ABSTRACT
It is widely acknowledged that stories have for thousands of years shaped the way we live, as evidenced by the dramatic discovery of cave paintings from 30,000 years ago in Chauvet and Lascaux in France. Much of what we know of societies preceding ours stems from tales or written documents narrating the past. In recent years, stories and narratives have gained momentum as a means of communication even in the field of organization, facilitating understanding of complex processes, but also contributing to problem-solving and decision-making. In innovation projects, storytelling is an effective communication and knowledge management tool. The management literature often assumes that organizational change requires managing internal resistance, and the role of stories is to depict an ideal outcome. Thus, in the organizational field, storytelling is mainly used as a top-down tool to communicate and convince. Still, organizational sensemaking is a collective endeavor that requires individuals to assimilate and reframe external cues, in turn requiring a perspective of active involvement. For these reasons, we propose a shift from storytelling to storymaking.
