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At the most basic level, narratives are a story of how events occur. The word narrative comes from the Latin narrarare which means to tell or to speak. But narratives are not merely a chronological recollection of incidents. If this were the case, organisations wouldn't worry about them at all. Yet organisations do worry, and worry they must! This is because narratives are also 'messages'. And the message we have internally is as important as the one we give out to the world.

 

To be sure, leaders must think about what narratives they present to their staff or volunteers, but even before they get to this stage leaders need to be sure about what narrative they hold internally about the organisation. How did we get here? What motivates us? What are we trying to achieve? What does success look like? How do I speak about risks, challenges and opportunities? These are just some of the basic questions leaders need to ask themselves before they can begin to think about projecting outwards.

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In short, and to conclude this brief note, narrative strategy is considering deeply the relationship between the ways in which we speak - and think - about something and the realms of possibility this opens up thereafter.