| Once upon a time
. . . The analysis of language and making
meaning has always been of interest to humanity, society
and culture. Storying (the art of creating your own
stories) is part of being human (Ewing 2003). Telling
and listening to stories helps us to sort out our own
ideas, thoughts, reflections and contemplations, as
well as to establish a sense of self and a sense of
others in the social world. For the young child, it
is through storying and storytelling that they are initiated
into their culture. This too can be said of students
studying for a particular degree as, for most, this
is their entry point into a given professional culture.
To hear a well-told story is magic, and that magical
web can linger for as long as we choose. Images of women
sitting by an open fireplace, spinning and weaving their
story strands of the past, present and future, is what
storytelling is all about. In modern times, this age-old
form of communication is not used as widely at home,
in places of learning or the workplace as was experienced
in the past.
Reading wonderful stories from the past empowers us
to speak and write our own stories. There is untold
power in story and storytelling and the origins run
very deep. Story can be seen as a metaphor for life
on earth, and all stories use a type of architecture
that represents our language and us. The four traditional
tales are folk tale, myth, legend and fable.
Origins of story
Story is older than the art and science of psychology
and its origins lie with the spiritual teachers of humanity.
Buddha and Jesus employed a device to circumvent the
opposition of their listeners — the story. The
human heart longs for truth; however, the first reaction
to truth can be hostility and fear. Through truth, we
can find liberation and delight. For this reason, story
is still the most prevalent form of human communication
today.
Prominent psychologists continue to explore the power
of story on the human psyche. In her book Women who
run with the wolves (1992), Clarissa Pinkola Estes suggests
that stories set the inner life into motion and lead
us back to our own real lives, particularly when we
are frightened or feel cornered in our inner life. C
P Estes also describes story as medicine. Therapists,
on all levels, work with the transforming and healing
power of story through recovery programs (Perrow 2002).
Stories have a holistic value — that is, they
make us whole. They work with the more expressive, imaginative
realm of our thinking and feeling — almost native
realm of our thinking and feeling — almost a separate
intelligence or way of knowing. Storytelling is central
to developing that realm of imagination as a way of
learning and knowing. As story connects us with each
other, we feel we belong to the human tribe.
Other researchers suggest that story works on our ideas,
morals and styles of consciousness. Listening to cultural
and personal stories is a way of getting to know someone
while gaining an appreciation of the diversity of the
world. Telling stories, without books or illustrations,
allows us to engage with the story.
Learning journals . . . living words
Journal writing can lead you to self-discovery, insight
and creativity. It is a tool to link your outer world
to your inner life and meaning. Stephanie Dowrick, in
her recent book Living words (2003), states that journal
writing can give you an invaluable sense of being at
the centre of your life rather than at the periphery
(p.2).
How does it do this?
1. By externalising your thoughts, ideas and impressions.
As you record your deepest feelings and capture your
experiences, it allows you to gain a measure of distance
from them and perhaps to see things with more clarity.
In a work setting, it may allow you to see all sides
of a story.
2. Journal writing allows us to see patterns in our
thoughts, our behaviours and our reactions to the world.
3. As a whole-brain activity, journal writing develops
both our right-brain strengths (lateral problemsolving,
intuition, creativity and emotions) and our left-brain
strengths (intellectual, sequential, rational and orderly
thought). For example, you might find yourself writing
about a rational aspect of your work or study (left-brain)
and trying to see it from a creative/intuitive angle
(right-brain).
4. Writing about a complex situation is a highly effective
way to bring conscious and unconscious processes closer
together, especially when you can do so without feeling
that things must be resolved in a particular way (Dowrick
2003).
Learning journals in higher education
Encouraging students to keep a learning journal allows
them to free associate content material from within
the same subject, across subjects and, particularly
when undertaking practical experience, to facilitate
the connection between theory and praxis.
From my experience of using Journal Club when teaching
the Communication subject in the School of Health Information
Management at the University of Sydney during 1995–1996,
I found that students’ reflections on their learning
provided me with a far greater measure of their understanding
of a given topic area. It was all about how they make
links to previous knowledge and experience to create
their own ideas.
