Storytelling
Do you remember what your favourite book was as a child? Or perhaps your current favourite film or TV programme?
My favourite book, as a child, was Alice in Wonderland. A well-read, well-worn book that was my mother's. It was in pretty poor condition. A hard-back, but no outer jacket. Very faded yellow, a torn spine with old gold lettering…chunks of pages that were loose that had come away from the original binding. But I always had it close to hand.
Good stories, however they are presented, draw us in... crave our attention… engage us… not only give information, but also create context, meaning…
Most of you reading this won’t know me, but now – even though that story was short - you know I’m not just part of the Belong in Plymouth programme; I’m the person who cherished, read and re-read, his mum’s battered copy of Alice in Wonderland. If we ever meet, you’ll already know something about me. Stories create connection.
That was behind the approach we took to create our Community Researchers. The process is shared in another blog, but the essence of what we did was wanting to get real voices of real people really heard… to connect those living in the City with those whose role it is to provide services to support living in the City…to enable improved design and delivery of those services, to share as guiding information for future decision-making. Not just cold answers to flat questions, but a sense of being, of belonging…the emotional, the lived experiences.
So, we created a way to train/remind people how to encourage friends and acquaintances to share their stories. To remind people how to simply LISTEN. Something we all do, yet not all manage to do as authentically as we could. Not to judge, influence, over-empathise or hijack – but simply hear. (More about learning to listen in another post on here)
There are tips, tools, and techniques that help, but true, focused, listening is a mind-set thing. To make listening conscious and intentional takes effort and awareness…and practice.
Do you know this joke: A woman carrying a violin on a New York street stops a taxi driver and asks, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” And the driver responds “Practice, lady…practice” (jokes: yet another form of getting engaged in storytelling…).
Practicing to be a great listener has benefits for us all.