Neither here nor there: liminal spaces and storytelling in two UK-based organisations

Seminar summary

Organisational storytelling — and the work stories perform — is a well-studied area. However, there has been comparatively little exploration of the spaces to which storytelling is drawn. And this omission has been described as one of the ‘main concerns raised [about] storytelling as we know it today’ (Fotaki, Altman and Koning, 2020, p. 18). That said, there is some evidence that marginal or liminal spaces (cafes, photocopier rooms, corridors, colleagues’ homes, canteens, car parks) are linked to storytelling (Smith, Pedersen and Burnett, 2014) (Fletcher, 1996) (van Hulst, 2017) (Tangherlini, 2011) (Fayard and Weeks, 2007) (Liu and Fan, 2022). Deploying a sociomaterial approach which looks at the entangled performativity of liminality, space and storytelling, the aim of my research is to explore, and potentially build on, that evidence in two UK organisations. It involves investigations pre-Covid and in a Covid emergent world. In this discussion, I will cover the background to my research, the methodologies deployed (visual methods and, more latterly, the use of probes) and some of the emerging findings relating to the role of food and drink, ‘blurring’, the implication of objects, the work stories perform and the sensory embodied experience of storytelling spaces.

How to attend this seminar

This seminar will take place online on Wednesday 18 October 2023 at 12pm.

We warmly welcome you to join us on Zoom.

Speaker bio

Ian Rodwell

I am Head of Client Knowledge and Learning at Linklaters, a global law firm, where I provide training and guidance to the firm's clients — global corporates, banks, governments — on an extensive range of business skills topics. These encompass knowledge exploitation, collaboration, high-performing teams, creativity, the role of trust, motivational leadership, hybrid working, influence/impact and the business use of stories. I am also an experienced coach — trained by Lane4 and Moller PSF Group — with assignments both within Linklaters and externally.

I regularly write for professional publications on a variety of business topics as well as host the Linklaters Ideas Foundry podcast (which explores the changing face of 21st century organisational life). I am also conducting doctoral research on the role of liminal spaces in organisational storytelling at City University. My research interests can be tracked via my website.