Unwritten Rules: How to Use Stories to Transform Performance

Issues I often see in organizations isn’t the ability to come up with problems, it is understanding what your organization believes is the solution. Group think often holds back innovation, creativity and performance as Group think filters both problems AND solutions.

What if the biggest barrier to change in your organization isn’t processes, policies, or training—but the stories people believe?

I've often experienced organizations where powerful people are convinced their employees are a problem not a solution. I hear narratives that reveal underlying beliefs, "Our people walk past problems every day. They don’t intervene. They don’t report issues. They don’t follow their training."

But when I listened to employees, their story is often very different: "If we report a serious issue, investigations follow and the outcomes are never good for us, nothing really changes. If we speak up, get disciplined."

Two different stories. Two different realities.  Two sets of conflicting behaviors.

This wasn’t about rules or procedures. This illustrates that trust is a social risk assessment. Employees weren’t asking, "Is this the right thing to do?" They were asking, "If I say something, will help or harm follow?"

Narratives Shape Behavior—Not Policies

It didn’t matter what was objectively true. What mattered was what people believed was true—because people act in ways that fit into their group’s dominant narrative - belonging to a social group is a powerful motivator of behaviour.

If leadership sees employees as careless then see their "truth" across the organisation, a belief that focuses resources on compliance, discipline, and enforcement . If employees believe speaking up is a threat to their job, they stay silent.

No amount of training or policy changes that. Stories do.

How We Changed the Narrative—And the Behaviour.

Instead of trying to force change through new rules, we introduced a story that challenged both narratives—without attacking either group.

We told the story of an employee who found a problem and fixed it. A real story. A simple act. But we made it matter.

·        We connected their actions to company values – making them the hero.

·        We told the story so employees could see themselves in it – challenging their belief that reporting problems led to punishment.

·        We let leaders see employees differently – challenging their belief that people were a problem, not a solution.

The story contained the essential ingredients for learning - Relatability; Emotional Connection and Authenticity.

Then, we watched for early adopters—the ones who started testing the new narrative. When they spoke up, fixed issues, and collaborated, we told their stories too.

Slowly, the dominant narrative shifted. Finding and fixing problems became something worthy of praise, not punishment. The new story took hold. And with it, behavior changed.

The Real Power of Storytelling in Business

Most organizations focus on what they want people to do, but they fail to listen to the stories that control behavior.

Narratives dictate engagement, collaboration, and trust. If you don’t understand the stories in your business, you don’t understand why people act the way they do.

·        Are you listening to the right stories?

·        Are you challenging the ones that hold your organization back?

·        And are you telling the stories that will build the future you actually want?

That’s where real transformation happens.

Want to Learn More?

We run free 1-hour webinars and offer in-company and online masterclasses to help organizations unlock the power of storytelling for engagement and performance.

Join the conversation—email us at curious@orgtree.me or visit www.orgtree.me.

Andy Barker and his clients have won awards for his transformative work in safety, driving both cultural and business performance. 

If you want to shift the narrative in your organization, and learn how they build bridges between groups, let’s talk.