Navigating from ignoring what happened to learning from what happened
The first mindshift in becoming a Storyteller is Navigating from ignoring what happened to learning from what happened. You are learning from what happens when you reflect with others on your invention and curation, and make sense of themes that support the telling of a new story. Storytellers who learn from what happened intentionally seek to understand and collect evidence to learn from. Reflecting on what happened can be cause for celebration and concern, and curators do not hide from or stow away truths. Curators use this learning to iterate, invent and curate and tell many more new stories.
Examples:
Recording and reflecting on what happened
Taking the time to uncover themes to translate into a new story
Confronting truths both positive and negative
Reflecting across iterations and initiatives asking, “How do they impact one another?”
Non Examples:
Moving on to the next activity/initiative without thoughtful reflection
Avoiding deep reflection on your work
Ignore negative truths that come from reflection
Reflecting on iterations and initiatives as silos, unaffected by one anther
Questions I might ask myself:
What structures or practices enable me to ignore what happened in the past? What structures or practices encourage me to learn from what happened in the past?
How might I have ignored what happened or is happening?
How might I have learned from what happened or is happening?
What fears or anxieties do I have that prevent me from learning from what happened?
How do I enable others to ignore what happened? How might I encourage others to learn from what happened?
Many times we believe we are reflecting on what happened, looking back and replaying sequences and experiences in our mind. However, the truly deep work around learning from what happened requires deep reflection on our part. It is a studied and intentional look at what came before, the various iterations we experienced, as well as those we did not, and then looking at the ripple effect of those iterations. Storytelling involves bringing in the other Compass Points to create a collective learning, so we must do this as an objector, curator, and inventor - see clearly what came before and be curious about our choices as well as other of others in the process, notice the ways in which the system consciously or unconsciously impacted our decision making, pull together varied perspectives and stakeholder’s expertise to generate alternative outcomes, and then find a balance of stories and numbers to move us toward action with those next steps, beginning our cycle again.
