Shaping Knowledge Through Storytelling in Today's Organizations

Produced by Steve Nathans-Kelly

Sharing knowledge throughout an organization is becoming more critical as workers change roles and learn how to do their jobs effectively. At KMWorld 2022, State Department KM Lead Johel Brown-Grant discussed how storytelling could successfully transfer knowledge.

“Let’s take a moment to think about what is happening in terms of storytelling in today’s organizations and think about where you are,” said Brown-Grant.

It may be an isolated effort or somebody’s pet project, tied to a specific project or idea, be ineffective or limited in impact. People talk about storytelling, but they don’t know how to effectively do it, he said.

“Even though we’re all natural storytellers, delivering a story or telling a story for a particular task related approach is not always an easy thing to do,” Brown-Grant said. “Sometimes you need some people to help you through that process.”

Though we’re all surrounded by stories, there exists a lack of a framework that explains how to use stories to impact the organization. Stories can be used to transfer and share knowledge.

“People might be telling stories in an organization but there might be no visibility for that story to be captured within an organization,” he said.  

Save the Date for KMWorld 2023—November 6–9, 2023—JW Marriott | Washington, DC!