I sat stunned in a County Commission meeting two months ago when  I watched as a respected community activist stopped the awarding of an engineering contract to a firm that was going to analyze the effectiveness of stormwater water quality projects county-wide. The firm was going to measure the effectiveness of our county-wide Stormwater BMPs. Sounded like a good idea to me. It fits that whole ICMA mantra, of “If you can’t measure it and validate it, then why are you doing it?” Good management is what we used to call it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.  The firm in question had committed a “sin.” And, the “sin” was that it had worked with ICLEI in the past. ICLEI’s “sin” is that it is linked to the attempt of the United Nations to take over the world through Agenda 21. Really? You’ll read more about this next week on the ICMA Sustainability Blog.

From the Sacramento Bee, Matt Bor.

As prophets of sustainability, we have all the facts. The facts tell us that sustainability is right and just and good. So, what the heck happened? How did we lose the Sustainability advantage? I think the problem was we never told the story.

In this post I’m going to leave you with three thoughts to mull over and pose a challenge.

Thought one -- stories are truth. We need to get much better at telling stories if we want to lead our communities in the future. A book you need to read is, The Story Factor(2nd Edition), by Annette Simmons. Here’s a short excerpt from the section Holograms of Truth:

“Stories are “more true” than facts because stories are multidimensional. Truth with a capital “T” has many layers. Truths like justice or integrity are too complex to be expressed in a law, a statistic, or a fact. Facts need the context of when, who, and where to become Truths. A story incorporates when and who—lasting minutes or generations and narrating an event or series of events with character(s), actions, and consequences. It occurs in a place or places that gives us a where. Even if a story is not literally true, it is a very good representation of what is True because it can weave the relational aspects of facts with space, time and values.”

We as managers are always arguing the facts. The facts are measured and measureable. The facts don’t need truth they are what they are. I hear this in my mind all of the time.

Thought two – stories are transformational. I experienced this when I would listen to the stories that Sonny Culverhouse would tell us before every morning class session at the University of Virginia’s Senior Executive Institute (SEI). Sonny had a way of telling a story that would take what you learned the day before and transform it into something you could use. He would pull at your emotions and slowly drag you into his story. Once you were in the story, it was impossible to leave. I was amazed at how Sonny could take 25 or 30 local government executives and almost have them in a trance.

Thought three – stories can change behaviors. I believe the leaders in using stories to change behaviors are Dr. Sam Ham and the City of Townsville, QLD, Australia.

Dr. Ham’s TORE model (thematic communication) states that effective communication is not achieved by presenting general facts and figures to the audience in order to get them to think logically and rationally, but rather presenting a message that provokes them into “thinking.” As such, the message has to be centered on a theme that provokes people to pay attention and process your message.  Themes are linked to beliefs, so a strong theme is important.

In Townsville, they embrace this in their story of the Townsville catchment. They have this wonderful eco-trail and Learnscape that they are developing. For them, it’s not just about developing the materials for these initiatives, its about creating storytellers in the organization. In my two weeks in Townsville I met some masterful storytellers in Greg Bruce, Dylan Furnell, and Mark Robinson. You have to have good storytellers to be good at thematic communication.

A CHALLENGE…..

How do we start writing and telling the story of Sustainability in the City/County Management Profession?