Connection Through Shared Understanding

When organizations adopt Folktale, they often experience a number of benefits: saving money, gathering data at speed, and increasing insights to measure impact. However, one of the greatest unintended benefits is increased connectivity between teams separated by all kinds of distance.

The digital age presents challenges to personal connectivity and shared understanding. We can connect easily, but are we really connected? Do we really understand each other? There are many types of distance or disconnects that could put a strain on collegiality.

Geographic distance

You work in one location and your colleagues or team work in another - this might be the distance between the office and working from home, the distance between cities, or countries, or even the HQ and the field staff (many of us have been there and many memes are devoted to this particular divide in globaldev)

Hierarchical distance

This may exist between donors and projects, between funders and communities, between Government and NGO's, or between leadership and teams.

Cultural distance

These are often described (thanks Hofstede) as

• Power distance

• Uncertainty avoidance

• Individualism/collectivism

• Masculinity/femininity

• Long-term orientation.

How does using Folktale help to bring these distant folks closer together?

Through the creation of shared understanding and a human-centric communication approach.

Using Folktale is a way for people to tell their own stories, using their own words, in a structured way that others can easily access and understand. Most importantly it is in video format and therefore high-context. 

Folktale creates connection and shared understanding across multiple stakeholder groups by empowering the contribution of their authentic stories observations and insights.

Learn more about how Folktale can help build deeper connections with your stakeholders.