I do a storytelling exercise with my students in which they are asked to name the 7 values of the university. Unless they have been trained as resident assistants or orientation leaders or are in student government, they usually have no clue what the values are. Message: Perhaps the university is not doing a good job of communicating its values. I then ask them to choose the value (of the 7) that most resonates with them, that they most identify with.

They form a group with other students who share the same value, and they are then asked to develop stories to illustrate that value -- perhaps a person they know (even themselves) or organization that lives and embodies that value.

As Steve Denning says:

If managers can transmit their own parables which embody the values of the corporation then that can be a powerful way to communicate values in the organisation. At the same time there can also be an underground river of storytelling that goes on in an organisation – the informal storytelling at water coolers and cafeterias. These stories also transmit the values of the organisation. And if the actions of the management are in any way inconsistent with the espoused values of the organisation then the informal storytelling will transmit those inconsistencies even more powerfully and rapidly than the narratives put out by the management.

As they develop their stories, I ask them to look for these inconsistencies – do the university's informal stories run counter to the stated values? How easy is it to come up with stories that show that the university lives its values, and they are not merely espoused values?