An Introduction to Public Narrative

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz of Harvard University

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/marshall-ganz
Adapted for this training by: The Arc of Change | info@arcofchange.com
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This workshop guide has been developed over the course of many
trainings by Liz Pallatto, Joy Cushman, Jake Waxman, Kate Hilton, Tiffany
Steinwert, Devon Anderson, Abel R. Cano and many others.

We welcome your suggestions for improving this guide further for future
trainings. We also welcome you to use it and adapt it for your own
trainings, subject to the restrictions below.

RESTRICTIONS OF USE
The following work [this workshop guide] is provided to you pursuant to the
following terms and conditions. Your acceptance of the work constitutes
your acceptance of these terms:

• You may reproduce and distribute the work to others for free, but
you may not sell the work to others.
• You may not remove the legends from the work that provide
attribution as to source (i.e., “originally adapted from the works of
Marshall Ganz of Harvard University and modified by Michele Rudy’)
• You may modify the work, provided that the attribution legends
remain on the work, and provided further that you send any
significant modifications or updates to marshall_ganz@harvard.edu
or Marshall Ganz, Hauser Center, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK
Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
• You hereby grant an irrevocable, royalty-free license to Marshall
Ganz, and his successors, heirs, licensees and assigns, to reproduce,
distribute and modify the work as modified by you.
• You shall include a copy of these restrictions with all copies of the
work that you distribute and you shall inform everyone to whom you
distribute the work that they are subject to the restrictions and
obligations set forth herein.

If you have any questions about these terms, please contact Marshall
Ganz, Hauser Center, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge,
MA 02138, marshall_ganz@harvard.edu.
 WHY WE’RE HERE

PUBLIC NARRATIVE:
An Introduction
Our Campaign Story, Strategy & Structure
 INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC NARRATIVE

Creating A Public Narrative

Goals for this session:

• Learn WHY Public Narrative is an essential leadership skill
• Learn HOW Public Narrative works: values, emotion & story structure
• Learn WHAT practicing, coaching, and receiving coaching in public narrative is.

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

When I am only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when?
story of story of
- Hillel, 1st century Jerusalem sage self PURPOSE
now
call to leadership strategy & action
Crafting a complete public narrative is a way
to connect three core elements of

CO

Y
NC
M
M

GE
UN
leadership practice: story (why we must act

UR
IT
Y
now, heart), strategy (how we can act now, story of

head), and action (what we must do to act us

now, hands). As Rabbi Hillel’s powerful words shared values
shared experience
&

suggest, to stand for yourself is a first but

insufficient step. You must also construct the
community with whom you stand, and move Public Narrative
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 access the
moral resources to make choices through which we construct our identities – as
individuals, as communities, as nations.

Each of us has a compelling story to tell

Each of us has a story to tell that can move others to act. As you learn this skill,
you will learn to tell a compelling story of yourself, your constituency, and the
need for urgent – and hopeful – action. You will also practice listening,
coaching others, and receiving coaching.

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University, modified by Abel R. Cano.
4
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 tools to make the implicit explicit. We
use a four-stage pedagogy: explain, model, practice and debrief. We explain
how story works, you observe a model of story telling, you practice your own
story, and you debrief your practice with others.

You will learn this practice the way we learn any practice: the 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!

Public leadership requires use of the “head” and the “heart” to mobilize others to
act (“hands”) effectively on behalf of shared values. We engage people in
understanding why they should act – motivation – and how they can act –
strategy. Public narrative focuses on the “why” – the art of translating values into
action through stories.

strategy narrative
head heart
ion story te
reflect of expe lling
critical rience rience
on expe

HOW WHY
IVE AFFEC
COGNIT TIVE
PATHO
LOGOS S
SIS MOTIVA
ANALY TION

shared
understanding
leads to

action
hands

Two Kinds of Knowing

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University, modified by Abel R. Cano.
5
A 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 communicate the content of our values to others. We can use
stories to enable others to feel what matters, not only to think about 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.

values

emotion

action

Some emotion inhibits mindful action, but other emotion can facilitate it.
Mindful action – or agency – can be inhibited by inertia and apathy, on the one
hand, and fear, isolation and self-doubt on the other. And it can be facilitated
by urgency and anger, on the one hand, and hope, solidarity, and YCMAD (you
can make a difference) on the other. Stories can mobilize emotion enabling
agency to overcome emotion inhibiting it.

ACTION ACTION
INHIBITORS MOTIVATORS

inertia urgency
OVERCOMES

apathy anger

fear hope

isolation solidarity

self-doubt Y.C.M.A.D.

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University, modified by Abel R. Cano.
6
The Three Key Elements of Narrative Structure
Challenge – Choice – Outcome

A plot begins with an unexpected challenge that confronts a protagonist in

pursuit of a purpose with an urgent need to pay attention, to choose how to
respond, how to act, a choice for which s/he is unprepared. The choice yields an
outcome that teaches a moral.

Because we can empathetically identify with the character, we can experience

the emotional content of the experience, learning the moral with our hearts, not
only our heads. We not only hear “about” a person’s courage; we can be
inspired by it.

The story of the character, his or her struggle to choose, the values that enabled
him or her to act, engages listeners in recalling their own stories of struggles,
choices, and action, the values that moved them, offering new insight into their
own lives.

character CHALLENGE plot

OUTCOME

CHOICE

moral

Narrative Structure

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University, modified by Abel R. Cano.
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 Public narrative combines a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now.

story of story of

self PURPOSE
now
call to leadership strategy & action

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NC
M
M

GE
UN

UR
IT
Y
story of

us
shared values &
shared experience

Public Narrative

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. Story and strategy converge in the story of now.

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 stories told of moments 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. Although our values are influenced by
choices others – parents, friends, teachers – have made, we have made our
own choices to shape 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.

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University, modified by Abel R. Cano.
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 WORKSHEET:
DEVELOPING YOUR STORY

What is the change you want to make in the world: your story of now?

Why are you called to make that change: what specific experiences have
shaped your story of self?

What personal story can you tell that will help others understand why you want to
make that change?

CHALLENGE: CHOICE: OUTCOME:

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University, modified by Abel R. Cano.
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 WORKSHEET:
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SELF-FACILITATION

When listening to the stories of others, listen and pay attention to how the
story resonates within you. During the feedback portion, comment on the following:

Public Narrative #1
What connects with me? What would I like to know more
about?
be specific: choices, feelings/values, • focusing in: what details and
images moments do you want to hear more
about?

• bridging parts of the story: what gaps

in the story did you want to know
about?

Public Narrative #2
What connects with me? What would I like to know more
about?
be specific: choices, feelings/values, • focusing in: what details and
images moments do you want to hear more
about?

• bridging parts of the story: what gaps

in the story did you want to know
about?

Public Narrative #3
What connects with me? What would I like to know more
about?
be specific: choices, feelings/values, • focusing in: what details and
images moments do you want to hear more
about?

• bridging parts of the story: what gaps

in the story did you want to know
about?

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University, modified by Abel R. Cano.
10
Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University, modified by Abel R. Cano.
11