeling.”
“Try telling more details about
so we can imagine what you were experiencing.”
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Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members Here:
Coaching Your Team’s “Story of Self’: As you hear each other’s stories, keeping track of the
details of each person’s story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about
people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your team’s stories in words or images.
NA M E
VAL U E S
CH A L L E N G E
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CH O I CE
OU T C OM E
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Read Chapter 12
McCornack, S. (2022). Reflect & relate: An introduction to
interpersonal
communication. (6th Ed.) Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. ISBN:
9781319247584
You must have the 6th edition.
Reading Journal Response Sheet
Part 1: Model for Reading Articles
Fill out each section
Full Citation in APA:
Keywords (your own keywords that jog your memory):
Main Arguments/Theories/Ideas:
Questions you have about the article:
Part 2: Prompts
Respond to one of the prompts below (be sure to put which one you’re answering – delete the
others).
3. How do the ideas in this chapter or article challenge, stretch, or violate your usual ways
of thinking?
4. Play devils advocate. Respond to this chapter from the opposite of your usual viewpoint.
5. How does this work relate to other chapters we have read? How do they engage in
dialogue?
6. Create your own prompt.