Resistance, Resonance and Restoration: How Generative Stories Shape Organisational Futures

Stories are powerful. They reflect our past and shape our futures, but are never complete. Stories connect us to people in organisations – present and past – with whom we feel belonging, and disconnect us from others. Always abstractive, they give incomplete pictures of what was, weaving past accounts into what is and what will be. Because choice-points in storytelling are mostly unconscious, biases and perceptions are always part of narration, tending to reinforce preferred images, identities and trajectories. Storytelling habits, in turn, often accent negative histories and escalate conflict. Because stories are so powerful, it is essential to critically examine how they function in organisations, and to develop ways of supporting generative, inclusive stories.