Evaluate, learn and improve using stories
Our method
StoryConnect heeft een unieke, participatieve werkwijze ontwikkeld, gebaseerd op Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI). Deze methode combineert op innovatieve wijze kwalitatieve en kwantitatieve elementen, zowel online als offline, en zet ervaringsverhalen centraal. Wat onze aanpak bijzonder maakt, is dat we mensen niet alleen helpen verhalen te delen, maar hen ook actief leren hoe ze effectief met verhalen kunnen werken. Zo ontsluiten we niet alleen kennis, maar versterken we ook de vaardigheden binnen organisaties.
Onze aanpak begint met het stellen van open, uitnodigende vragen die deelnemers aanmoedigen om verhalen te delen over wat voor hen echt belangrijk is. De duidingen van deze verhalen leveren kwantitatieve data op waarmee we patronen, trends en opvallende signalen in de verhalen kunnen visualiseren en analyseren.
Een cruciaal onderdeel van onze methode is het participatieve karakter. Samen met medewerkers, managers, bestuurders en andere stakeholders ontsluiten we de aanwezige kennis. Dit gezamenlijke proces leidt tot gedeeld eigenaarschap en verdiept het inzicht in hoe mensen hun werk, organisatie of veranderprocessen beleven. Wij leren deelnemers niet alleen verhalen te verzamelen en te interpreteren, maar ook hoe ze deze inzichten kunnen inzetten om concrete verbeteracties te formuleren en beleid te versterken.
Door mensen te leren werken met verhalen, zorgen we voor een blijvend effect: organisaties beschikken niet alleen over waardevolle inzichten, maar ook over de vaardigheden om zelf verder te bouwen aan betekenisvolle en duurzame veranderingen.
Tailored professional guidance
StoryConnect guides you to (jointly) discover patterns in the data about the stories
From stories to insights
Through various assignments, you transition from reading stories to gaining insights
From insights to realizing change
We provide guidance in the challenging step from gaining insights to facilitating change initiatives
Our digital platform
Our digital platform enables our clients to continuously and extensively listen to stories. The platform consists of a storypoint that allows people to share their story and accompanies a live dashboard. We create the storypoints in collaboration with our clients, tailored to their needs. Through our extensive experience with working with stories, we have accumulated a wealth of knowledge on: 1) How to encourage people to share a story. 2) What questions to ask about a story. 3) How to structure storytelling points in a way that filling them out is not time-consuming and is enjoyable for the respondent.
We also develop the accompanying live dashboard in collaboration with the client, ensuring it is user-friendly and displays information that meets the client's preferences.
Privacy and security
Stories are valuable to us. We ensure that people can share their stories anonymously and we protect the stories with the utmost care. Our platform complies with the strictest privacy and security requirements, including the DigiCert certificate.
What do researchers say about us?
After independent market orientation and independent research, the StoryConnect method has been recognized as meaningful in the Social Domain for working narratively from various perspectives by these three parties:
Nivel, Vilans, het Nederlands Jeugd Instituut (het NJI)
Van data naar concrete stappen
StoryConnect bases its services on Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI). This structured hybrid (online and offline) qualitative-quantitative method relies on concrete experiential stories. PNI begins with asking open-ended, evocative questions, prompting storytellers to share stories about what they find important. Some examples of clarifying questions are: What emotion did you feel in this story? Who played a significant role in your story? Who should know your story?
These responses generate quantitative data about the (qualitative) stories. The quantitative data allows for visualizing patterns in the narrative data and observing trends and notable signals. PNI unlocks valuable contextual information from individual stories about the experience of work or the experience of a change process. The added value of this method is that it provides employees, managers, executives, and other stakeholders with insights and contextual information to initiate concrete and targeted improvement actions and policy adjustments.
Continuous sharing of stories
StoryConnect has its own PNI research platform that enables large numbers of storytellers to continuously (24/7) and anonymously share stories. It allows real-time tracking of the stories that are being shared. A digital online StoryPoint encourages storytellers to share stories and answer interpretive questions. An interactive Dashboard visualizes real-time responses and quantitative data, unlocks stories in the database, and facilitates analysis and evaluation. This allows for narrative evaluation and narrative accountability.
Our methods of sharing stories
In addition to the online StoryPoint, StoryConnect has a variety of offline PNI (Participatory Narrative Inquiry) formats and conversation techniques for collecting stories, ranging from methods that help participants to understand and interpret each other's stories to semi-structured interviews. StoryConnect strategically employs these for target audiences that share stories to a limited extent through the online StoryPoint or for deepening understanding of a specific theme. The information gathered through these formats is combined with the narrative database of the online StoryPoint.
Sessions to generate insights and opportunities for improvement
The participatory nature of PNI extends beyond the sharing of stories by various target groups. Representatives from different segments contribute to a systematic process for developing shared insights and opportunities for improvement in participatory working sessions, each from their own perspectives. StoryConnect facilitates these working sessions by conducting a pattern evaluation of the available narrative data prior to each session.
Monitoring the effect of improvements?
In the ideal situation, a continuous process of sharing and learning from stories is established. Over time, this allows for the identification of whether and, if so, what impact the agreements made have had, and where adjustments may be needed. Repeating our cycle several times leads to structural improvements within the organization. It assists an organization in conducting ongoing research into aspects such as service delivery, work experience and how employees are enabled or hindered in their work within a policy framework. Additionally, it aids in sustaining innovation and searching for improvements continually.
Added value of StoryConnect
StoryConnect has specialized in evaluating, learning, and improving through stories within organizations, covering their establishment, data analysis, learning and evaluation sessions, and internal training of employees to work with this method. A summary of our activities includes:"
- Setting up the research, in collaboration with the client, to collectively implement the study appropriately and among the right target groups.
- Setting up an online platform to collect stories: a StoryPoint and dashboard.
- Analyzing various data and identifying trends, and reporting them to the client.
- Managing (anonymous) data
- Developing and conducting working sessions to discuss trends and explore possible solutions or adjustments.
- Training employees so that they can independently analyze data, identify trends, and organize subsequent sessions.
