Not only that, in traditional management textbooks we’ve heard countless times things like: “If you can’t quantify it you can’t improve it” or “If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it” or “If there’s no evaluation management won’t happen.” I don’t deny that this makes sense. But for most people numbers aren’t a good way to manage. Instead The Right-Brained Organization needs to learn to tell stories and run the company with stories instead of data.
Running a company with stories instead of data sounds counter-traditional. But actually it’s just the opposite. In fact when humans were still in caves tribal leaders began using the tool of stories. In contrast the history of looking at reports and doing management isn’t really that long.
Storytelling is actually a common method for excellent managers. The key to using vision and “user personas” well is storytelling. They’re both stories about our users. Similarly there are a bunch of storytelling tools and methods in corporate management such as: “user stories,” “storyboards,” “business cases,” “scenario analysis,” “service blueprints,” “debriefing,” etc.
Essentially the products and services we provide to users are also stories. Obviously good products make your users feel successful and bring emotional experiences. And innovation is writing a new story. The quality of the script determines everything. If the customer is hesitating there: “To buy or not to buy that is the question” then when it gets to the company the line on the script becomes: “To be or not to be?”
Communication expert George Gerbner once observed that what makes humans unique is that we’re the only animal that tells stories and we live by the stories we tell ourselves. Psychologists believe his view is correct. Our “mental models” rely on memory and our memory is essentially a story. Narrative simplifies our lives and makes life meaningful having far-reaching effects on our plans memories love hate ambitions and dreams.
Psychological research further confirms that the reason why we have deep impressions of some personal memories is emotion. People are obsessed with stories because they can bring us emotional experiences – an effect that numbers and reports can’t bring. Stories can stimulate both the left and right brain at the same time. It’s a way to synchronize left-brain and right-brain thinking. For organizations stories are also a way to unite “left-brain thinkers” and “right-brain thinkers.”
An airplane needs two engines. Uniting “left-brain thinkers” and “right-brain thinkers” is the real secret to getting The Right-Brained Organization off the ground. Let us ride the wind using intuitive and imaginative thinking combined with storytelling and training methods – we can run our company impractically.