Validating change through collaborative story craft

The research method of Collaborative Story Craft is illustrated through a case study of an entrepreneurial organization going through strategic and structural change. An entrepreneurial organization is a large unit managed by a few top managers, which allows relatively unstructured, informal, fast, and agile ways of managing. Nonetheless, as the organization grows, this way of managing is inadequate as decision makers usually become overwhelmed and make uninformed, reactive decisions. Collaborative Story Craft allows the researcher to serve as a story mediator to incorporate various voices during strategic and structural change. Story mediation entails collecting individual stories in the workplace and identifying common themes that unite the actors involved in a central work activity: a daily task, a project, or a process of change. Once themes are identified, metaphors emerge. It is then the task of the researcher to craft a workshop to explore the identified collective themes and metaphors. The case we use to illustrate Collaborative Story Craft is an internationally award-winning branding and strategy business wanting to expand its operations globally. At the time of the study, the company had one office in the Nordics, Southern Europe, Latin America, and a representative in the United Kingdom. In this case, a prominent metaphor that emerged was a boat. With the use of this metaphor in the workshop, the actors describe the metaphorical boat, its navigation, the sea, and the destination. It is argued that this metaphor mirrors how the actors identify their roles, the environment, the resources, and the future strategic goals for the business.