Introduction
Learn all about the power of story and how to tell a story to inspire, make change and motivate action using a framework developed by Harvard Professor Marshall Ganz called “Public Narrative” that revolves around three elements – a Story of Self, Us, and Now.
The excerpt below is from the guide Organizing: People, Power Change which has adapted the work of Dr. Marshall Ganz and resources from the Leading Change Network and the New Organizing Institute.
Key Concepts
- We tell stories in organizing to communicate our values and to motivate people to take action.
- A story structure is made up of three elements: plot, character, and moral, but a story comes alive when the character faces a challenge, makes a choice, and experiences the outcome.
- The Public Narrative framework is comprised of a Story of Self, a Story of Us, and a Story of Now, and learning to craft and re-craft your Public Narrative is a leadership practice.
Storytelling in Organizing
We turn to storytelling in organizing to answer the question of “why?” – why we care, why the work that we do matters, why we value one goal over another.
Most of us don’t do this work because of a list of facts, and rattling off statistics isn’t usually an effective means of recruiting ordinary people to stand up against injustice. Instead, we’re here because of our values; the desire to make change stems from beliefs like fairness, equality, democracy, or environmental sustainability.
Storytelling allows us to communicate our values, and in organizing, we use stories to articulate our shared values. Stories can be a source of inspiration, a means to engage and connect with one another, and most importantly, a way to motivate others to join us.
That is, in order to motivate others to join us in making change, we need to identify and articulate our shared values in a way that spurs us to take action, together. The most effective way to do that is by telling stories.
Remember that storytelling is not synonymous with ‘speech-making.’ It is a practise we use in many different contexts, not just from a stage at a rally. For example, stories are also told when recruiting a new team member, or when debriefing with a volunteer who had a hard shift. Specifically, an organizer may ask a new team member – why did you choose to get involved in this campaign? or can you tell me more about why you’re here today? – in order to hear a little of the volunteer’s story. In turn, the organizer might share a bit of their story, for the purpose of building connection, and, hopefully, motivating the volunteer to take further action on the campaign.
Each of us can learn to tell a story that can move others to action.
We all have stories of challenge and of hope, or we wouldn’t think the world needed changing or think that we could change it.
The trick is to articulate a story that communicates the values that have called us to leadership, the values that unite us, and the challenges that we must overcome together; in this section, we’ll explore a framework for storytelling called “Public Narrative” that revolves around those three elements – a Story of Self, Us, and Now.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when? – Hillel (Pirkei Avot Chapter 1:14)
Emotions
The key to motivation is understanding that values inspire action through emotion.
Stories enable us to communicate our feelings about what matters, so compelling stories are not overly abstract or intellectual, they’re about real-life experiences that have the power to move others.
Again, storytelling in organizing is all about inspiring action, and leaders must learn to mobilize the emotions that make agency possible. As diagram 2 illustrates, some emotions inhibit action, while other emotions facilitate action. Action is inhibited by feelings of inertia, apathy, fear, isolation, and self-doubt, while action is facilitated by feelings of urgency, anger, hope, solidarity, and the feeling that “you can make a difference” (or, Y.C.M.A.D.).
For instance, fear can paralyze us and drive us to rationalize inaction. Amplify this fear by feelings of self-doubt and isolation and people become victims of despair. On the other hand, hope can overcome fear, and in concert with self-esteem (Y.C.M.A.D.) and love (solidarity), these emotions can move us to act.
Effective storytellers learn how to adapt their stories to different audiences by tapping into the emotions their listeners are feeling at the time, and then evoking mobilizing emotions they deem timely or relevant to motivate them to act.
Structure: Challenge, Choice, Outcome
If you reflect on stories you’ve heard or remember most vividly, you’ll probably notice that stories have similar structural elements. That is, a story is usually crafted of just three things:
- plot,
- character, and
- moral.
But what makes a story a story, rather than the recounting of an event?
- Challenge,
- choice, and
- outcome.
A story begins with a challenge that confronts a character and demands that they make a choice, and this choice yields an outcome.
Stories capture our interest when the character meets an unexpected challenge; listeners lean in when presented with tension, uncertainty, or the unknown. Challenges, choices, and outcomes are the structural elements that make stories come alive. Remember, stories are about people. The storyteller engages an audience when they make them identify with the character in the story.
As a storyteller, the goal is to create empathy between listener and character so that, hopefully, listeners are encouraged to think about their own challenges and choices. Even further, the goal is to get listeners to experience or feel the outcome of the character’s choices (a ‘lesson of
the heart’) and not just understand it (a ‘lesson of the head’).
Public Narrative
Marshall Ganz created the Public Narrative framework based on the stories told by social movement leaders and his understanding of the need for social movements to “tell new public stories.”
As Ganz has written:
Through public narrative, social movement leaders – and participants – can move to action by mobilizing sources of motivation, constructing new shared individual and collective identities, and finding the courage to act. – Marshall Ganz
The Public Narrative framework is made up of three components: a Story of Self, a Story of Us, and a Story of Now. A Story of Self communicates the values that have called you to leadership; a Story of Us communicates the values shared by those in action; a Story of Now communicates an urgent challenge to those values that demand action now. Note the quotation from Hillel in the opening to this section: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” (Pirkei Avot Chapter 1:14).
Simply put, Public Narrative says, “Here’s who I am, this is what we have in common, and here’s what we’re going to do about it.” By mastering the practise of crafting a narrative that bridges the self, us, and now, organizers enhance their own efficacy and create trust and solidarity with their constituency.
