INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC NARRATIVE

Note: This guide has been reproduced below. The formatting below is not correct for agendas, worksheets, etc. – Please see The Public Narrative Workshop 2021: Participant Guide PDF version for the correct formatting.

Creating a Public Narrative

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

When I am only for myself, what am I?

If not now, when?

– Hillel, 1st century Jerusalem sage

Crafting a complete public narrative is a way to connect three core elements of leadership practice: story (why we must act now, heart), strategy (how we can act now, head), and action (what we must do to act now, hands). As Rabbi Hillel’s powerful words suggest, to stand for yourself is a first but insufficient step. You must also construct the community with whom you stand, and move that community to act together now. To combine stories of self, us and now, find common threads in values that call you to your mission, values shared by your community, and challenges to those values that demand action now. You may want to begin with a Story of Now, working backward through the Story of the Us with whom you are working to the Story of Self in which your calling is grounded.

Public narrative as a practice of leadership

Leadership is about accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty.

Narrative is how we learn to make choices and construct our identities – as individuals, as communities, as nations.

Each of us has a compelling story to tell

Each of us has a story that can move others to action. As you learn this skill, you will be learning to tell a compelling story about yourself, your constituency, and the need for urgent – and hopeful – action. In addition, you will gain practice in listening, and coaching others to tell a good story.

Learning Public Narrative

We are all natural storytellers. We are “hard wired” for it. Although you may not have learned how to tell stories “explicitly” (their structure, the techniques), you have leaned “implicitly” (imitating others, responding to the way others react to you, etc.). In this workshop you will learn the tools to make the implicit explicit. We will use a four-stage pedagogy: explain, model, practice and debrief. We will explain how story works, you will observe a model of storytelling, you will then practice you own story, and you will then debrief your practice with others.

You will learn this practice the way we learn any practice: the same way we learn to ride a bike. Whatever we read, watch, or are told about bike riding, sooner or later we have to get on. And the first thing that usually happens is that you fall off. Then, and this is the key moment, you either give up or find the courage to get back up on the bike, knowing you will continue to fall, until, eventually you learn to keep your balance. In this workshop you’ll have the support of your written materials, peers and coaches.

You will also learn to coach others in telling their stories. We are all “fish” so to speak in the “water” of our own stories. We have lived in them all our lives and so we often need others to ask us probing questions, challenge us to explain why, and make connections we may have forgotten about so we can tell our stories in ways others can learn from them.

We all live rich, complex lives with many challenges, choices, and outcomes of both failure and success. We can never tell our whole life story in two minutes. We are learning to tell a two-minute story as the first step in mastering the craft of public narrative. The time limit focuses on getting to the point, offering images rather than lots of words, and choosing choice points strategically.

HOW PUBLIC NARRATIVE WORKS

Why Use Public Narrative? Two Ways of Knowing (And we need both!)

Public leadership requires the use of both the “head” and the “heart” to mobilize others to act effectively on behalf of shared values. It engages people in interpreting why they should change the world – their motivation – and how they can act to change it – their strategy. Public narrative is the “why” – the art of translating values into action through stories.

The key to motivation is understanding that values inspire action through emotion.

Emotions inform us of what we value in ourselves, in others, and in the world, and enable us to express the motivational content of our values to others. Stories draw on our emotions and show our values in action, helping us feel what matters, rather than just thinking about or telling others what matters. Because stories allow us to express our values not as abstract principles, but as lived experience, they have the power to move others.

Some emotions inhibit mindful action, but other emotions facilitate action.

The language of emotion is the language of movement, sharing the same root word. Mindful action is inhibited by inertia and apathy, on the one hand, and fear, isolation and self-doubt on the other. It can be facilitated by urgency and anger, on one hand, and hope, solidarity, and YCMAD (you can make a difference) on the other. Stories can mobilize emotions enabling mindful action to overcome emotions that inhibit it.

A plot begins with an unexpected challenge that confronts a character with an urgent need to pay attention, to make a choice, a choice for which s/he is unprepared. The choice yields an outcome—and the outcome teaches a moral.

Because we can empathetically identify with the character, we can “feel” the moral. We not only hear “about” someone’s courage; we can also be inspired by it.

