Contar estórias (parte I)

Durante milhões de anos à noite os nossos antepassados, em volta de uma fogueira, trocavam experiências, contavam estórias e passavam conhecimento uns aos outros, cimentavam a união do grupo ou, muito simplesmente, divertiam-se.
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Esse passado não foi apagado e, por isso, gostamos todos de ouvir e de contar estórias.
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Nas empresas, nas oganizações, as estórias continuam a ser um factor de integração, de socialização, de transmissão de conhecimentos, de criação de uma cultura própria.
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Gary Klein no seu livro "Sources of Power - How People Make Decisions" escreve:
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"We would be dazzled if we had to treat everything we saw, every visual input, as a separate element, and had to figure out the connections anew each time we opened our eyes or moved them from one fixation point to another. Fortunately, that is not necessary. We see the world as patterns. Many of these patterns seem to be built into the way our eyes work. We have detectors to notice lines and boundaries. The world is organized in our eyes to highlight contrasts, before any information reaches our brains. We have other powerful organizers to frame the visual world into Gestalts, so we naturally group things together that are close to each other.
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… we similarly organize the cognitive world – the world of ideas, concepts, objects, and relationships. We link these up into stories.
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A good story is a package of different causal relationships – what factors resulted in what effects. The more complexity and subtlety, the more there is to be learned. If the story gets too confusing, though, it stops working. It has to draw together different components clearly and memorably and show their connection.
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… a story, where the outcome is affected by many important variables or causal factors, each of which needs to be described and to have its influence traced. The story is a package for describing the important causes and allowing the listener to think of other possible causes for the events.
Perhaps we value stories because they are like reports of research projects, only easier to understand, remember, and use.
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The method we have found most powerful for eliciting knowledge is to use stories."
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Quais as características de uma boa estória? Já escrevemos sobre isso aqui Persuasão mas na segunda parte a opinião de Klein.

Persuasão

Continua daqui.
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“The other way to persuade people – and ultimately a much more powerful way – is by uniting an idea with an emotion. The best way to do that is by telling a compelling story”
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Para os aprendizes de spin:
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“What’s wrong with painting a positive picture?
It doesn’t ring true.” … “Positive, hypothetical pictures and boilerplate press releases actually work against you because they foment distrust among the people you’re trying to convince.”
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Caro Raul ainda há dias escrevemos sobre isto, recorrendo a palavras de Paula Campos.
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"The energy to live comes from the dark side. It comes from everything that makes us suffer. As we struggle against these negative powers, we’re forced to live more deeply, more fully.”
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“So, a story that embraces darkness produces a positive energy in listeners?
Absolutely. We follow people in whom we believe. The best leaders I’ve dealt with have come to terms with dark reality.” … “CEOs, likewise, have to sit at the head of the table or in front of the microphone and navigate their companies through the storms of bad economies and tough competition. If you look your audience in the eye, lay out your really scary challenges, and say, “We’ll be lucky as hell if we get through this, but here’s what I think we should do”, they will listen to you.
To get people behind you, you can tell a truthful story.”
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“Desire is the blood of a story. Desire is not a shopping list but a core need that, if satisfied, would stop the story in its tracks.”
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Os gestores de topo não gostam de falar aos seus colaboradores sobre o lado negativo, têm receio do pânico.
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Julgo que o pânico só surge quando, perante os factos negativos, não é apresentado um caminho com alguma possibilidade de sucesso.