May 2010 Evening Program - Organizational Storytelling

Date: 18-May-2010

May Evening Program

Organizational Storytelling - Noa Baum

Program Description:

Biography: 

Noa Baum is an award-winning storyteller, facilitator and educator. Her work with organizations focuses on the power of narrative to enable people to understand and bridge the differences that divide them, foster collaboration and ignite passion in the workplace. With a unique combination of performance art and practical workshops she offers a powerful way for corporations to manage differences with imagination and creativity.

Noa trained in theater at Tel Aviv University and with Uta Hagen in NY and received an MA in Theater-in-Education from NYU. She has been presenting internationally since 1982. Her clients include The World Bank, The Mayo Clinic, The US Defense Department, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Northern Trust, Wachovia Bank, GWU Law School, Brandies and Stanford Universities, Hebrew University and the Kennedy Center. Noa is a Recommended Parents' Choice Award winner and a recipient of Individual Artist Awards from Maryland State Arts Council and Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County. She is a member of Golden Fleece, the leading community of practice on the use of narrative in organizational settings, and the National Storytelling Network.

Register

For registration questions, please contact CBODN Support.

For more information on the program, please contact either of the program co-chairs Liz Smith or Zsofia Paizs Greenbaum.

Directions

Sumner School - 1201 17th St. NW , at the corner of 17th and M, NW, Washington DC

2 blocks from the Farragut North Metro.
Parking is available on Rhode Island Avenue, 17th St., and M Street at reduced evening rates.  Street parking is not available until 6:30 pm.

Cancellation Policy

An Interview With Noa Baum

In your experiences, are most people more drawn to storytelling vs. figures and facts? Is this merely a qualitative vs. quantitative distinction or do you believe there is a human factor that determines stories more compelling?

Yes, there is a human factor that determines stories more compelling.

We are narrative beings. Neuroscience research tells us that our brain has an internal "story grammar" that helps us understand the world not as a set of logical propositions but as a pattern of experiences. We explain ourselves and connect to others through stories. We take facts and assemble them into a whole through narratives/stories - this is how we create content, construct meaning and how we remember. It is humanity's oldest tool of influence, learning, communicating & transmitting knowledge.

Dee Hock, founder & former CEO of VISA said:
"We are now at a point in time when the ability to receive, utilize, store, transform and transmit data – the lowest cognitive form – has expanded literally beyond comprehension. Understanding and wisdom are largely forgotten as we struggle under an avalanche of data and information."

Storytelling is a tool for us humans to gain the understanding and wisdom that Dee Hock talks about. It is an approach, a method, to impart knowledge and meaning through the human presence and connection.

Storytelling is an interactive event where the listener is a co-creator of the story with the teller. A story well told engages us emotionally and cognitively. Whatever resonated with us at the moment of listening will stay with us because it is our creation, it is what we imagined in our own mind and felt in our heart. It offers understanding and wisdom that stay with us longer than facts and figures.

At what age did you know that storytelling would be a defining aspect of your life…was this facility a discovered or developed ability?

I never planned to be a storyteller, never even knew what it was. I stumbled upon storytelling in my mid 20’s when I was an actress in a prestigious repertory theater in Jerusalem. It began as the biggest humiliation of my life (if you want to hear the whole story you’ll have to come to the workshop…) but eventually, I discovered it was the intersection of everything that I loved: literature, theater, poetry, psychology and spirituality. It was both a performance art and a powerful applicable tool for communication and change.

Do you have one particular story from your childhood or adulthood that has been a strong influence on your life?
I have many stories that have and continue to have a strong influence on my life. Sometimes stories come into your life at moments of great need and can provide an anchor of inspiration and support.

Here is one:
It was a difficult time in my life when I heard a traditional Ethiopian story about a woman who goes to the village magician in search of a magic potion to bring about change in her life. He instructs her to bring him a whisker from a live lion. She struggles with her fears and over time manages to bring him the whisker. The old man discards it and tells her:

“A woman that has the strength to tame a live lion has no need for a magic potion”.

That story just hit me in a very deep place, the images were so powerful they stayed with me and I immediately began to tell it. Hearing it and telling it put me on an upward path from a dark and difficult time.

How can OD professionals best use storytelling with their clients...do you have a do and don't list?

My experience has been that do and don’t lists have a tendency to occupy the bottom of many drawers so I’m reluctant to offer them. However, I am a passionate believer in the power of the personal face-to-face connection that is at the heart of storytelling.

I would suggest the best way storytelling can be used is to create that connection.

As humans we respond unconsciously to who the person is before we respond to what they have to say. Who you are can be communicated powerfully through a story but even more through the ACT of telling. In your tone of voice, facial expression, gestures and body language meaning is conveyed that is always stronger and longer lasting than the words themselves. One way OD professionals can use storytelling to help clients learn to communicate who they are. Knowing who you are creates trust and when people feel they can trust you they will be open to receive and be able to retain whatever message or information you have to give.