The story of the character and their effort to make choices encourages listeners to think about their own values, and challenges, and inspires them with new ways of thinking about how to make choices in their own lives.

Public narrative combines a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now.

A “story of now” communicates an urgent challenge you are calling on your community to join you in acting on now.

The story of now focuses on a challenge to your community demanding action now, a source of hope, and the choice of a pathway to action you call on others to join you in taking.

A “story of us” communicates shared values that anchor your community, values that may be at risk, and may also be sources of hope.

Just as with a story of self, the values of a community are often expressed through key choice points in its life: founding moments, moments of crisis, of triumph, disaster, of resilience, of humor. Stories of us are accounts of events involving specific people, moments, events, words, etc.

A “story of self” communicates the values that called you to lead in this way, in this place, at this time.

Each of us has compelling stories to tell. In some cases, our values have been shaped by choices others – parents, friends, teachers – have made. And we have chosen how to deal with loss, even as we have found access to hope. Our choices have shaped our own life path: we dealt with challenges as children, found our way to a calling, responded to needs, demands, and gifts of others; confronted leadership challenges in places of worship, schools, communities, work.

STORY OF SELF

Goals for this session:

• Learn how to tell a story of SELF in a way that communicates your values.
• Learn how to coach others by giving feedback on their story of SELF.

What is a Story of Self?

You tell a story of self to enable others to “get you” – to enable them to experience the values that call you to serve the cause you serve AND to have accepted responsibility to lead.

The key is to focus on choice points: moments when your values influenced choices you made in response to challenges you faced.

When did you first need to be heard and believe that you could be? When did you have to care for someone else and found out you could? When did you have to stand up to someone bigger than you? Where did you find the courage? Or did you? What were the circumstances? What makes a story of self powerful is not “high drama” or “tragedy” but the extent to which you allow yourself to be vulnerable, to let others see something real about your sources of caring and of courage.

Incorporating Challenge, Choice, and Outcome in Your Own Story

Ask yourself questions to focus on choices you made along the way that brought you to this point in time as a leader. Once you identify a specific choice point, dig deeper by trying to answer the following questions.

Challenge: Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so challenging about it? Why was it your challenge?

Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get the courage (or not)? Where did you get the hope (or not)? Did your parents’, grandparents’ or others’ life stories teach you how to act in that moment? How did it feel?

Outcome: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way? What did it teach you? What do you want to teach us? How do you want us to feel?

A word about challenge. Sometimes people see the word challenge and think that they need to describe the misfortunes of their lives. A struggle may be of your own choosing – a high mountain you decided to climb, not only a valley you managed to climb out of. Any number of things may have been a challenge to you and be the source of a good story to inspire others.

VIDEO REVIEW: AMAL BEYDOUN

We’ll be watching two minutes of Amal Beydoun’s Story of Self. As you watch it, focus on the elements of Story of Self that you hear in her story.

CHALLENGE

What experiences shaped her values? What details and images bring her challenge alive?

CHOICE

What moments of choice does she recall? What are the values?

OUTCOME

Where does she locate the source of hope? What is the outcome of her choices?

• Why does Amal begin as she does?
• What details, images, moments bring her story alive?
• What values does her story communicate?

TEAM BREAKOUT SESSION: STORY OF SELF PRACTICE WORK

Goals for this session

• Practice telling your Story of Self and get good, constructive feedback
• Learn to coach others’ stories so they become better storytellers: constructive critical and affirmative feedback.

AGENDA

TOTAL TIME: 50 min. of teamwork

WORKSHEET: DEVELOPING YOUR STORY OF SELF

Before you decide what part of your story to tell, think about these questions:

1. What will I be calling on others to do? What is my purpose in calling on others to join me in action? Why am I called to leadership?
2. What values move me to take action and might also inspire others to similar action?
3. 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?

What are the experiences in your life that have shaped the values that call you to leadership?

