Storytelling & Communication
Our approach to storytelling and communication is unique and grows out of our understanding of how communication works and what storytelling and dialogue does to each other, the living world and to our environment.
Most people think of communication and storytelling as a tool for getting information from one person to another. Communication is seen as a one-way, unidirectional practice in transmitting meaning. It’s about getting “MY meanings into YOUR head.” It’s about whoever tells the best story wins. This transmission model emphasizes a communication culture of sound bytes, monologues, carefully-crafted narratives and talking points. Storytelling, from this perspective, is about power over, influence and impact. When this transmission approach to communicating and storytelling doesn’t match up, or go the way we intend, we call it a “missed message,” or “communication breakdown.” However, communication does much more than this “transmission model” suggests. There’s a dance to dialogue. The way that we communicate, along with the content of what we say, also shapes how we feel about ourselves, the person speaking, and even others who are not in the room. The way we talk “to, at and with” people creates, sustains, and sometimes destroys relationships, organizations, communities and environments. The way we tell stories and communicate creates the primary operating system of our individual and social worlds.
How we communicate and share our stories of sustainability is crucial to making better social and environmental worlds. It’s not about winning the argument of what sustainability means, or that you receive and accept my transmission of the “real” meaning of sustainability.
At Global Zen, our focus on communication and sustainability is not just on the content, but on how people talk, because we know that how we talk has implications for the stories that we tell and share, and ultimately who we become and what we can do as individuals, groups, and societies.
Storytelling is about the many ways we engage in a variety of language games and create, innovate, instigate, bloviate and pontificate at, about and with the mystery of being alive on the Earth with each other. Storytelling is about the coordinated management of meaning.
Most people think of communication and storytelling as a tool for getting information from one person to another. Communication is seen as a one-way, unidirectional practice in transmitting meaning. It’s about getting “MY meanings into YOUR head.” It’s about whoever tells the best story wins. This transmission model emphasizes a communication culture of sound bytes, monologues, carefully-crafted narratives and talking points. Storytelling, from this perspective, is about power over, influence and impact. When this transmission approach to communicating and storytelling doesn’t match up, or go the way we intend, we call it a “missed message,” or “communication breakdown.” However, communication does much more than this “transmission model” suggests. There’s a dance to dialogue. The way that we communicate, along with the content of what we say, also shapes how we feel about ourselves, the person speaking, and even others who are not in the room. The way we talk “to, at and with” people creates, sustains, and sometimes destroys relationships, organizations, communities and environments. The way we tell stories and communicate creates the primary operating system of our individual and social worlds.
How we communicate and share our stories of sustainability is crucial to making better social and environmental worlds. It’s not about winning the argument of what sustainability means, or that you receive and accept my transmission of the “real” meaning of sustainability.
At Global Zen, our focus on communication and sustainability is not just on the content, but on how people talk, because we know that how we talk has implications for the stories that we tell and share, and ultimately who we become and what we can do as individuals, groups, and societies.
Storytelling is about the many ways we engage in a variety of language games and create, innovate, instigate, bloviate and pontificate at, about and with the mystery of being alive on the Earth with each other. Storytelling is about the coordinated management of meaning.