Anecdote - example 5

Stories that explain while creating,

maintaining and legitimizing behavior

On my walk with Darren this morning I was being the proud parent recounting last week’s parent-teacher night and telling him how well my eldest daughter is doing academically. Being the father of two daughters I was mindful of the importance of balancing my praise between my girls so I made a point of also recognizing my youngest for getting into the school netball team. Darren then told me the story of how his brother was always reminded by his parents how he was good with his hands and how Darren was the one who had the brains. His brother became a carpenter while Darren went to uni and started work as a scientist.

The stories we tell not only help explain and provide meaning to our experiences, they also shape and legitimize our actions. This point is well made by David Boje et. al. (1982) where they explore the role or myths; which equate to dominate stories; within organizations. The stories you tell and retell, which become the accepted explanation of how things are around here, become difficult to dislodge and can only be replaced by another dominant story. The stories you tell about your children will be instrumental to the creation of their identity and therefore what they consider is possible. The same is true for the stories we tell about staff, managers, leaders and any other identity we wish to single out.