The Listening Hour is the product of over 40 years of study of how stories work in an emergent context, as practiced by a socially conscious interactive theatre called Playback Theatre. It is based on experience in a wide variety of settings--from community groups to schools to organizations to communities in crisis. Over this long period, we have developed skill at a deep form of embodied listening that in itself is transformative. In Playback Theatre, performers play back audience members' stories on the spot. We are finding with the Listening Hour that even without performers' enactments, the stories work their power to bring groups together and elucidate new awareness.

Human beings seems to be hard wired to convey information through stories, and they communicate narratively in complex ways. For instance, when a group shares stories that emerge spontaneously, the level of interconnections is often intracate, like the veins of a leaf. We call this flow of meaning narrative reticulation. Within it are keys to individual and group identity. Furthermore, the experience of sharing stories often brings a strong feeling of connection.

While the LH experience builds resilience and connection, it is decidedly not therapy or a course in coping skills. LH participants simply share personal stories.

Group Therapy typically manifests many of the attributes of LH. The atmosphere, especially in private settings, is homey and comfortable. There is a permissive attitude to revelation: whatever you want to tell is acceptable. A climate of respect and nonjudgment is fostered. Two aspects of group therapy do not conform to the LH model, however. One is the emphasis on cure that derives from the medical model. There is a focus on individuals finding solutions to personal problems (rather than sharing life wisdom that entails joys as well as sorrows). The other concerns the role of the therapist, who takes on the responsibility to promote “healing.” This stance often leads to interventions that moves the discourse away from narrative reticulation.

In contrast to "hard" knowledge that can be classified, categorized, calculated, and analyzed, storytelling employs ancient means of passing wisdom and culture through informal stories and anecdotes. Still, the emphasize in organizational storytelling is often on creating a new vision for the organization or using the mataphor of story to gain insight about the company. LH is more open-ended in its outcomes, trusting that connection, a sense of renewal, and a climate of creativity will lead to their own positive results.

Alcoholics Anonymous, and by extension the many kinds of self-help groups it engendered, evidences many qualities of a Listening Hour. First there is a strong emphasis on personal narrative. Secondly, it is inclusive, and there is an atmosphere of respect for persons. Thirdly, safety is sustained through a consistent ritual of procedure. In fact, there is not infrequently a red thread of connection between the various stories shared. On the other hand, the primary reason for attendance at 12-step meetings is to establish and maintain abstinence from behaviors that are emotionally devastating and/or potentially fatal. There is a sense of shared urgency that focuses the stories, which tend to adhere to an ideology of redemption that runs against the variability of true emergence. Although each chapter sets its own format, individuals are often invited to tell their “whole story,” so to speak. This renders difficult the sequence of spontaneous narratives upon which narrative reticulation depends.