KNOWvember - Storytelling at the Home Office

 

Welcome to the second GIG KNOWvember blog posting. In July 2021 Luke Spencer from the Knowledge and Information Management Unit at The Home Office kindly provided us with an overview of knowledge management techniques that they use. One of those techniques was storytelling and it is this tool that will feature as our next KNOWvember feature.

In this webinar extract, Luke provides a brief example of storytelling, demonstrating why it is effective in both knowledge capture and knowledge sharing functions, and discusses the use of Freytag’s pyramid as a template for generating stories.

Knowledge capture

In the knowledge capture phase of creating a story, conversational interviewing allows access to tacit knowledge. This provides a far richer picture, enabled by the time for discussion, creating opportunities for participants to reflect on and explore their experiences. This is a more dynamic process than completing an after-action review, or a paper based lessons learned exercise!

Knowledge dissemination

In knowledge sharing stories work because they are powerful vehicles for engaging people. Great stories have:

• A stickiness - they are memorable building images and phrases that stick in the mind
• Are personal - having wow moments that engage the emotions
• Are authentic -  they are true and focused
• Have a purpose - they tell a particular story, targeted at a specific audience

We hope that this introduction to storytelling is of interest and value to you. The extracted recording (ca. 22 minutes - grab a coffee, or set up your own lunch and learn session!) can be accessed via the GIG newswebpage on the website [CILIP members' access only]. 

If you have information to share about your experiences of using storytelling as a knowledge management tool please do join the conversation - secretary.gig@cilip.org.uk.