Storytelling as a mechanism for driving the employee engagement of knowledge workers in a VUCA environment

Abstract

In the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous operating environments which organisations are forced to navigate through, the focus remains on ensuring employees are engaged at work. Increased levels of employee engagement have many benefits to organisations, including better productivity and increased amounts of discretionary effort. As a driver of employee engagement, the mechanism of storytelling in a corporate environment is used as a tool for communicating a clear understanding of the direction of the organisation. Storytelling needs to be done in a structured format and with a clear understanding of the qualities of the audience receiving the message, to optimise the effectiveness of the process. In this qualitative research study through the use of storytelling the employees are able to relate to and buy into the goals of the organisation, resulting in increased levels of employee engagement, which result in increased productivity, which leads to profitability for the organisation