What Is Narrative Leadership

What is Narrative Leadership?

As I understand the concept, Narrative Leadership can be expressed in two ways: the first sees itself helping organization members adapt to change by introducing the change as story. The second is concerned with change of the organization where the underlying stories of lore are recast in order to make the organization congruent with the culture it serves. It is this idea as change "of" instead of change "in" organizations that I refer to when I speak of Narrative Leadership.

Narrative Leadership has likely always been in use but perhaps not identified as such nor associated with organizational change. It takes seriously that every organization is formed in the stories of its members both initially and as an on-going enterprise. As such, these stories are formative of organizational culture and individual as well as corporate identity.

Why Narrative Leadership?

When organizations no longer are relevant to their host culture, that is, their product is not needed or wanted or their formative story no longer represents the mores of the culture for which it is tasked to serve, then change "of" the organization is required. As I use the term, Narrative Leadership would see that change "in" practices to meet these new demands are not possible for the underlying, structuring stories would not permit members to vary to the extent needed. A solution is to change the underlying, structuring stories so that members are able to see themselves in a new light and therefore able to relate in ways heretofore not possible.