Strategic Narratives

Abstract

Developing strategies by telling stories using dramatic effects like setting, drama and resolution. This conveys the context, relationships obstacles and conveys the company character far better that bulleted points.

Stories play an important role in learning. Language researchers studying how high school students learn found that the story-based style of Time and Newsweek was the best way to learn and remember. Cognitive psychologists have established that lists, in contrast, are remarkably hard to remember because of what is referred to as the recency and primacy effects: people mainly remember the first and the last items on a list but not the rest of it, and their memory is guided by their interests. They remember what they like or find interesting; they do not recall the whole. A good story (and a good strategic plan) defines relationships, a sequence of events, cause and effect, and a priority among items - and those elements are likely to be remembered as a complex whole.

• Bullet lists are typically too generic; that is, they offer a series of things to do that could apply to any business

• Bullets leave critical relationships unspecified. Lists can communicate only three logical relationships: sequence (first to last in time); priority (least to most important or vice versa); or simple membership in a set (these items relate to one another in some way, but the nature of that relationship remains unstated). And a list can show only one of those relationships at a time.

• Bullets leave critical assumptions about how the business works unstated. Implicit in the bullet list is a complex but unexplained vision of the organization or the market. However, we can not extrapolate that vision from the bullet list.

The Narrative Logic Of Strategic Stories

• Planning by narrative is a lot like traditional storytelling. Like a good storyteller, the strategic planner needs to set the stage -define the current situation. It also involves defining basic tensions and relation- ships: Which capabilities and objectives do we have and which do the other players have?

• The strategic planner must introduce the dramatic conflict. What challenges does the company face in this situation?

• The story must reach resolution in a satisfying, convincing manner. The plan must tell us how the company can overcome obstacles and win.

Presenting a plan in narrative creates a richer picture of strategy not only for the plan's authors but also for its intended audience. "If you read just bullet points, you may not get it, but if you read a narrative plan, you will. If there's a flaw in the logic, it glares right out at you. With a bullet list you are not sure if the author is giving you insight or just a shopping list.

The final role of narrative plans - generating excitement and commitment in both superiors and subordinates -may be the most important. A well-written narrative strategy that shows a difficult situation and an innovative solution leading to improved market share can be galvanizing. When people can locate themselves in the story, their sense of commitment and involvement is enhanced. By conveying a powerful impression of the process of winning, narrative plans can motivate and mobilize an entire organization.

See How 3M Rewrote Business Planning. May/June 1998 HBR