At 07:02 PM 10/30/96 +1100, Pamela wrote:
>As an extension to LO10749, where Ben was wondering about 'other' methods
>of communication in business, and the role they can play in change:
>
>Several years ago, Telstra (then Telecom), the telecommunications giant in
>Australia, commissioned a novel - 'The Prelude' by Stephen Bright. The
>purpose of the novel was to introduce the concepts and use of Quality
>Management and quality tools.
This reminded me that I sometimes use stories as a means of communication,
both to others and myself. I found out that was much easier to get my MD
to think about the current plight of the organisation if instead of
sensible memos I transplanted to company into a composite science fiction
universe and fictionalised what was going on. I also found it was a good
way of making myself face up to things that I didn't want to know about -
issues which I can still keep buried even using methods like the Left-hand
column approach, but which I can express if it's "only fiction".
I had forgotten about "The Prelude" until I read Pamela's post, so I don't
know if that was where I was unconsciously borrowing the idea from -
though I wish I was as capable as Steven Bright of combining a good story
and managerial tools!
Alison
--"Alison C. J. Glover" <acglover@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>