Our 11 heroes are embarking on an individual journey of discovery as they work to solve the challenge posed by their Host. But they are also part of a bigger, collective and collaborative adventure.

The overall aim of all Host projects is to feed into our development of a Story Skill Set. Think of this as something like a periodic table of Story Skills, the I Ching of narrative abilities, or an encyclopaedia of ways to craft and dissect tales. What we come up with will depend on the ideas generated by our Story Associate heroes together with the internal team at StoryArcs.

While Associates apply themselves diligently to addressing their Host’s challenge, their mission is also to identify and define what the process of solving that challenge has revealed about Story Skills and their application in the workplace. This new knowledge is being brought to StoryArcs HQ and is helping us to develop an innovative and important analysis of Story Skills that will inform how organisations hire for and use Story in the future.

Associates are also working with us to document and disseminate their adventure and its findings. Our Associates’ personal journeys are being synthesised into a multi-perspectival, interactive output that highlights how those journeys are leading to our Story Skill Set.

As this is a pilot scheme, Associates’ journeys are contributing to how we evaluate, improve and progress the StoryArcs programme. Their successes and feedback on StoryArcs is also helping AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) in their endeavour to develop and refine other impactful knowledge exchange projects. The first generation of Story Associates are paving the way for other heroes to follow in their footsteps.

Evaluation

This ultimate mission to develop a Story Skill Set is a Hero’s Journey! It requires the determination and creativity of everyone involved. It is a collaborative endeavour that will have a lasting legacy for how Story is used to address contemporary challenges.