Story of Self
Telling your Story of Self is a way to communicate who you are, the choices that have shaped your identity, and the values you hold that influenced those choices.
Learning to tell a compelling, emotive Story of Self demands the courage of introspection, and even more courage in sharing what you discover.
We construct our stories of self around “choice points” – moments when we faced a challenge, made a choice, experienced an outcome, and learned a lesson.
Ask yourself:
- When did I first care about being heard?
- When did I first experience injustice?
- When did I feel I had to act and what did I do?
Once you identify a specific, relevant choice point, dig deeper and ask yourself:
- What was the outcome of this choice
- How did it feel?
- What did it teach me?
Some of us may think that our personal stories don’t matter or that others won’t care to hear them. Yet if we do community or social change work then we have a responsibility to give a public account of ourselves – where we come from, why we do what we do, and where we think we’re going.
What’s more, if we don’t author our own stories, others might do it for us (and in ways we may not like).
Ask yourself these Questions
In developing your Story of Self, reflect on these questions
1. Why am I called to leadership?
2. Why did I decide to tackle this specific injustice or problem and work on this organizing effort?
3. What values move me to act? Have these values always been important to me? If not, when did that change? How might these values inspire others to similar action?
4. What stories can I tell from my own life about specific people or events that would show, rather than tell, how I learned or acted on those values?
Story of Us
A Story of Us expresses the values and shared experience of the ‘us’ you want to evoke at the time. This means our ‘us’ can and will change depending on who we’re speaking to.
The goal is to create a sense of unity, togetherness, and focus on the shared values of your listeners.
Similar to a Story of Self, a Story of Us focuses on choice points, but this time, the character in your Story of Us is the community you are motivating to act, and the choices are those the community has faced. That said, a compelling Story of Us doesn’t just highlight challenges, it also lifts up stories of success to give people hope. As Ganz writes,
Hope is one of the most precious gifts we can give each other and the people we work with to make change. – Marshall Ganz
Ask yourself these Questions
In developing your Story of Us, reflect on these questions
1. What values do you share with this community? (note: community here is the ‘us’ in your story)
2. What experiences have had the greatest impact on this community? What challenges has it faced?
3. What change does this community hope for and why?
Story of Now
A Story of Now articulates the urgent challenge your ‘us’ faces and the threat to your shared values that demands immediate action.
In your Story of Now, paint the picture of what the future looks like if we fail to act now (the ‘nightmare’) and what the future could be\ if we act together (the ‘dream’).
Lastly, a Story of Now makes the bridge from story, why we should act, to strategy, how we can act. Specifically, your Story of Now should end with a “hard ask” (see the Building Relationships section for what this is). It’s up to you to both motivate your listeners to take action and give them a specific, concrete way to take action.
Ask yourself these Questions
In developing your Story of Now, reflect on these questions
1. What is the urgent challenge your ‘us’ faces?
2. What change does this community hope for and why? What would the future look like if this change is made? What would the future look like if the change isn’t made? (note: here, you’re trying to paint a picture of the ‘dream’ of the future if the change is made, and the ‘nightmare’ of the future if it isn’t.)
3. What choice are you asking people to make and why now?
4. What action are you asking them to take and what impact will this have on the bigger picture? What’s the risk, or again, what would the future look like if we fail to act?
Story of Self, Us and Now
When woven together, your Public Narrative should present a plan for how to overcome the challenge at hand and give your listeners an opportunity to join you in taking action. In closing, remember that storytelling in organizing is a leadership practice above all and is a means of connecting, inspiring, and motivating one another to work together to create change.
Ask yourself these Questions
As you listen to others’ Public Narratives, reflect on the following questions
1. What values did the speaker’s story convey?
2. What details reflected those values?
3. What was the challenge, choice, and outcome in each part of their story?
4. What did the character in the story learn from those outcomes?
5. What was the speaker moving people to do?
Worksheet Templates
Ready to start? Find Worksheet Templates for Story of Self, Us and Now on pages 42 – 25.
Access Full Guide
Organizing: People, Power Change
Other Languages and Usage Guidelines
See the Guide to Public Narrative from the Leading Change Network for resources about public narrative in other languages including Turkish and Spanish.
You may reproduce and distribute the work of the guide Organizing: People, Power Change to others for free, but you may not sell the work to others. See page 2 of the guide for further details.
Easy Read Version
How to tell your story to make the world better
- Click to open PDF: How to tell your story to make the world better
- Click to open Word version (no pictures): How to tell your story to make the world better
- The information in this Easy Read guide was based on the work of Marshall Ganz and the story telling toolkit by 350.org.
Learn More about Public Narrative
- Guide to Public Narrative from the Leading Change Network
- Public Narrative: Online Course
- Story of Self, Us and Now: Video Examples
- Why stories matter: The art and craft of social change
- Marshall Ganz Quotes and Wisdom about Leadership, Hope, Organizing and Narrative
- Story of Now: How to Make a Compelling and Strategic Ask
- Leading Change Network
Toolkits and Worksheets
- Story Telling Toolkit by 350.org
- Toolkit for Developing a Public Narrative: Using Powerful Storytelling to Motivate Action, ReThink Health
- Story of Self: My Boundaries, Campaign Bootcamp UK
- Story of Self, Story of Us, Story of Now, Campaign Bootcamp UK