Story of Change
Story of Change is a one-page framework for building the narrative behind an organisational change, so that people first agree there is a problem and can see their own part in what follows. It was published by NOBL Collective in 2020 and draws on Marshall Ganz's work on storytelling. A leadership or change team works through six blocks (backstory, stakes, cast of characters, challenge, choices and impact) and turns them into a story that can be told.
Facilitation script
- 1
Frame the session: name the change, the audience for the story and when it will be told. Show the six blocks.
5 min - 2
Backstory and stakes: individual notes first, then collect and discuss. Agree on the successes to acknowledge and on what is at risk.
20 min - 3
Cast of characters and challenge: name the people and groups involved and their part going forward, then word the problem in one or two sentences.
15 min - 4
Choices and impact: list the decisions and what informed them, describe the future picture, and make two lists: what changes and what stays.
20 min - 5
Draft the story: in pairs, turn the board into a two-minute spoken version. Each pair tells theirs; the group notes the strongest passages.
20 min - 6
Merge into one version, agree who will test it with whom from the affected teams, and set a date to revise it.
10 min
Tips
Fill the blocks in order and resist jumping to choices; a team that starts with the decision usually writes a justification, not a story.
Let each person draft the stakes and the challenge alone first, because differences there show that the leadership team itself is not yet aligned.
Give the backstory real credit: people accept a change more readily when the work that came before is not described as a mistake.
Common pitfalls
Writing the story backwards from a fixed decision, which produces a sales pitch that staff recognise as one
Describing the past only as a problem, so the people who built it feel blamed and stop listening before the challenge is named
Leaving 'what stays the same' empty, which lets people assume everything is up for grabs and raises anxiety beyond what the change warrants
A cast of characters that features only leaders, so the audience finds no role for itself in the story
Skipping the test with people from the affected teams, so the first real audience is also the first to point out what does not ring true
Variations
The source gives the six blocks and no timing or group size; the timings here are a practical suggestion. For a small shift, one leader can fill the page alone in 30 minutes and test it with two colleagues. For a large transformation, have several leaders draft separately and compare versions before merging them. The final test step is an addition to the published framework. Remote teams can use a shared board with six columns and draft the story in a shared document.
Where it fits
When to use it
A change has been decided or is close to being decided and has not yet been announced
Leaders are about to present a solution to people who do not yet see the problem
Members of the leadership team explain the same change in noticeably different ways
An earlier announcement landed badly and the reasoning needs to be rebuilt from the start
Managers need a consistent account they can retell in their own teams
When not to use it
The direction is still open and you want the organisation to help shape it: run a participatory format such as a History Map followed by a visioning session before writing any story
The change brings job losses or other hard consequences that are not yet settled: a story with gaps at exactly that point damages trust, so clarify the facts first
You need to understand how ready the organisation is or where resistance sits: use a Change Audit or a Force Field Analysis
The aim is to imagine an ambitious future, not to explain a decision: Cover Story suits that better
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Story of Change?▾
Story of Change is a framework from NOBL Collective for drafting the narrative of an organisational change. It has six blocks: backstory, stakes, cast of characters, challenge, choices and impact. Working through them helps leaders explain why a change is needed before they present what will be done.
Who should take part in a Story of Change session?▾
Usually the leadership or change team responsible for the change, three to ten people. It helps to include someone close to the affected teams who can say how the story will be heard. The wider organisation becomes involved when the draft is tested.
How long does it take to build a Story of Change?▾
The published framework gives no timing. As a working estimate, a team needs 60 to 120 minutes for a first full version, plus time afterwards to test and revise it. A single leader can sketch the six blocks alone in about half an hour.
How is Story of Change different from a communication plan?▾
A communication plan sets out who is told what, when and through which channel. Story of Change produces the content that the plan distributes: the account of where the organisation has been, what is at stake and what happens next. It makes sense to build the story first.
What is the link to Marshall Ganz?▾
NOBL's article quotes Marshall Ganz on how stories help people make choices in the face of uncertainty. Ganz is known for his public narrative approach in organising. Story of Change is NOBL's own framework for organisational change and is not Ganz's method.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from NOBL Collective (NOBL Academy).