Reflection - Storytelling

Challenge:  I am the leader of a team responsible for answering and correcting technology problems in  a financial company. This team has goals of quality and speed in dealing with problems.  Every 6 months we make a job rotation changing all the team with the aim of renewing the  environment. This action is part of the company's strategy, but we began to see a drop in  team performance. At a presentation of results I identified that the team wasn't  understanding their function. The job rotation was not allowing the team to connect with its  function.

Selection:  Then I decided to apply a Storytelling tool. This tool allows people to get involved and  connect with the subject, feeling part of the story, contributing ideas and new discussions.  It’s a tool that we can use all the time to get the attention of the involved people and to  create a great environment of change experiences. This tool promotes the feeling of  empathy and helps people to rethink things or think in different ways. Storytelling is applied  with the narrative of a personal story or another person who brings meaning to the solution  of problems or even the alignment between people. Can also be used to contextualize  people before a business presentation.

Application:  During a presentation of results I realized that the team didn’t understand their role in the  company. It was then that I turned off the presentation and began to tell everyone my story  inside the company. At that moment I got everyone's attention. I finished my story by  describing to everyone my purpose within the company, my functions and I asked if they  knew what their functions and purposes were. And the room was silent. At this moment I  started a new story, the history of the company and the product that the team supports. I  told them which means each step of the actions they performed and what happens after  they delivered the solution. With these stories I was able to show them the whole life cycle  of a problem-solving service and make them feel part of this cycle.

Insight:  This tool allowed me to approximate a team, generating empathy among peoples,  strengthening the spirit of the team and clarifying their roles in the company.After I finished  the stories in this meeting the team started to participate and suggest improvements.  Since then we are applying this approach in other meetings or even in small meetings to  stimulate thinking in different ways.

Approach:  For the next meeting of results presentation I will include after the storytelling a small  presentation using the visualization tool to strengthen the understanding and importance of  the participation of the team to achieve the expected results.

This course has made me realize how a simple value story can stimulate new ideas and  ways of rethinking things.

