Organizations have strategies, and organizations tell stories. When the strategies and stories fit, the result is a widely-shared and crystal-clear understanding of what the organization is about, and why people should care. Customers (or members or donors) are loyal; staff are enthusiastic; and targets of influence (in the case of advocacy organizations) are responsive. When the strategies and stories are misaligned, people are confused about the organization and its purpose; and the organization feels inauthentic and uninspiring.
The Disconnect
Unfortunately, story and strategy are too often compartmentalized, developed by different teams of people who may not respect or even understand each other’s skills. Strategy is often seen as a highly analytic exercise, done by a small team of specialists. Or it is the result of a broad team effort, often developed at an off-site, with the major focus being on vision, mission and team alignment rather than on the analytics. In contrast, stories are crafted usually by the marketing or communications department. Or, in many cases storytelling is assigned to outside agencies such as advertising or public relations.
The resulting disconnect between strategy and story can be very damaging. An organization’s stories can easily get out of synch with the strategy – leading to a great story that enthralls the public but one that the company can’t actually execute to support. And this quickly turns to disillusionment and loss of confidence in the organization. Conversely, the story may not make room for something really great that the organization actually does quite well – but since the value created doesn’t “fit” the narrative, and it never comes to attention of the outside constituency, whether a member, a donor, a customer, or a legislative target. Staff and other stakeholders quickly discern inconsistencies between story and strategy and this saps commitment and motivation.
Multiple Stories for Multiple Stakeholders
A great organization – whether non-profit or for-profit -- often has multiple interrelated narratives, one about the product (or service), one for the customer, and one for the people who choose to dedicate their energies to the organization, whether as staff, volunteers, members, donors, or investors. The best narratives move beyond the tangible aspects of the product or service or social benefit; they tell a story at the level of identity. For example: What does it say about me if I choose to buy an iPhone? What does it say about me if I choose to be a member of MoveOn? The causes we choose to support, and the products we choose to purchase, change the way we see ourselves, and how we feel about ourselves, whether we like it or not.
The Power of 100% Alignment
The best stories work at multiple levels and are 100% consistent with what the organization can deliver. Apple, though it has been criticized for its environmental impact, the company offers is a great example of aligned, coherent narratives. The brand stands for quality, innovation, creativity, and iconoclasm. Its designs are innovative. If you buy its products, it means you are innovative, you are someone who can break the rules, successfully, and reap the acclaim of others.
The company itself broke the rules literally and metaphorically: metaphorically in the original 1984 advertisement for the launch of the Macintosh. In this ad, Apple was associated with a hero in a narrative based on Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. In the ad, the hero (metaphorically referring to Apple’s customer) destroys “big brother” (metaphorically referring to IBM and the entire punch-card culture of corporate conformity) and saves the world.
In reality, Apple itself broke many of the rules of marketing, design, and distribution for personal computers. And, a few years later, Apple broke the rules of music distribution, freeing the little guy (artists) from big brother (the record labels). And to recruit and motivate employees, the message is “Come to Apple, change the world” – a message which attracts, motivates, and retains incredibly talented and high-energy people. Apple’s story offers tight alignment between its meaning for customers, its meaning for employees, its meaning for society as a whole. And this meaning is highly, though not completely consistent with the products apple builds and the stance that Apple as a corporation holds in the world.
Making Room in the Story for Sustainability
George Lakoff famously noted that if the facts don't fit the frame, the facts are ignored and the frame prevails. In the world of for-profit businesses with sustainability programs, the "frame" is the company's conventional marketing message about its products and services, and the "fact" in question is the company's sustainability program. If the sustainability program doesn't fit the preexisting frame about the company's products or services, value is destroyed. For example, a consumer experience company with multiple retail locations launched a well-designed program to source its products in more sustainable and just ways. Yet the brand narrative for the company had little room in it for a story about sustainability; consequently the customers did not recognize or reward the companies for its good citizenship, and many were not even aware of its efforts. Which probably means that in the long term, the company’s sustainability efforts will lose management support and lose funding. Once we’ve changed the lightbulbs, insulated the ceiling, and taken other steps with a quick and obvious payback, if sustainability is not part of the company’s story, customers won’t be willing to pay for it (or won’t be willing to shift their loyalties to companies who support it) and so ironically, the sustainability programs may not themselves be sustainable.
NGO's and Sustainable Businesses Face Similar Narrative Challenges
NGO’s, like corporations, need narratives that make sense out of what the organization does, how it does it, who it does it for, and so on. The narratives must be designed for and communicated to multiple stakeholder groups: the base, the general public, members, donors, targets of influence, staff, and the like. The narratives must answer the “What does it say about me?” question – which is just as important as “What’s in it for me?”
NGO’s, like corporations, need to be vigilant about the narratives that the opposition or the competition is promoting. For example, an environmental activist group that is 100% committed to peaceful tactics was successfully painted by its opposition as “eco-terrorists.” It’s not enough just to tell your own story. You need to tell a story about your opposition, and you must continually monitor and deal with the stories they are telling about you.
NGO’s that attract and hold incredibly passionate and loyal members tell their members a story about themselves that’s just as clear and compelling about the story they tell about their policy agenda or their services.
Strategies and Stories must Co-Evolve
We believe that an organization’s narratives and its strategy must be closely integrated and must co-evolve. Narrative must not be left as an afterthought, nor delegated to creative teams that aren’t intimately familiar with the strategic issues. Nor can the fundamental narrative structure be changed with each campaign. The narrative structure becomes a core part of the identity of the organization, its longevity is measured in years, and it becomes the context in which individual campaigns (whether marketing campaigns or political campaigns) are developed.
Although it takes work to build and maintain the alignment between story and strategy takes work – it’s work that pays off, whether you measure the impact in terms of mobilizing, motivation, money, or market share for your sustainable product or service.