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David will draw on his current research and his long-standing study of stories to facilitate a conversation about the roles of stories in personal and organizational change. His work draws on principles fomr narrative therapy, anthropology, and cognitive science and he focuses on the role of the liminal, the threshold, points of transformation as seen in and through stories.
Instead of the customary focus on storytelling, we will look at story evocation and use. Using a couple of models and insights gained from interviews with 12 managers in his study, David will explore with us how OD professionals can help clients tell, reflect on, learn from and create new stories about themselves -- individually and collectively. He will draw on his experiences working with clients such as Nike and the US Department of Labor to illustrate these practices at an organizational level. For example: How does a major technology change affect an organization's culture and what new story will it now need to tell about itself? He will draw on participants in his study and his coaching course to illustrate these practices at an individual level. For example: how does the adoption of a coaching stance shift how some middle-aged women managers shift the stories they tell about themselves at work and at home?
In true scholar-practitioner mode, we will weave theory and practice throughout the evening and provide opportunities for presentation, conversation, reflection and, of course, the sharing of stories. Come with some examples form your experience and practices about time when new stories have been told.
About the Presenter
David Drake is an ODN Oregon member and is the founder and President of Catalyst Communications in Portland, Oregon. He has served over 75 clients in the past 10 years, ranging from Head Start and the State of Oregon to Nike and Intel. He specializes in helping organizations effectively manage knowledge and change, develop managers as coaches and work with stories to promote learning. His guiding belief is that, as a person or as an organization, we are the stories we tell and we can become the stories we create.
David will graduate in January 2003 with his PhD in Human and Organizational systems from the Fielding Graduate Institute. His research is based on his pioneering work in adult development as seen through stories. He teaches online management courses for the Masters in Science and Technology program of the Oregon Graduate Institute at OHSU. His book The Art of Coaching, based on his highly successful progrtram on coaching skills for managers, will be published in February 2003 by PSU. He will resume work on his next book on the transformative power of stories once he graduates.