Rooted in social science research and tested as part of a project looking to advance collaboration and co-creation for a sustainable future, workshops based on dialogic storytelling and visual methods have showed great potential in helping to bring empathy and mutual understanding in discussions around sensitive issues.
The purpose of this article is to provide some information about the background, rationale and design of dialogic storytelling workshops, to help establish their relevance to specific situations and environments. I introduce the concept of dialogic storytelling, then explain how it can be brought to life in workshops, and finally share the example of its use in bringing together employees from the oil and gas industry and climate activists to co-create visions of a sustainable future.
What is dialogic storytelling?
Dialogic storytelling is a method based on the use of stories to conduct a fruitful dialogue between people holding different, sometimes opposed or antagonistic, views and positions on a particular topic. In a 2008 article, Laura W. Black from the University of Ohio wrote:
Part of what makes stories powerful is that they are able to display values and worldviews that are typically not talked about explicitly. (…) Thus, hearing stories from others who hold different values may make it easier for deliberative participants to understand the reasonableness of positions and interests that are different from their own. (Black, 2008)
Structuring a discussion through stories can help unlock personal points of views and perspectives which may otherwise remain unsaid and help create a more empathetic response from those listening, as it is rooted in the speaker’s experiences and emotions.
Dialogic storytelling has been applied in a number of different contexts: in early childhood education, to help develop relationships between children; in healthcare settings, to approach discussions with and about patients; in community engagement around shared trauma, to facilitate exchanges on sensitive experiences.
Those examples typically involve an approach to dialogic storytelling whereby people share their and others’ actual stories and experiences, which have happened in the past. The use of storytelling has also developed to help people build visions for the future, as has been the case in initiatives inviting people to imagine stories of an environmentally sustainable future. The method we devise here intends to combine individual stories based on past experiences, with collectively developed visions of future stories, to foster constructive, inclusive and empathetic discussions.
Bringing dialogic storytelling to life – workshop structure
The aim of the dialogic storytelling workshops is to get a small group of individuals, with differing or opposed views on a particular question, to reflect on and share their personal position, gain a better understanding of others’ positions, and then collaboratively formulate a vision for a positive future.
It is therefore divided in two complementary parts: one designed to give people space to articulate their own position via their own (past-focused) story and share it, unchallenged, with others; the second then is based on co-creation, inviting participants to start by reflecting on the similarities of their individual stories, and then develop, together, a future-focused story addressing the challenge at the heart of their discussion. Further detail about the components of the workshop can be found in the figure below.
A key feature of the workshops conducted to date has been to include a visual element (see the next section for an example and illustrations). The purpose of introducing a visual component has been to help foster reflexivity during the session, as well as retain an artefact as an output of it. To date, this visual element has been provided through the involvement of an artist producing live drawings, capturing the key elements of the discussions on drawing boards. Alternatives can however be considered, such as asking participants themselves to draw or document key thoughts on boards (physical or virtual).
Case study – Oil and gas employees and climate activists co-creating visions for a sustainable future
In March 2024, we conducted a series of three dialogic storytelling workshops, as part of a broader study on the perceptions, ethics and bias for action held by employees from the oil and gas industry. In the workshops, we brought together people currently employed by oil and gas companies, and people who left the industry to engage in climate activism.
Each workshop included four participants, representing various views and positions towards the role of the oil and gas industry in relation to climate change. The workshops took place online via MS Teams, lasted two hours each, were run by an independent facilitator, and attended by an artist who captured key aspects of each part of the conversation in real time.
The structure detailed in the previous section was followed. In the first part, participants were asked to write, using an online collaboration platform, their own story with the oil and gas industry, prompted by a few questions. They were given ten minutes to do so, and the reading of their stories was captured by the live artist on a board – one of the three workshops’ board is shared below.
In the second part, following a discussion and reflections on their individual stories, participants were asked to co-create a story which would lead on a path towards a sustainable future. A few prompts were given to encourage the group to agree on key characters from the story, key milestones or twists in the story, and the end point of the story. Here too, the artist captured the key outputs of the conversation and aspects of the story on an online board in real time, one of which can be found below.
As indicated in the previous sections, participants were asked at various points of the workshop, to reflect on the process, on their input, and on their experience. Reflection points took place at the start of the workshop (for expectations and ground rules), after the individual storytelling, and at the end of the collective storytelling. Key observations shared at these points were also captured by the artist in real time and compiled for the three sessions. The final board including reflections from the three workshops can be seen below.
These workshops were an excellent opportunity to test dialogic storytelling and confront what may have been antagonistic views, between people working in an industry which other participants campaigned or lobbied against. They enabled us to see the potential of the method, including how starting with individual stories helped people connect with their own position while developing respect and empathy from others. These lay the foundations for a constructive discussion leading to the act of co-creation. The experience also highlighted limitations in how the process alone can lead to positive outcomes, and provided valuable lessons on how to adjust the method for future use. Still, the breakthroughs achieved in some of the sessions, and feedback from participants who developed a new appreciation of different perspectives supported our confidence in the further development and use of dialogic storytelling to address some of our most pressing, and sometimes divisive, challenges.
Interested in learning more about dialogic storytelling or discuss its use in specific settings? Get in touch!
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