Books

Anyone who has an interest in how storytelling can be used for more effective communication (in business as well as personal situations) should read this book. It makes an incredibly compelling and clear case for the use of story and highlights a range of potential applications and benefits from using a story-based approach.

As I made my way through the book I was hoping for some more ‘how to’ information. The new chapter in the paperback edition, ‘Story Thinking as a Skill’, was certainly the chapter I found most useful. While this chapter stops short of providing a step-by-step guide on how to elicit, structure and present stories, I realised, after making my way through the book, that this would be impossible. There is no one-size-fits-all formula or approach to storytelling, and as the author writes in the last paragraph of the book – ‘Agility improves with practice and coaching. This new chapter is my best shot at the coaching part. Now it’s time for you to go practice’. [Read more…]

Gamestorming by Dave Gray

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a really great resource to have on your bookshelf. It describes a series of different facilitation techniques/exercises or ‘games’ that can be used in a range of different organisational settings. While I was familiar with many of the games (or some variant of the games) but it is great to have them described in a single book. It was enjoyable to read the book cover-to-cover, but it’s more of a reference book that you’d keep on your self and refer to when facilitating meetings/workshops to get some ideas about certain techniques to use.

Experienced facilitators may find that they already have several of the games in their existing ‘toolkit’, but it is a useful reference source for stimulating new ideas.

Book Review: The Story Factor

Book Review: Gamestorming