Story behind Inverness Creative Academy’s first tenant StrategyStory which given new life to the ancient Highland tradition of storytelling
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The ancient Highland tradition of storytelling is taking on a new life by helping businesses and other organisations prepare for the future.
StrategyStory, created by former BBC senior producer and journalist Kate Hooper and Donald MacLean, a professor at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School, draws on Gaeldom’s bardic tradition and brings it up to date with 21st century storytelling techniques to help colleagues, stakeholders and the wider community engage with organisations’ plans and aims.
StrategyStory became the first tenant of Inverness Creative Academy when it opened its doors earlier this year, but the business has a worldwide reach.
For Donald, setting up a base in Inverness with its convenient transport links to the wider region and the rest of the world is confirmation the partnership is on the right path.
“I think we are waking up to the power of story again,” he said. “There is an appetite out there for what we are doing and for a connection between the Highlands and other parts of the world.”
While Kate’s journalistic background is key to the story element, Donald brings expertise in strategy after a career in both the private and public sector, and was strategy lead for the Institute of Directors for its leadership development work in the Highlands.
“My research has always been focused around the fact that we are moving out of the machine age,” he said. “The old command and control systems of organising things are falling apart like machines do when they aren’t maintained.
“Instead of control being the big thing that organisations are concerned with, now it is creativity and innovation and stuff that you can’t command and control which all relies on voluntary input.”
The techniques of the bards and storytellers, who Donald points out were highly trained and highly valued members of traditional Highland society, are now in demand again to meet these new communication needs.
Kate said: “We are using storytelling to enable everyone in the organisation to have their voices heard.
“Instead of strategies coming down from the boardroom, which doesn’t always work because it’s probably not actually representing what’s happening, storytelling really gives people a chance to contribute.”
As part of their commitment to the region which has inspired their business, Kate and Donald have developed a special programme, Red Squirrel, designed around the specific and unique needs of Highlands and Islands organisations, but applicable to any rural business.
“Rural businesses are very different to urban businesses, but a lot of the time they will be measured in the same way as urban businesses,” Kate said.
“That’s why we have developed our own Highlands and Islands business model which centres around community, place, people, creativity and resilience.”
To help tell these stories, Kate and Donald combine the tradition of oral storytelling with contemporary storytelling techniques such as video and audio production and social media.
“Social media is not going away,” Kate said. “It is something we need to utilise, but we also need to make sure that we do so in a way that is authentic.
“You need a sense of responsibility in storytelling and I think that is where social media could be guided.
“I think people are getting fed up of spin. They want real stories. That’s what connects us. They want the truth, and they want to hear things that relate to their own lives.”