FAMILY & CHILDHOOD

• Parents/Family
• Growing Up Experiences
• Your Community
• Role Models
• School

LIFE CHOICES

• School
• Career
• Partner/Family
• Hobbies/Interests/Talents
• Finding Passion
• Overcoming Challenge

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

• First Experience with Political & Civic Issues
• A Key Moment in Your Work as an Organizer
• Role Models/Community
• Current Experience as an Organizer

Think about the challenge, choice and outcome in your story. The outcome might be what you learned, in addition to what happened. Try drawing pictures here instead of words. Powerful stories leave your listeners with images in their minds that shape their understanding of you and your calling.

Challenge:

Choice:

Outcome:

For Further Reflection

We all live very rich, complex lives with many challenges, many choices, and many outcomes of both failure and success. That means we can never tell our whole life story in two minutes.The challenge is to learn to interpret our life stories as a practice, so that we can teach others based on reflection and interpretation of our own experiences, and choose stories to tell from our own lives based on what’s appropriate in each unique situation.

Take time to reflect on your own public story, beginning with your story of self. You may go back as far as your parents or grandparents, or you may start with your most recent organizing and keep asking yourself why you in particular got involved when you did. Focus on challenges you had to face, the choices you made about how to deal with them, and the satisfactions – or frustrations – you experienced. Why did you make those choices? Why did you do this and not that? Keep asking yourself why.

What did you learn from reflecting on these moments of challenge, choice, and outcome? How do they feel? Do they teach you anything about yourself, about your family, about your peers, your community, your nation, the world around you – about what really matters to you? What about these stories was so intriguing? Which elements offered real perspective into your own life?

Many of us active in public service have stories of both loss and hope. If we did not have stories of loss, we would not understand that loss is a part of the world, and we would have no reason to try to fix it. But we also have stories of hope, otherwise we wouldn’t be trying to fix it.

COACHING TIPS: STORY OF SELF

Remember to START with positive feedback, balancing it with constructive critical feedback. You are coaching to facilitate the other person’s learning by asking them questions, rather than giving them advice.

DON’T simply offer vague “feel good” comments. (“That was a really great story!”)

DO coach each other on the following points but remember these are different content pieces! You can only coach one at a time — not all. So choose one that feels the most relevant to the story, to understanding who this person is and why they are called to what they do. Once you choose it, stick with it! Usually it’s good practice to stay with one strategy the whole time and really dig in.

• THE CHALLENGE: What were the specific challenges the storyteller faced? Did the storyteller paint a vivid picture of those challenges?

“When you described ________, I got a clear picture of the challenge.”

“I understood the challenge to be ________. Is that what you intended?”

“The challenge wasn’t clear. How would you describe ________?”

• THE CHOICE: Was there a clear choice that was made in response to each challenge? How did the choice make you feel? (Hopeful? Angry?)

“To me, the choice you made was _______, and it made me feel _______.”

“What other choices could you have made? Why did you make this specific choice?”

“When did you choose to do something about that challenge?”

• THE OUTCOME: What was the specific outcome that resulted from each choice? What does that outcome teach us?

“What did you learn from making the choices that you did? How did that make you feel?”

“I understood the outcome to be _______, and it teaches me _______. How does this moment connect to your work now?”

• THE HOPE:

“Where did the resiliency, strength and way of dealing with the challenge come from?”

• THE ORIGIN/THE VALUES: Could you identify what this person’s values are and where they came from?

“It’s clear from your story that you value _______; where did you learn this value from?”.

“Why did it mean so much to you?”

“When’s the earliest time you realized you cared about that? What happened?”

“Who modeled this value for you? How? Can you recall a specific moment?””

• DETAILS: Were there sections of the story that had especially good details or images (e.g. sights, sounds, smells, or emotions of the moment)?

“The image of ________ really helped me identify with what you were feeling.”

“Could you paint an image of this moment? Where were you? What could you see? What did she look like? What were their exact words?”

WORKSHEET: COACHING YOUR TEAMMATES’ STORIES OF SELF

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members Here:

Coaching Your Team’s “Story of Self”

As you hear each other’s stories, keeping track of the details of each person’s story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your team’s stories in words or images.

STORY OF US

Goals for this session:

* Learn how to tell a story of us that brings alive values shared by this community.
*Learn how to coach others in telling an effective story of us.

What is a Story of Us?

