Explore it yourself

These are starting points, not a structured programme. Use whichever feels right for where you are - individually, in a one-to-one, or with a team.

A question to sit with

When something significant happens in your organisation, how do people make sense of it - and do they arrive at the same understanding?

Think about the last significant event. An announcement, a change, a decision. How did people interpret it? Was the meaning shared, or did different groups come away with entirely different stories? The gap between those stories tells you something important about how meaning travels here.

A conversation to have

Ask four or five people from different parts of the organisation the same question: What's the story of this organisation right now? What chapter are we in? Don't guide them. Let them choose their own metaphor, their own framing. You're not looking for accuracy. You're listening for coherence - whether people are in the same story or completely different ones. The differences will tell you where narrative connections are strong and where meaning has fragmented.

Something to observe this week

Pay attention to how news travels. When something happens - a decision, a change, even a rumour - trace its journey. Who heard about it first? How did it reach different teams? By the time it arrived at the edges of the organisation, did it still carry the same meaning it started with, or had it transformed into something different? You're watching the narrative connections in real time. The speed is interesting. The accuracy is more interesting. And the gap between what was intended and what was understood is the most interesting of all.

A useful tension to name

Think about a time when the official story and the informal story were telling different things. What happened? Which one did people believe? And what determined which version won? These moments - where the managed narrative and the organic narrative diverge - tell you exactly how strong your narrative connections are. If the informal one always wins, it's not because people are cynical. It's because the informal channels carry more credibility. And that's worth understanding rather than fighting.

One thing to try

At your next team gathering, replace the usual update with a story. Ask everyone to share one moment from the past month where they saw what this organisation is for - in action, not in words. Keep it brief. Keep it real. No slides, no preparation. Just a moment that meant something. You'll hear things that no report would capture. And the act of sharing them does something powerful - it connects people's individual experience to a collective narrative that makes the work feel less isolated and more meaningful.