ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 returns to the subject of the strategic narrative and how generating this objective can be facilitated using Motivational Maps. What strategy is – its military roots – and the fact that ‘narrative is a primary act of mind’ – builds a picture of how important stories are in the life of any organisation. The alignment between motivators and stories, and the values they potentially exhibit is summarised. Seven key, and indirect, metrics for establishing whether employees are engaged are suggested as a preferred way to discover what is really happening within the organisation. It is recommended that organisations never use just one metric, since it can be misleading; three is ideal. Retaining talent is one of the metrics and this is explored further. So is the generation of new intellectual property across the organisation. Three levels of the organisation – operational, middle and senior – are explored in terms of how engaging managers and visionary leaders overlap in terms of some of the skills they need to perform effectively. Finally, four features of a core mission or narrative are identified: focus on impact, not being centred on money, unattainability, and rallying employees.