You tell a story of self to enable others to “get you” – to experience the values that call you to public life. You tell a “story of us” to enable them to “get each other”- to experience the values they share that can inspire them to act together, find courage in each other, and find hope in their solidarity. In other words, the “us” that the storyteller brings alive is based less on what “category” describes them (race, gender, language, etc.), a “categorical us”, than values the share rooted in common experience, an “experiential us.” By learning to tell a story of us you can bring those values alive as a source of solidarity, hope, and the motivation to act.

Crafting a Story of Us.

One way people develop their sense of “usness” is by sharing stories that celebrate values they share. They may share stories of family, community, faith tradition, school life, profession, movements, organizational happenings, national experience, generational moments, cultural events, or even global occurrences. But, as stories, they’re about our experience of these moments, challenges we faced, obstacles we overcame, or didn’t, values we tested, or that tested us, and lessons we learned that made us who we are.

The Story of Us in the Room

Although the reach of a story of us may extend far beyond “people in the room” it becomes real only in the experience of the “people in the room” – or not. The test is simple. As we heard this story did we begin to feel like an us? The experience of shared values may grow out of stories of historic moments we remember, or have heard of; they might be stories of life events like having children, stories of finding out you were accepted to this program; stories of what happened the first time you met, or last night, or this morning. And, like all stories, the more detailed, the more specific, and the more visual they are, the more effective they will be. What were the names of the people involved? What did they look like? How were they different? Sometimes stories of us emphasize obvious differences in race, religion, gender, age, for example, may actually highlight commonality of values or common purpose.

The Challenge: The challenges “people in the room” have faced in the past, or face now (made real with stories, images, and details, not statistics).

The Outcome (hope): Stories with vivid images that remind the “people in the room” of what they’ve achieved. Their own experiences of hope, experiences that point to your future.

The Choice: For a story to be a story, it centers on a “choice”. What choices did “people in the room” have to make to join this “us”, to be here, in this room, in this country, in this profession, to have access to this opportunity, to have learned what we are learning? In a story of us, the moments of choice we recall are those in which we responded with the kind of action that can make them sources of hope. People had to take risks, for example, to become part of this class, workshop, campaign. Founding stories recount choices made by those who initiated the community, enabling us to experience the values that motivated them.

VIDEO REVIEW: SUSAN CHRISTOPHER

We’ll be watching 2 minutes of Susan Christopher’s Story of Us. As you watch it, focus on the elements of the Story of Us that you hear in her story.

CHALLENGE

Who is the “us” to whom she appeals? How does she articulate the group’s challenge? What images does she create?

CHOICE

What moments of choice does she recall? What are the values?

OUTCOME

Where does she locate the source of hope? What is the outcome of her choices? Why does Susan begin as she does?

• What are the three choices she describes through her story?
• What details, images, moments help bring her story alive?
• What values does her story communicate?

TEAM BREAKOUT SESSION: STORY OF US PRACTICE

Goals for this session

• Develop a story of “us” by using clear, specific examples of the challenges, choices, and outcomes experienced by this community: the people in this room.
• Learn to coach others’ stories so they become better storytellers: constructive critical and affirmative feedback.

WORKSHEET: DEVELOPING YOUR STORY OF US

The purpose of the story of us is to create a sense of community among individuals who may or may not yet see themselves as a community and to give them hope that they can make a difference. It builds on shared experiences and outcomes of previous actions to establish the context in which to take future action. Your goal here is to tell a story that evokes our shared values as your audience, and shows why we in particular are called to take responsibility for action now.

Your story of us may be a story of what we’ve already done together (common experiences), challenges we’ve already faced and outcomes we’ve achieved. Or it may be a story of some of our shared heroes, challenges they faced and outcomes they’ve achieved. Hearing how we’ve met challenges in the past gives us hope that we can face new challenges together.

Brainstorm all the stories you know about your audience and your collective story and experience. Your story of us may change each time you are talking to a different group of people as you create a new community with them. As a group, brainstorm through the following questions (5 min):

Now choose among the stories you brainstormed above to flesh some out in vivid detail. Remember, you can use this space to draw pictures instead of writing words, to help you think about where to add detail and nuance in your story (5 min.).

CHALLENGE

What was the challenge we faced? What’s the root of that challenge?