Assessing reflective journal entries is not difficult.
A student need not quote from their journal —
rather, they may use their journal as a tool to aid
their thinking in preparing essays, for example. An
educator may or may not need to see journal entries
(which could be visual, as in mind maps) to make a specific
assessment.
Journal writing to make meaning
Whenever I record in a journal, I write on two and
sometimes three levels. Firstly, I record simple events
and data (as any good information manager would!); secondly,
I write my impressions about the events and possible
links to previous thoughts and events. A third entry
may or may not come about. If so, it would be a reflection
at a later date about the second level of entry (my
impressions) or when further research and dialogue may
spark a link back to a previous entry. In a different-coloured
pen/pencil (colour coding has many uses!) I would record
this higher level of thought, quotations, comments,
etc.
I find that recording phenomena, and particularly managing
these notes (a new spin on record management), is vital
to my general life, work, study and play. It is a highly
regarded activity and coping mechanism for adult learners,
women in particular.
Stories and storytelling in academia
Consider the relationship between creative work and
academic enquiry. In the health sciences, as with most
professions and industries today, information taught
formally is superseded very quickly and one must continue
to learn throughout life to maintain currency of qualifications
(Lewis 1998). Wright (2004) claims that in true storytelling
it is not so much the information relayed in the story
but rather the synthesis of the story itself that remains
long after, in both the teller and the listener. The
ambience of tales told thousands of years ago can still
delight us — we can unweave the hidden meaning
or the story-behind-thestory to teach, delight and entertain.
Is this applicable?
Can we teach in Health Information Management (through
higher education and continuing professional development)
metaphorically so that the core or essence of original
learning can be retained forever in this fast-paced
knowledge industry?
Top |
Story and storytelling
in management contexts
As story and storytelling are our oldest form of communication,
both can be used for organisational change and learning.
The Story People (www.thestorypeople.com) have combined
story wisdom to engage people’s hearts, minds,
talents and potential through conversations, stories
and experiential learning. Through their workshops and
consultancies they improve communication, relationships
and culture in the workplace. They equip people with
the skills of conversation and stories as a tool to
find solutions for workplace challenges.
Steve Denning, author of How storytelling ignites action
in knowledge-era organisations (2000), uses a range
of springboard stories to effect organisational change.
Specific management
situations include:
• presenting a new idea to management
• transmitting concepts, attitudes and skills
• explaining to members of an organisation that
work practices have been jettisoned
• gaining acceptance and enthusiasm for change.
Denning claims that storytelling is natural, easy
and entertaining. It gets to the minds of people within
the organisation and affects how they think, feel, worry,
wonder, agonise and dream about themselves in relation
to work processes and work relationships. A specific
story could be created in which story metaphor is used
to highlight the perspective of a particular protagonist
or explore a phenomenon of change. Finally, Denning
believes that storytelling relates to knowledge management
and transformation.
The five fingered family
The beauty of looking at old tales is that they can
be brought alive in whatever context suits. Who would
have thought that Jane Austen based her story line on
the fairytale of Cinderella? Instead of the sisters
being physically ugly and repulsive, as in Cinderella,
Jane Austen made her sisters morally ugly (Harrison
and Maguire, 1999).
We can put a new twist on an old tale to give a contemporary
view. Or we can change the setting of an original tale.
The five fingered family (Khalsa 2000) has been told,
with many variations, in the Punjab region of northern
India for many years. The themes: spirit winning over
darkness; cooperation; and collaboration.
It is the retelling of the ancient Punjabi tale in
which a family survives the loss of their weaving workshop
and wrests a treasure from a troll because of the way
they stick together. I will briefly present the core
of this tale and leave it for you to imaginatively relate
this story line to your work team or group of learners
(if applicable).
In the magical land of India, there once lived
a family called Angulee (translation: finger) with Mama,
Papa and three children. Each day their quick fingers
spun and wove sheep’s wool into cloth. One day
a fire destroyed their workshop and everything in it.
The needed to go to a new town and find work. In her
bravest voice Mama Angulee said “All right children,
Let’s go home and pack now!” and everyone
did.
