Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge and Selection

Storytelling is a vital tool for an organization and even for life. I am presently a student of  Business Management, but I worked on one of my vacations in the care of the seniors’  citizens, and I realized that many of these people are depressed and feel forgotten, they  need to be listened to, to be given attention because they want to express and share  everything they have learned throughout their lives. So, I tried to pay attention and listen to  their stories, which made them unburden themselves and feel much better.

I was surprised that when I entered the organization, they never pointed out this important  and vital step, it tells you about taking care of their medicines, meals and that they were  clean, but nothing about listening and making them feel better, all of which I had to learn  from my co-workers.

Application

During my service, a new member joined the work team, he was very reserved and liked to  do everything quickly, but to the letter. I started to pay attention to how he was attending to  the elderly, and I saw that he was with a senior lady who always liked to tell her stories, in  fact, she was already used to it because all the rest of us listened to her, except for him. The  lady tried to talk to him about one of her past experiences, but he just wanted to get it over  with quickly and the basic steps (food, medicine, and cleaning), so he didn't pay attention.  This was instantly reflected in the lady's mood.

And so it went throughout the week, the seniors were sad, downcast, and even didn't want  to talk anymore, the atmosphere was heavy, they didn't like him to take care of them  anymore. He realized and began to wonder what he did wrong, if he always did what was  asked of him, cleaning, giving them their food and medicines.

Until I respectfully pointed out his mistake, I explained to him that the needs of these people  go beyond the basic ones and that each one must be cared for according to their unique  and individual needs and that he was being very rigid, cold and unempathetic. He also  explained that as soon as you pay attention to them by listening to them while we do our  homework it creates a positive effect on them and comforts them emotionally.

Insight and Approach

It was an eye-opener for him, and the next day he took a totally different approach to his  work structure.

Clearly, according to policy, he followed the instructions from the moment he walked in,  regarding what we had to do, but my explaining the human effect on our jobs totally changed  his perspective.

We all noticed that he listened and even began to engage in conversations with the elderly,  which had a positive impact on their moods, but not only that he learned to listen to the  elderly, he began to enjoy his job more and got the best out of each anecdote. A balanced  relationship between customer and employee was created. And happiness was brought  back to our workplace.

By pointing out and telling the story to my boss, it made him reflect and even changed part  of the policies, making it a main rule to know how to listen to people who need to tell their  story. I believe that listening and telling a story can heal the soul, as we could see.

This course made me think deeply about this tool, as I did not consider it as such, and it has  been a great help not only for my professional field, but even in my day-to-day life.