CHOICE

What specific choice did we make? What action did we take?

OUTCOME

What happened as a result of our choice? What hope can it give us?

EACH STORY TELLER SHOULD:

• SELF – Start your story in a couple of sentences (Examples of sentences that could create the space for an US- I care about because of my own lived experience, before I came here, I thought I was alone)
• US – TAKE TWO MINUTES to tell your story of US as it relates to the people you are talking with and that connects to your shared values. Create the space for an ASK by evoking a shared value, experience, urgency

COACHING TIPS: STORY OF US

Remember to START with positive feedback, balancing it with constructive critical feedback. You are coaching to facilitate the other person’s learning by asking them questions, rather than giving them advice.

DON’T simply offer vague “feel good” comments. (“That was a really great story!”)

DO coach each other on the following points but remember: these are different content pieces! You can only coach one at a time — not all. So choose one that feels the most relevant to the story, to understanding who the us is, the values that join them, and why they are hopeful and powerful together. Once you choose it, stick with it! Usually it’s good practice to stay with one strategy the whole time and really dig in.

• INTERWEAVING SELF AND US: Did the story of self relate to the story of us? If so, what was the common thread?

• THE US: Who is the “us” in the story? Do you feel included in the “us”?

“What experiences have we shared today that reflect our values?”

• THE CHALLENGE: What were the specific challenges the storyteller articulated? How were those challenges made vivid?

“I understood the challenge to be ________. Is that what you intended?”

“When you described ________, I got a clear picture of the challenge.”

“The challenge wasn’t clear. In the moment you recall, what challenge were we facing as a group?”

• THE CHOICE: Was there a choice made in response to those challenges? By whom?

“To me, the choice was _______, by _______(whom).”

“What did we choose to do about that challenge?”

“What other choices could we have made? Why did we make this specific choice?”

• THE OUTCOME: What outcomes resulted from this choice? What do these outcomes teach us?

“I understood the outcome to be _______, and it taught us _______.”

“What did we learn from making the choices that we made? How did that make us feel?

• THE SHARED VALUES: Could you identify what this community’s values are? How have they acted on them in the past?

“Your story made me see that we value ________ because _________.”

• DETAILS: Were there sections of the story that had especially good details or images (e.g. sights, sounds, smells, or emotions of the moment)?

“The image of ________ really helped me feel connected to the group.”

“Could you paint an image of this moment? Where were we? How did people respond in this moment? How could you tell? What did they say or do? Did we all respond in the same way?”

WORKSHEET: COACHING YOUR TEAMMATES’ STORIES OF US

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members On Your Story Here:

Coaching Your Team’s “Story of Us”

As you hear each other’s stories, keeping track of the details of each person’s story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your team’s stories.

STORY OF NOW

What is a story of now?

Now we know why you’ve been called to your mission. We also know who the “us” is that you will call on to join you in that mission. A story of now articulates the urgent choice faced by that “us” that requires action: a challenging vision of what will happen if they do not act, a hopeful vision of what could be if they do act, and a call to choose commitment to the action required. The “character” in a story of now is you, the people in the room with you, and the broader community whom you hope to engage in action.

In Washington DC, August 23, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King told a story of what he called the “fierce urgency of now.” Although we all recall his vision of what America could be, his dream, we often forget that action was urgent because of the “nightmare” of racial oppression, the result of white America’s failure to make good on its “promissory note” to African Americans. This debt, he argued, could no longer be postponed. If we did not act now, we could never realize the dream.

In a story of now, story and strategy overlap because a key element in hope is a strategy – a credible vision of how to get from here to there. The “choice” we offer must be more than “we must all choose to be better people” or “we must all choose to do any one of this list of 53 things” (which makes each of them trivial). A meaningful choice requires action we can take now, action we can take together, and an outcome we can achieve.

The Elements of a Story of Now

The challenge: What is the urgent challenge that requires our commitment to act now?

The hope: What is the source of our sense of possibility that we could meet that challenge?

The choice: What is the pathway to action: what will happen if we don’t act, what could happen if we do act, why we need to work together, the specific commitment each person must make now.

A story of now concludes with: Will you join me in ___________________?

