STORYTELLING By Ravi Patel

STORYTELLING 

Stories have been used to pass along 

knowledge for thousands of years 

Every culture has a history of 

storytelling 

Stories can take many forms - 

Written, Oral, Paintings, 

Architectural. 

STORIES - WHAT ARE 

THEY GOOD FOR? 

Sole and Wilson (2002)*: 

Sharing Knowledge 

Sharing Values 

Developing Trust & Commitment 

Generating Emotional Connection 

* D. Sole and D. G. Wilson, "Storytelling in Organizations: The power and traps of using stories to share knowledge in organizations," Harvard Graduate School of 

Education, 2002.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE 

Stories allow tacit knowledge to be 

shared more easily 

Stories provide context and focus 

A good story will provide laser- 

like focus on issues relevant to the 

listener 

Example: Xerox field engineers 

gathering to swap stories of their 

experiences* 

* J. S. Brown and E. S. Gray, "The People Are the Company " in Fast Company, 1995.

SHARING VALUES 

Stories help convey values, ethics 

and morals 

Example:  Many people equate the 

Boy Scouts to being helpful 

Most have heard the story of a 

Scout helping the old lady 

across the street 

Storytelling can change the 

perception of values by describing 

what future values should be

DEVELOPING TRUST & 

COMMITMENT 

Stories help describe organizational 

competencies and/or commitments. 

Stories can highlight the good (and 

bad) things that people/organizations 

do 

By building trust, you can address 

issues 

Example: The Public Conversations 

Project help people/organizations 

address issues of conflict through 

stories.

GENERATE EMOTIONAL 

CONNECTION 

Stories have the ability to connect 

with our emotions 

Unexpected twists and turns can 

grab a person’s attention and 

generate connection 

Emotional connection can generate 

‘stickiness’ 

Example: Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger 

is well known by football players 

in the US.   Rudy is small but has 

more ‘heart’ than most.

TACIT TO EXPLICIT: AN 

INTERPLAY SHAPING 

ORGANIZATION 

KNOWLEDGE 

M. BHARDWAJ AND J. MONIN

EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE 

Explicit knowledge is the ‘know- 

what’ of an organization 

Explicit knowledge is the ‘visible’ 

knowledge 

Explicit knowledge has been 

defined by Polanyi (1967) as: 

knowledge that can be 

communicated using 

formalized language 

M. Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 

1967.

TACIT KNOWLEDGE 

Tacit Knowledge is the ‘know- 

how’ of an organization. 

Tacit Knowledge is the ‘invisible’ 

knowledge 

According to Takeuchi (1998)* tacit 

knowledge is: 

deeply rooted in an 

individuals actions and 

experiences as well as in the 

ideals, values or emotions 

that the person embraces 

* H. Takeuchi, "Beyond knowledge management: lessons from Japan," 1998.

CAPTURING / SHARING 

KNOWLEDGE 

Current technology is perfect for capturing explicit knowledge 

Tacit knowledge must be transformed to explicit knowledge 

Tacit knowledge can be shared using informal social processes 

Through storytelling, tacit knowledge can be embedded in narratives and 

shared

TACIT KNOWLEDGE 

THEMES 

Literature review performed by Bhardwaj & Monin 

suggest four themes in the field: 

Overall tacit knowledge management 

Mobilization of organization tacit knowledge 

Role of tacit knowledge in problem solving 

Tacit knowledge and decision making 

These four themes were used as the basis for research 

by Bhardwaj & Monin

RESEARCH METHOD 

Bhardwaj & Monin interviewed 8 HR Professionals in 

8 different knowledge intensive organizations. 

Interviews were performed using open ended 

questions to encourage the use of narratives by the 

interviewee’s 

The resulting narratives were deconstructed to gather 

information on how the four themes are addressed

RESULTS 

Bhardwaj & Monin found that tacit knowledge 

interacts with six important subsystems of an 

organization. 

These subsystems are: 

Psychological 

Intellectual 

Knowledge 

Functional 

Social 

Cultural

RESULTS 

The management of tacit 

knowledge can be severely 

hampered by individuals 

and attitudes. 

Narcissism and self- 

aggrandizement were 

noticed in the research 

results 

The attitude of top- 

management plays a key 

role in how well tacit 

knowledge is mobilized

FUTURE RESEARCH 

How can an organization reduce the risk of 

dependency on tacit knowledge ‘maintained’ by a 

few employees? 

How can an organization activate tacit knowledge 

that resides within employees for the betterment of 

the organization?

