Challenge & Selection:

In the tax firm I was working as a Deputy Manager, my organization was facing the problem of not  meeting the statutory deadlines of various filings for some of the clients despite having no under- staffing & under-quality problem. This was leading to payment of late fees and interest which had to  be borne by firm as per client agreement as it is not client’s fault. We were being repeatedly told by  our bosses to plan out things properly in advance and ensure that the work gets completed  seamlessly and well in advance. Despite all this, that delaying problem was recurring and we have got  a big challenge at hand to resolve now as it was diluting the firm’s market reputation. Delaying again  at solving this issue may hamper more client engagements in the long run and it would also impact  our existing engagements.

After various short-term measures being initiated by firm in the positive direction, still those problems  were persisting and are not yet solved in its entirety. It requires some long run action and intent. I  believe storytelling as a tool would help my juniors (with the fresh blood) at the firm to relate with this  issue, connect and visualise with the things happening and suggest some good action points to cope  with this issue. This would also develop a sense of ownership and attachment to those juniors while  working in future for the firm. We felt, we would gain a deeper and better understanding of the  perspectives & thought processes of those juniors who are fresh out of college with open mind  towards looking at things.

Application:

We kept trying to reach at the point where storytelling can come out as a boon for us. After conveying  those stories to the juniors about those issues faced by our firm, the juniors were then given a time  frame of 10 days to come out with some feedbacks on paper. One of the juniors after hearing that  entire plot of the story could relate to something of that sort being told to him by his professor at his  Undergraduate college, although in a theoretical environment. The junior tried using some theories to  arrive at the root cause of those problems at firm. He arrived at the reasons for such disruption being  caused at the firm, which were extensive focus on traditional work setting and not matching with the  changing times and also miscommunication & lack of collaboration among the peers in the firm,  leading to resultant delay. Those problems were also accepted by managers in the organization &  were considered worthy enough of causing all that disruption. They took some much needed steps  after consensus with various senior persons in the firm and applied various methodologies & designs  to consider and solve the fundamental issues they have been facing. That way storytelling could help  us reach at root cause of the entire problem and we could solve them.

Insight & Approach:

This made me realise that the concept of storytelling can sometimes bring out the hidden loopholes,  not only from seniors but also from juniors in the organization would don’t even have any prior work  experience. That was really an eye opener, after those points coming from a not-so-experienced  person who is amongst the lowest in the organizational hierarchy. Had the juniors not been told that  story of problems being faced considering them as inept individuals, then it would not have really  come to the firm’s advantage or else, it would have taken a longer time & maybe money too.  Sometimes little things can bring out the best and big things can’t do anything. That impact we had in  our minds after that was worth remembering. Finally, this tool of storytelling really came out as a boon  for the firm and the collaborative approach taken by us to involve our juniors served as point of  change for the better.