Why It Matters

The choice we’re called on to make is a choice to take strategic action now. Leaders who only describe problems, but fail to identify a way to act and bring others together to address the problem, aren’t very good leaders. If you are called to address a real challenge, a challenge so urgent you have motivated us to face it as well, then you also have a responsibility to invite us to join you in action that has some chance of success. A “story of now” is not simply a call to make a choice to act – it is a call to “hopeful” action.

VIDEO REVIEW: GANDHI

We’ll be watching a video of Gandhi telling a story of now. While you watch it, think about the elements of the Story of Now that make up his call to action.

CHALLENGE

How does he confront his audience with a real, urgent challenge? What images does he create?

CHOICE

Where does he locate the source of hope? What could be different if the community chooses to act together?

OUTCOME

What does he ask the community to do? What makes it meaningful?

• Why does Gandhi begin as he does?
• What details, images, moments do these stories bring alive?
• What values does he draw upon and challenge his audience to live up?

TEAM BREAKOUT SESSION: STORY OF NOW PRACTICE

GOAL

• Develop a story of now with a clear and urgent challenge, a vision of a possible future, and the specific choice your audience must make.
• Learn to coach others’ stories so they become better storytellers: constructive critical and affirmative feedback.

NOTE: It’s more than an “ask.” It’s a choice about whether someone’s going to stay on the sidelines or dive in. It’s an opportunity for them to join you in action.

AGENDA

WORKSHEET: DEVELOPING YOUR STORY OF NOW

Use these questions to help you to develop your story of now:

COACHING TIPS: STORY OF NOW

Remember to START with positive feedback, balancing it with constructive critical feedback. You are coaching to facilitate the other person’s learning by asking them questions, rather than giving them advice.

DON’T simply offer vague “feel good” comments. (“That was a really great story!”)

DO coach each other on the following points but remember: these are different content pieces! You can only coach one at a time — not all. So choose one that feels the most relevant to the story, to understanding the specific action we are called to take to answer an urgent challenge. Once you choose it, stick with it! Usually it’s good practice to stay with one strategy the whole time and really dig in.

• THE URGENT CHALLENGE: What is the specific challenge we face now? Did the storyteller paint a vivid and urgent picture of it? What details might make it even more vivid and urgent?

“The challenge wasn’t urgent enough. Who is affected right now? Why do we need to act now? Why can’t that continue another moment? What might happen if we don’t act?”

• THE STRATEGIC PATH: What can we actually DO about all this urgency? How can we make a change?

“Who holds the power to change this? What do they want that this community has?” “What are the unique resources in this room, and how could they be leveraged?” “What’s the first step?”

• THE SPECIFIC ASK: Is there a clear choice that we are being asked to make in response to the challenge? How did the choice make you feel? (Hopeful?)

“What exactly are you asking us to do? When should we do it? Where?”

“How will you know who’s with you? How can you actually ask who is with you?”

• THE OUTCOME: What is the specific outcome if we act together? Is there a clear and hopeful vision of how the future can be different if we act now?

“How will we see the impact of our action?”

• VALUES: What values do you share with the storyteller? Does the story of now appeal to those values?

“Instead of telling us to care, it would be more effective if you showed us the choice to be made by illustrating the way in which you value__”

• DETAILS: Were there sections of the story that had especially vivid details or images (e.g. sights, sounds, smells, or emotions)?

“The image of ________ really helped me feel the urgency.”

“Statistics can be useful to help us understand the vastness of the challenge but they also take us out of the story. When did this challenge become real in your life? Who is directly affected and how?”

WORKSHEET: COACHING YOUR TEAMMATES’ STORIES OF NOW

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members On Your Story Here:

Coaching Your Team’s “Story of Now”

As you hear each other’s stories, keeping track of the details of each person’s story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your team’s stories.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: LINKING SELF, US & NOW

Creating A Public Narrative

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

When I am only for myself, what am I?

If not now, when?

– Hillel, 1st century Jerusalem sage

Crafting a complete public narrative is a way to connect three core elements of leadership practice: story (why we must act now, heart), strategy (how we can act now, head), and action (what we must do to act now, hands). As Rabbi Hillel’s powerful words suggest, to stand for yourself is a first but insufficient step. You must also construct the community with whom you stand, and move that community to act together now. To combine stories of self, us and now, find common threads in values that call you to your mission, values shared by your community, and challenges to those values that demand action now. You may want to begin with a Story of Now, working backward through the Story of the Us with whom you are working to the Story of Self in which your calling is grounded.

