Storytelling

The following assignment discusses why I use storytelling (i.e. the challenge I face), the

reason I selected this specific design thinking tool,  how I would apply it, the insights I get from it, and  my approach to the problem next time in the light of what I have learned from storytelling.

Challenge:

As a consultant, when I go into a new company, people usually do not trust the new guy

coming to tell them how to run their business. Indeed, they have much more experience than I do in  their own company where they have spent many years. They get defensive and sometimes try to  hide important pieces of information and not to collaborate. This in turn obstructs my way to reach  the goal of saving the business! It puts us in an undesirable lose-lose situation.

Selection:

Therefore, instead of bossing people around and trying to take things by “brute force”, I try

storytelling to gain the employees’ trust. People tend to be kinder and more willing to help once  they know you and your intentions. So, if I can get some key employees invested in my success by  telling them my story and making them believe that I am one of the, and just here for the good of  their company, I can achieve the desired results much faster. And the best, most efficient way to get  the employees to trust me is by storytelling. I put the company’s interests front and center and  explain how collaborating with me would help save it. Storytelling allows me to take the listeners  through the plan, the process of what is needed, and what will happen; so that everything is clear  from the beginning and that everyone is happy.

Application:

Instead of showing employees a robot seeking numbers and data to come up with

hypothesis that show the problem and then blame hard working people for it, I hold a meeting with  the key people responsible and tell them about my goals, why I am here and what I believe has been  happening. I show them that anybody can make mistakes and fail, I even tell them stories of other  companies that failed but now are succeeding. In short, I make it clear that failing is not the issue,  denying failure and not learning from it are! Moreover, if they are still not convinced, I tell them that  there’s always room for improvement no matter how well they are doing. I make the story real and  authentic. I give every employee something to relate to and imply them in my stories. That way, they  become invested in the story and in collaborating with me.

Insights:

Most often, the insights are the data the company usually does not show everyone.

Sometimes, in addition to the regular data, some employees come forward with extra problems that  do not show in the numbers but still hinder the workflow of the company (tension between certain  employees, toxic competition between different teams in the same company that lead to a  paralyzing atmosphere where everyone is afraid of making a mistake…). I found that storytelling  helps me best to change my image from a stranger condescending guy coming to fix someone’s big  mistake, to a simple analyst coming to help solve an issue that may happen anywhere.

Approach:

I find that sometimes, in my meetings with a selected few employees, others feel left out

and undermined. This can probably be fixed by reaching out to more people. I will keep having my  meetings with the selected key players, but I will make sure to send all employees briefings as well

as the option to add-in their opinions. This would help people not to feel marginalized and ignored,  and would let me reach a wider array of help. Visualization techniques probably work better in such  settings since I am not communicating with people directly but I want everybody to get a clear  picture of what is going on and I want to avoid confusion.

