Storytelling - what happened?

Thomas Herrmann thomas.herrmann at telia.com
Wed Mar 7 13:15:52 PST 2001


Hi all.
Yesterday I facilitated the storytelling event I told you about last week.
Thanks for your answers on and off-list.
Well, I sure learned a lot, but didn't feel to happy about the evening. It
was slow and stiff. I had some feedback today from a couple of ladies who
felt really bad during and after. There was some talk about the evening at
closing today and most people seemed to think that it was too heavy and
didn't have a good taste. My fortune they were very happy about the OST
process today!! Or else I would probably been in the famous donkey-business
by now.
I have thought all of it over and I can see some probable causes. I would
appreciate some feedback from you.
We started off at 6 pm. 85 participants showed up. The headmaster greeted
everybody shortly. I presented myself and went pretty straight on asking
them to pick a stone that looked interesting to them. Since we had heeps of
snow I had to buy stones. Found very beutiful ones, white, blue, green,
black in all shapes. Everybody picked a stone, and the atmosphere seemed
promising. Then I asked them to right down their story, most seemed to enjoy
it and wrote quite a bit - so far so good. I asked them to spend 10 minutes
and share their story with a collegue and.. then mistake nbr I told them
they could take some food when they like too (since I did not mention that
before). Everybody was starving and rushed to get food... Probably not too
many had their priorities on sharing the story. After 10 minutes the bells
called everybody back.
I asked those who cared to, to share the story from their stone. Silence...I
think a woman started by saying something about her stone - similarities to
the school. Next came the headmaster bragging around for quite a while (I
had asked him to stay cool). The process was VERY  slow ALL THROUGH and
there was a lot of waiting between each person who stepped forward. Quite a
few of those who talked were new at school.
On Harissons advice I had set a finish time (my luck). I set the end to 8
pm. There were some moving stories, all were glad ones. I remember
particularily one woman who thanked her collegues for the immense support
while she was sick (for more than a year). "Thanks to your support I stand
here today!"
I kept out of the way and somehow managed to stay pretty "relaxed" (I don't
know how). There was so much resistance. I know there are things under the
surface. Twice women came to me today telling me how bad they felt during
the evening. One of them said that nobody dares to say anything bad about
the managers because of the upcoming wage negotiations. One told me that so
many old memories came back to her, obviously not nice ones. I had the
opportunity to sit down some time with one of them which felt good for both
of us, I think.
Apart from what is already obvious I can see some more things that were not
good. There was not really voluntary attendence. I think because of how I
had acted, those who talked stayed in the middle. The room was "cold", the
food was not too exciting (a large sandwich with different stuff). During
the storytelling everybody sat, most had brought there plate and a drink.
Nobody moved to get more to drink or eat. Most were tired after a whole days
work.... and so on.
At evening news today the discussion came up when one woman said she thought
the idea of having a talking stick in the middle was not good - she talked
also about the storytelling which she did not like. There was a discussion
about why there was such resistance to step into the middle and get the
stick (stone). There was a suggestion to send the stone around, which I did.
Some commented on the heavy evening. Many said how pleased they were with
today. I'm so happy it went fine today, and look forward to tomorrow
morning. I'll come back to you with a report then.
Any comment, experience, support appreciated! Thomas


Thomas Herrmann      Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81
Open Space Consulting
Pensévägen 4
434 46 Kungsbacka
Email: thomas.herrmann at telia.com
Member/director of BNI Palace Chapter (www.bni.nu)
Jag kan tillhandahålla professionella affärskontakter: Revisor, Reklam,
Tryckeri, Organisationskonsult, Resebyrå, Konferensarrangör, Marknadsföring,
Försäkringsbolag, Utbildningsmäklare, Telekommunikation, Profilkläder,
Fastighetsmäklare, Advokat, Naprapat, Rekrytering, Florist, Film & Video,
Bokföring, Hemservice.

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