Work life imitating fiction?

Devices of literature have real-life applications to working in organizations:

1) The art of storytelling

The way organizations move forward is in large part driven by individuals and teams weaving persuasive stories for each other.  Being able to deftly articulate plot, characters, and events--providing only those details absolutely necessary to the story--is a skill a change agent must have or develop.

2) Suspension of disbelief

Making the case for change, such as a project or a restructuring, involves asking your listeners to cast their minds forward into a possible future.  The storyteller's skill at evoking that future in a way that makes sense to them--so that the "pictures in their mind" are close enough to the ones you have in yours--involves taking the reader / listener / coworker to a fantasy land of what the future could be like.

3) Plotting

Overall plot direction is usually decided through evaluation of alternatives in strategy (plotting) sessions.  This is often best done behind closed doors, to minimize uncertainty to others as all plot alternatives are considered, and to avoid undermining suspension of disbelief.

4) Detailing specifics supports suspension of disbelief

For listeners to pay attention and be taken away by a description of the future, the speaker must articulate clearly and vividly.  Once the course is set, she must confidently translate the arc of the story into immediate actions.  Providing concrete details helps the reader's mind picture that future.  Compare the following two statements, picturing you work for Pam (or Paul):

"We will consolidate Pam's department with Paul's, and create synergies saving the company 10% of it's operating costs two years from now."

"Moved under Paul, Pam's team will eliminate six positions, with affected individuals notified exactly one month from now."

In my experience, most leaders don't do a good job of getting down to the specifics that help the affected individuals to start sketching out their own role in (and reaction to) the storytelling process.

Whether you're a leader or not, you can use some of the same techniques applied over the centuries by Homer, Shakespeare and Joyce to capture your audience's minds and implant in them the pictures they need to help you, follow you, advise you, or give you that important promotion.  Just remember--unless you're actually writing a novel, don't take the "fiction" part too far!