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Leadership and Organizational Performance

The Power of Story in Organizations

Friday, October 13, 2023
10:15 AM – 11:15 AM ET
Location: Room 205

Location: Room 205

Abstract Information: The purpose of this session is to describe the ways in which stories are used in the conduct of evaluations undertaken within organizations settings. Furthermore, the session will be designed to include interaction among the attendees and panel members. (5 min.): The session will begin with a brief introduction of the panel members and their affiliations. Each of the presenters will highlight the ways in which gathering and reporting of stories within organizations enhances the evaluation process. (10 min.) Dr. Russ-Eft and Dr. Jordan will discuss their use of the critical incident method in undertaking developing training programs and in evaluations of leadership and team training. The method promotes the gathering of stories detailing the actions leading to success or failure in the work, used to developed needed training. The gathering of stories following training can identify ways in which participants used or failed to use the training on the job. These stories can then be used for reporting and future action. (10 min.) Dr. Brandon Grant will describe recent interviews undertaking with employees forced to work remotely because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The stories that he has gathered examine the ways in which employees feel that the organizational evaluations of their work are either fair or unfair. (10 min.) Presenters from the Center for Creative Leadership will share how they used narrative storytelling methods to foreground participant experiences in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) programs, put the data in conversation with facilitator reflections gathered during capability development training, They then analyze those two perspectives to inform organizational learning regarding how to best deliver capability development related to EDI. (10 min.) As discussant, Dr. Patti Phillips will connect the presentations with her own work at the ROI Institute. Specifically she will discuss the role of stories in delivering evaluation results to executives. She will begin by describing the use of the ROI Methodology® to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Then she will highlight the use of stories in reporting success.. (35 min.) Rather than simply provide these presentations we want to facilitate interaction of the audience members with the presenters. If the audience is small in number, we will gather as a single group to discuss the issues raised. If the audience is larger, then we will use divide into small groups, with each presenter facilitating a group. Our goal is to connect the panelist presentations to highlight the importance of stories within organizations. (10 min.) The final portion of this session will involve a summary of the major points as well as a call to action. That call will focus on ways of gathering and analyzing and reporting stories to enhance evaluations within organizations.

Relevance Statement: This highly-experienced panel will be discussing the power of story in organizations, which is both important to organizations and directly relevant to the theme of this year's AEA conference. Stories can be used in the development of organizational interventions as well as for data gathering and analysis in evaluations and impactful reporting of the results of evaluation efforts. A model of the use of stories in organizations can then be created using stories to move from development, through intervention, to evaluation, and eventually to reporting. Furthermore, the panel presentations will come from highly experienced evaluation researchers and practitioners providing several different perspectives, including from current faculty members, from staff within a non-profit organization, and from staff of a consulting organization. Finally, the panel plans to engage audience members in discussing and reflecting on their own experiences in evaluation effort and thus continue to advance the power of story in evaluation.

Presentations:

  • 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM ET
    Co-author

    Presenter: JB Jordan, n/a – Davenport University

  • 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM ET
    Co-author with V Ehrlich

    Presenter: Michelle Schneider, n/a – Center for Creative Leadership

  • 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM ET
    Co-Author with V. Ehrlich

    Presenter: Judanne Lennox-Morrison, Master of Urban Planning (MUP) (she/her/hers) – Texas A&M University

  • 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM ET
    Evaluation in work-from-home settings

    Presenter: Brandon Grant, PhD (he/him/his) – Purdue Polytechnic, Purdue University

  • 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM ET
    Gathering stories in data collection, analysis, and presentation: Power of critical incidents

    Presenter: Darlene F. Russ Eft, PhD (she/her/hers) – Purdue Polytechnic, Purdue University

  • 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM ET
    Stories and ROI

    Presenter: Patti Phillips, PhD – ROI Institute

  • 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM ET
    Storytelling in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) programs

    Presenter: Valerie Ehrlich, PhD (she/her/hers) – Center for Creative Leadership

    Presenter: Judanne Lennox-Morrison, Master of Urban Planning (MUP) (she/her/hers) – Texas A&M University