On their way to the next town they had to pass
through a dark forest. They made a camp under a large
tree and this is where they spent the night. Mama Angulee
gave jobs to each of the children, saying, “My
sons, go to the river and bring back buckets of water
for cooking. Daughter, you and I will gather wood for
the fire. Then we will all help prepare the food.”
Each child respectfully did as they were asked
and in no time the aroma of the soup floated up into
the big tree. In a dark leafy corner there lived a forest
spirit — a dark spirit — sometimes called
a troll. The troll had been watching this family and
saw how unified they were, and this surprised him. He
wanted to capture the family, so he jumped down from
the tree hoping to scare the father who was chopping
more wood. “You have nothing to eat so why are
you making a fire?” the troll snarled.
Papa Angulee made no sign of surprise or fear.
He looked the troll in the eyes and calmly said, “We
are going to cook and eat you!” The troll was
surprised. He looked at this family and thought, “This
family has five people, and they are like a hand with
five fingers. You cannot take them apart and use them
against each other. They know how to work together.”
So the troll pleaded with Papa Angulee, “Please
don’t eat me. Dig a big hole under this tree and
you will find a great treasure there. You can have it
— just leave me alone!”
The five-fingered family worked together to dig
up the ground, and sure enough, there was treasure —
gold, silver, jewels, more than they had ever seen in
their lives. They took it home, bought another business
and returned to a happy life.
Then the Lobha family saw the Angulees living a
good life and they wanted some treasure too. So they
went to the dark forest to re-enact the Angulee family
story. However, this family was always bickering among
themselves, the children not respecting the parents,
which made the parents quarrel all the more. As they
were not unified, the troll scared them fiercely and
they ran as fast as they could back to town.
I hope, through the presentation of this tale (although
shortened for this journal article), that you can see
how the power of story can be used in any setting at
any time. Rediscover those old fairytale books and take
a look at them as an adult, in a fresh light of creativity
that speaks to you. Enjoy the journey and remember to
link your intellectual, creative and emotional selves
for better communication in the workplace, places of
learning and the home. . . . The end.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * *
References
Denning S (2000). The springboard: how storytelling
ignites action in knowledge-era organisations. Woburn,
Mass, USA: Butterworth Heinemann. Retrieved from
WWW 18/06/04 <www.stevedenning.com>.
Dowrick S (2003). Living words: journal writing for
self-discovery, insight and creativity. Camberwell,
Victoria: Viking (an imprint of Penguin Books).
Estes CP (1992). Women who run with the wolves:
contacting the power of the wild woman. Sydney:
Rider.
Ewing R (2003). Using drama to enhance students’
storying in primary classrooms. Division of Professional
Experience, Partnerships and Development,
Faculty of Education & Social Work, The University
of
Sydney. Retrieved from WWW 18/06/04
<www.tlpeace.org.au/boardmembers/usingdramato
enhancestudents.htm>.
Harrison B, Maguire G (Eds) (1999). Children’s
Literature
New England. Origins of story: on writing for
children. 1st ed. New York, NY: Margaret K McElderry
Books.
Khalsa SK (2000) (retold). The five fingered family.
Sterling, Va, USA: The Bookfield Reader.
Lewis MJ (1998). Lifelong learning – why professionals
must have the desire for and capacity to continue
learning throughout life. Health Information Management
Journal 28(2): 62-66.
Perrow S (2002). Garden of light. A collection of
therapeutic children’s stories. Murwillumbah,
NSW: IB
Publications Pty Ltd (trading as Immortal Books).
Wright D (2004). Dancing circles and walking trees.
Social Ecology Research Group, School of Social Ecology
and Lifelong Learning, College of Arts, Education
and Social Sciences, The University of Western Sydney.
Retrieved from WWW 18/06/04 <http://-
sites.uws.edu.au/research/SERG/DancCircsWalkTrees
_wright.htm>.
Melinda Lewis BAppSc (MRA),
MHlthScEd (Sydney)
Former Manager, Education Services, HIMAA
info@storyspeaks.com.au
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