SHAPING THE FUTURE STORY – A LIVE SESSION

Individuals as well as organisations have a desire to feel in control of future und therefore develop ideas of this future, “imagined futures”, that they want to achieve. To reach those goals, they long for having an orientation, where to go next, what goals to focus on, and what steps to be done next.

But looking closer into organisations, the planning of future isn’t beginning in the here and now; it isn’t really beginning with the first action to do to reach the desired future. It rather simply draws the picture of the imagined future in itself - which is a classical vision and mission statement of an organisation – and often fails to inform the members of the organisation about the planned steps to be done to make this imagined future real. But even when organisations inform their staff about the planned steps: they rarely invite them into a shaping process of the paths to go into this imagined future - and so the members of the organisation oppose and react with unwillingness to follow the “subscribed change”. To avoid this reaction, not only the imagined future itself, but also the steps to be done to reach this imagined future should become transparent and ideally “in ownership” of many.

In the workshop the participants get to know the imagined future of the HRD-department of TELEKOM: Dr. Rainer Klose, member of the HRD-department, will give them information about a desired change in this department – the imagined future in a special case and context. After knowing about the desired change, the participants have the task to go 2 different paths into this imagined future:

• the “heroes journey” helps to shape a future story that begins in the here and now and guides through the various steps to be taken to make the imagined future real.
• The 2nd approach begins with a metaphor for the organization in the presence: what image describes the organization the best in the status quo? The 2nd step is to change this image into a metaphor, that makes the imagined future thinkable and desirable.

The participants will shape the future stories with these 2 approaches.

We will discuss the differences, challenges, risks and chances of both approaches for shaping future stories. Dr. Klose can give feedback to the adaptability of the proposals from the group out of the corporate perspective.

Workshop Host

Other worlds possible – an introduction to Storydealing

Working with stories temporarily discards existing patterns and structures and brings an other, second reality into existence
– a parallel reality that is and is not there yet at the same time.
Storydealer Berlin

Stories are lived, before they are told – except of course in fiction.
McIntyre

Walking the line between art and intervention for years, our partners from Storydealer Berlin defined their unique approach to organizational and cultural change. Their work taps the intricate relationship between the factual and the imagined. They instigate change by involving groups and organizations in developing – and shortly after enacting – fictional scenarios, thus turning them into graspable collective experiences that mediate between the projected and the possible. They thus disrupt existing patterns of thinking, organising and behaving – allowing for new perceptions of what is and what could be to form.

Firmly grounded in the concept of action oriented learning, systemic thinking and relational approaches to art, they refined their concepts and interventions over the years and created processes and events for organizations in various fields. At BEYOND STORYTELLING they will present their unique approach and provide insights into their recent projects.

Curios? – Get inspired:

Check out their video on their last project:

Copyright Expedere / Storydealer