Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge

As a student mentor working in one of rural areas of India, I converse with a lot of students  for whom the world out there is as alien as it gets. Even though I come from a similar place,  my recent stint in management consulting has made my style more suitable to talking to c- suite employees. When I go back to talk to these students, the same fact and data based  approach fails to motivate them and the resultant impact remains close to nothing. The  primary flaw in this approach, while talking to students in villages, is that it does not allow  them to relate to me – even though once I was where they are now.

Selection

Israel Donaldson mentioned in the storytelling session in week 2 that a story connects to  emotions, characters and values of people. This seemed to be the best tool that I could pick  and use to fulfil the missing criteria.

Application

When I went to meet the students in village, I ensured that I leverage the three key  components or essentials of storytelling, that are, logic, emotional connection and a larger  purpose. I started with my own journey from village to the city so as to establish a vision that  what I will talk going forward is all possible. I implemented a bit of visualization to show key  decision points and focus areas to discuss with students. I asked them what alternate choices  could have been made and worked with them to create a story of how each choice could have  changed my life. The idea was to show how every little choice matters and how these small  things can shape their life.

Insight

I witnessed a different level of excitement among the children as the whole session was now  pictorially gamified. No one, including myself, knew how permutation & combination of  different choices will shape the journey. It gave the students something to think about how  life choices are made on a practical basis. Although it started with me talking about myself, I  was surprised by seeing how my life could have changed if I had taken a decision a little  differently. It was a lesson for me as well.

I asked the students to plot a similar story for themselves, keeping them as the lead character  and coming up with key decision points that they have faced in their lives. This will enable  them to “have moments of reflection”, know themselves better and help notice such  important points in future.

Approach

In my next session I am planning to do this as a group activity. I will ask them to study lives of  different famous personalities who have come from a humble beginning and plot key decision  points in their lives. This way we will be able to explore a number of scenarios and stories that  the students can relate to.