Creating A Public Narrative: Linking Self, Us, and Now

Now it’s time to put all three stories together in your public narrative: self, us, now. What are the values that link your self, us, and now? What theme links your self, us, and now? Are there particular images that link your self, us and now? You may begin your public narrative with a story of now, to call attention to your cause, move to a story of self, to explain why this cause is your cause, move to a story of us, to remind them why this cause is their cause, and back to a story of now to call on them to join you in action. You may also begin, as Obama did, with a story of self. And you could even begin with a story of us. There is no formula, but an effective public narrative will link all three elements.

Your Public Narrative is Always a “Work in Progress”

The goal of your work in this class is not to leave with a final “script” of your public narrative that you will use over and over again.

The goal is to enable you to begin learning a process you can use to adapt your narrative over and over and over again, when, where, and how you need to in order to strengthen your own capacity – and that of others – for purposeful leadership and action.

VIDEO REVIEW: MAUNG NYEU

We’ll be watching a five-minute Public Narrative by Maung Nyeu. While you watch it, think about the elements of SELF – US – NOW that you hear in his story.

CHALLENGE

What experiences shaped his values? Whose choices were they? Why are they stories?

CHOICE

Who is the “us” to whom he appeals? What moments of choice does he recall? What are the values?

OUTCOME

What challenges to those values does he describe? What’s the source of the urgency? What’s the source of hope? In what action does he ask us to join?

• Why does Maung begin as he does?
• What details, images, moments bring his stories alive?
• What values run through all the stories in his narrative?

TEAM BREAKOUT SESSION: LINKING SELF, US & NOW PRACTICE

GOAL

• Practice telling a public narrative in which self, us, and now are strategically and motivationally linked.
• Practice telling a public narrative to ask for a specific commitment from others to join in collective action.

AGENDA

Linking Chart: As you begin developing your linked public narrative, remember that your values are what link the different pieces of your story together so make sure you communicate clear and consistent values throughout. Also be sure to include self, us and now as well as challenge, choice, and outcome. Once you’ve crafted your linked narrative, you should be able to mark an “X” in each box below.

WORKSHEET: LINK SELF / US / NOW

What specific “ask” are you making to others to join you in meaningful action?

COACHING TIPS: PUBLIC NARRATIVE

DON’T simply offer vague “feel good” comments. (“That was a really great story!”)

DO coach each other on the following points but remember: these are different content pieces! You can only coach one at a time — not all. So choose one that feels the most relevant to the story. Once you choose it, stick with it! Usually it’s good practice to stay with one strategy the whole time and really dig in.

• SELF, US, NOW: Were the three stories present? Did the stories all have a challenge, a choice and an outcome? Was there an element weaker than the other?

“I could clearly hear the three stories of self, us and now.”

“I could hear the story of us and now but not the story of self. When did you learn to care about that?”

• THE STORY ARC COHERENCE: Do the three stories all relate to one another? Did the story of self and the story of us relate to the story of now? If so, what was the common thread?

• VALUES THREAD: What values run through all stories? What values do you share with the storyteller? Does the story of now appeal to those values?

“It’s clear from your story of Self that you value _______. How does this value show up in the story of us and now?”

• THE CHALLENGE/HOPE THREAD: Was hope running through all stories? What were the sources of challenge and hope in the three stories?

• DETAILS: Were there sections of the narrative that had especially vivid details or images (e.g. sights, sounds, smells, or emotions)?

“The images of ________ really helped me feel connected and moved to act.”

“How can you bring about similar vivid images in other parts of your linked narrative?”

WORKSHEET: COACHING YOUR TEAMMATES’ PUBLIC NARRATIVE

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members Here:

Coaching Your Team’s Public Narrative

As you hear each other’s public narratives, keeping track of the details of each person’s story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your team’s public narratives.

EXPLORE FURTHER

Guide for Trainers
Guide to Public Narrative Resources