The Seven Basic Plots & You

What is your story right now?

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Are you aware of the narrative process that you are in? Without knowing it we all act out stories and scripts on a day to day basis. Most of the time we are unaware of these processes happening, and most of the time things are fine. However, when we reach a pain point or are forced to make a change to the way we live our lives or run our businesses, things can get a little bit more complicated. 

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You may encounter resistance from your teams. Some people will begin to try all kinds of wild ideas thinking that any action is better than nothing. You may find yourself increasing your spend on consultancy, innovation, new tech or simply running the increasing cost of becoming less productive. 

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All of these things can effect the morale and wellbeing of your teams, their productivity and ability to innovate and develop new products. 

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What is the story you want to tell?

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We need to slow down, take stock and understand the trap that you are in. We also need to know what the story you really want to tell is, because all of these narrative connect with each other at certain points. By knowing where you are and knowing where you want to be, we can identify what we need to DO! Which is the big question. 

Do yo want to embark on a new team voyage in search of hidden treasures? Are you a start up with budget restrictions and need to leverage skills that you may not know you have? Are you facing a significant threat and need the right kind of enchanted weapon to slay the dragon? 

 What do we do?

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We need to understand your situation as a narrative process. By doing this we can identify the crossover points between where you are and where you need to be. We do this by entering into a more creative and 'safe' space where we can play out new ideas and strategies according to the narrative patterns of the Seven Basic Plots. Once your team is satisfied they have a solution to the problem we assess it, stress test it and bring it into the real world. This doesn't just solve a problem, it builds the team cohesion, improves alignment within the team and is a positive experience which has positive effects on health and wellbeing. 

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Why does it work?

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Without our social conventions and cultural identities, our methodologies and ways of being and doing, our lives would be utter chaos. Nothing would make sense because we would be expose to a level of complexity and disorder that we simply cannot survive in as humans without some kind of process in place. 

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We see patterns in the chaos. Back to our Stone Age ancestors, mankind has been a pattern recogniser; seeing, observing, learning and adapting. From these patterns begin to emerge and we understand these narratives as having meaning to us. How do we communicate this meaning? Through stories. Story telling is not just a bed time thing to do with your kids, it is a vital aspect of human survival and evolution. 

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The work of Creative Edge is based on 'The Seven Basic Plots,' by Christopher Booker. In this 700 page tome, Booker recounts his 20+ years of work on understanding the reason for this seemingly limited number of base narratives to the human condition. If we can understand all of human story telling via these seven basic plots, and their various archetypes and milestones; then we can use these to explore the 'plot' that is running in your team or business.

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Not off the Peg..

This does mean that every team is only one of seven. Every team is unique, and the seven plot approach is just one tool in the kit that we carry at the Creative Edge. We seek to established a common communication framework through the use of metaphor. We carefully gather and evaluate both qualitative and quantitative information to understand the narrative uniqueness of your team or business. We then construct a story to reflect this back to you using the common communication markers we have established. Finally, we invite you and your team to enter into this narrative and become  the very agents of change that you seek. 

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So, what is the story you want to tell, for your teams and your business? Give me a call. 

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