Storytelling in PR is about relationships between people. Transaction analysis, TA for short, is a model developed by Canadian psychiatrist Eric Berne and can explain patterns of attachment. It is mostly unknown in PR and is rarely applied in practice. Transaction analysis answers the question of the attitude with which companies and peer groups behave toward another. You can find out which one fundamentally applies to you and make it a part of your storytelling.

For the purpose of describing relationships, transaction analysis divides personality into three ego-states: the parent mode, the child mode and the adult mode.

  • The parent mode includes all attitudes, actions, thoughts and feelings that we have learned from our parents and other authority figures, such as child care givers and teachers. Do’s and don’ts are stored in the parent mode along with caring and consolation, so TA differentiates between the critical parent mode and the caring parent mode. A company’s parent mode is determined by its founders, their business goals and purpose.
  • The child mode contains all our experiences, feelings, sensibilities and needs from our childhood, as well as the „childish“ needs we still have as adults, such as the need for a large, fast and sleek car or a computer with lots of special features.
  • The adult mode is the mature moderator who, using our knowledge and life experience, mediates between our parent and child modes. Our adult mode acts and decides in the „here and now“ based on past experiences.

 

Transaction analysis includes another perspective on observing personalities that is also important for analysing relationships in storytelling:

  • The parent mode of a company and its individuals includes both the do’s and don’ts of working together and the manner in which a manager assists his staff in improving and developing their skills. It takes care of its employees and protects them from harm.
  • The child mode includes their childish aspects, living, playing, learning and the wish to be spontaneous – aspects that stand for intuition, creativity and innovation. The child mode is also the search for one’s own identity. People – in this case leaders – driven by the child mode are always seeking new identities, „creative approaches.“ They are not stable, but rather very much oriented toward their peer groups, their social environment. These managers and companies do not lead based on their own mission, their own principles, but rather based on others, such as customers. Market research plays an essential role. They want to do everything for their customers, but they often do not know who they are themselves.
  • The fully formed adult mode is important for a healthy personality. It moderates the other two ego states and makes sure their transactions are handled on the basis of verifiable facts. When a company acts in the adult mode, it informs objectively, not pleadingly. In order to act in this manner, it needs the parent or child mode. A strong company acting in the adult mode knows what it can accomplish and what is good for the people with whom it has a relationship. The company knows how it can enrich our lives. To this end, it has a purpose, a vision for a promise of reward, which it pursues unwaveringly. A strong company leads. It needs a well-developed adult mode that steers the other two ego states based on objective, verifiable standards.

 

In order to implement these insights for stories advantageously, it is helpful to differentiate the ego states a bit further: the company’s parent mode can be further divided into the critical/structuring parent mode and the caring parent mode.

  • The company’s critical parent mode includes all forms of expressing control, such as do’s and don’ts, prejudices, rebukes, norms, rules of behaviour. This mode is characteristic of the strict company boss who lays out what is allowed and prohibited within the company.
  • The company’s caring parent mode stands for support, reassurance, protection, praise and help. Claus Hipp, the baby food manufacturer, is a good example, offering top quality for the child’s benefit.

 

The child mode can be divided into the free child and the conforming child:

  • The free child contains the most primal, natural aspect of a personality. Creativity and intuition are two essential characteristics of the child ego state.
  • The conforming child orients itself chiefly according to the expectations of others, emphasises the adherence to rules, do’s and don’ts. One variant of the conforming child is the rebelling child, expressing itself via anger, defiance and rejection of all expectations. The rebelling child reacts exclusively to others, just as the conforming child does, thus differing in its performance, but not in the fundamental aspects of its behaviour.

 

The important thing is that there is no „bad“ ego state per se – all have their positive and negative sides. Without the critical parent mode’s prohibition, „Don’t cross the street when the light is red,“ many children wouldn’t make it past their fourth or fifth birthdays.

After examining the ego states, it becomes easier to answer the question: in which mode does a company communicate with us? And which ego state in ourselves does it address?

  • Our parent mode: a company can address our parent mode by appealing to our conscience, that we may apply ourselves for the good of the company.
  • Our child mode: a company can address our wild, experimental child when we are researchers and seek innovation.
  • Our adult mode: a company informs us of no-nonsense, functional achievements.

To sum up, the lesson for storytelling in PR is that transaction analysis allows us to determine the fundamental attitude with which stories are told. Is the company a critical expert or a caring one? This fundamental attitude clarifies a company’s stories. Moreover, transaction analysis enables us to describe a peer group’s fundamental attitude and to react with an appropriate concept.