DRAFT GUIDELINES
Dear Friends,

We had a successful PreConference in St. Louis this year, with five panelists, two moderators, and over twenty participants tackling story in orgs guidelines/commonly held operating principles (CHOPS).

The reason we worked on this topic is to promote excellence in our developing field, and to help educate the marketplace on qualities that contribute to first-rate story in orgs work.

Below is the product of combined work in clarifying the list of Commonly Held Operating Principles (CHOPs) we created together at the pre-conference. Below that is matrix that is the beginning step in operationalizing the principles. Test them out as much as possible this year to see what works, what doesn’t, and to suggest changes/additions.

Guiding CHOPS for Storytelling in Organizations
Draft: This list came out of the SIO SIG Pre-conference held at the NSN Conference in St. Louis, MO, July 12, 2007

A. Attend to your knowledge
1. Of yourself: be clear about your competencies and intentions, to yourself and your clients
2. The organization you are working for
3. The art of storytelling
4. Organizational development
5. The ethics/principles from other disciplines and perspectives from your field

B. Communicate with the intention to be generative (i.e. productive)
1. First, that you do no harm (with a nod to Hippocrates or Galen, depending on your source)
2. Honest disclosure of intention and goals
3. Dedication to transparency in all relationships
4. Awareness of diverse perspectives
5. Respect for the power of story in all forms
6. Mindfulness of the power of story to both enlighten and deceive

C. Contribute to the community through purposeful interaction
1. Serving
i. Mentoring
ii. Being mentored
2. Developing knowledge
i. Learning
ii. Sharing
3. Treating all persons with respect and value

We think one of our next steps is getting examples ala Doug Lipman’s matrix of the four kinds experiences:
A. The CHOP was followed:
1. The situation was made better (this is the positive proof)
2. The situation was made worse (this is the misapplication of the principle)
B. The CHOP was NOT followed:
1. The situation was made better (this is the limitation of the principle)
2. The situation was made worse (this is the negative proof)

Please provide your input about the draft list to the SIO SIG FORUM at www.
Thank you!
Sara Armstrong, saarmst@telis.org
Karen Dietz, kd@polaris-associates.com

_________________
Karen

Karen Dietz, Ph.D.
www.polaris-associates.com

Dear Karen et al.,

I love the way the work we did at the Pre-conference is presented! Are we looking for folks to test our CHOPS?

--Sara

_________________
Sara Armstrong. Ph.D.
Sara Armstrong Consulting
saarmst@telis.org

Hi Sara!

Yes, absolutely I'd love people to test the CHOPS over the next 12 months. We could learn so much!

BTW -- are you able to update the website with the 10 scenarios or do you need material from me first? Trying to catch up with all and I'm a little scattered today.

Karen

_________________
Karen

Karen Dietz, Ph.D.
www.polaris-associates.com