USING MENTORING AND 

STORYTELLING TO 

TRANSFER KNOWLEDGE 

IN THE WORKPLACE 

W. SWAP, D. LEONARD, M. SHIELDS, AND L. ABRAMS

STORYTELLING & 

MENTORING 

We live in a knowledge based 

economy 

Knowledge accrues through 

experience 

Experience is earned by doing and 

takes time 

How can an organization use the 

knowledge of their experienced 

employees to help inexperienced 

employees?

EXPERTISE AND 

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER 

Expertise is developed through 

learning by doing 

Experts use their long years of 

experience to apply their 

knowledge to problems.   

Many researchers report that 

someone must practice 10 years 

before reaching the ‘expert’ stage 

Experts recognize patterns and can 

easily call on their knowledge for 

that pattern

EXPERTISE AND 

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER 

The two characteristics of expertise: 

Pattern recognition - patterns are used to know 

when/how to use knowledge. 

10 year rule - to be an ‘expert’, you must practice 

for 10 years (10,000 hours). 

Both characteristics are intrinsic and difficult to share 

explicitly

EXPERTISE AND 

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER 

Two methods of sharing tacit knowledge (Nonaka & 

Takeuchi - 1995)*: 

1. Internalization - Learning by Doing. Defined as: 

“a process of embodying explicit knowledge into 

tacit knowledge” 

2. Socialization - Learning by Sharing. Defined as “a 

process of sharing experiences and thereby 

creating tacit knowledge” 

* I. Nonaka and H. Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation: Oxford University Press, 1995.

METHODS 

Formal teaching methods cannot be used for tacit 

knowledge without first transforming tacit 

knowledge to explicit knowledge 

Informal methods are a better fit for tacit knowledge 

(Nonaka & Takeuchi - 1995) 

Internalization and Socialization can be addressed 

with mentoring and storytelling

MENTORING 

Swap et al. define a 

mentor as “a person 

who draws upon a deep 

knowledge-base to teach 

and guide” 

Mentors serve as 

informal teachers 

The use of mentoring 

has grown significantly 

over the last few 

decades

MENTORING 

Swap et al.’s literature review shows evidence that 

mentoring provides: 

Skills transfer 

Managerial Systems transfer 

Values transfer 

Mentoring has been shown to play a role in building 

up an organization’s capabilities 

Mentoring process provides both the socialization 

and internalization aspect of tacit knowledge transfer

STORYTELLING 

Swap et al. use the term ‘Organizational Story”. 

An organizational story is defined as: 

a narrative of past management actions, 

employee interactions or other events that are 

communicated informally within the 

organization.

STORYTELLING 

Organizational stories are generated internally and 

reflect the organizations values and culture. 

Stories must have context and focus. 

Stories must be memorable to be effective. 

STORYTELLING 

Stories are better used to share values, managerial 

systems and tacit knowledge. 

Stories are not good methods of sharing critical skills 

You wouldn’t want your doctor or pilot learning 

their job by listening to or reading stories 

LEARNING VIA STORIES 

Stories make knowledge more 

memorable via the ‘availability 

heuristic’ 

Swap et al. provide the following 

example: 

Which animal, Grizzly Bear or 

Moose, is more likely to kill a 

hiker?

LEARNING VIA STORIES 

Stories make knowledge more 

memorable via the ‘availability 

heuristic’ 

Swap et al. provide the following 

example: 

Which animal, Grizzly Bear or 

Moose, is more likely to kill a 

hiker? 

Statistically, a hiker is more 

likely to die from a moose than 

a grizzly bear

LEARNING VIA STORIES 

Stories help people remember knowledge via 

elaboration. 

People remember things easier if they can build a 

vivid image from their own experience. 

Stories can be memorable by being clear or dramatic 

and by providing context that the listener 

understands and relates to.

LEARNING VIA STORIES 

If developed and shared correctly, stories can tap into 

the episodic memory of individuals. 

Episodic memory is memory gained from direct 

experience and is more easily accessed for retrieval. 

If the story and storyteller can create a vivid account 

so that the listener can experience the story, research 

suggests that this will be stored in episodic memory.

SUMMARY 

Organizations can use mentoring and storytelling to 

share values, transfer skills and share tacit 

knowledge 

Calling someone a ‘mentor’ isn’t enough...formal 

mentoring programs must be implemented 

Stories must be memorable, be focused and have 

relevant context to be useful

SUMMARY 

Organizations & Managers must be careful to not 

devalue the concept of ‘water-cooler talk’. 

What may look like gossip to one person may be co- 

workers sharing extremely important organizational 

knowledge through the use of stories