Reflection- Storytelling

Challenge and Selection

Storytelling, visualization, and mind mapping were some of the tools I  equipped myself with after the completion of this course in Coursera. I am a  junior researcher in my Laboratory. Diabetic assay is one of the important  research works undertaken in our lab and I am a part of a group of researchers  that head this research. The work that we are pursuing has a great novelty and  a big purpose provided that our research is successful. This course, especially  the storytelling tool helped me put things in perspective and explain to my  fellow researchers and my head about the direction our project could take to  fulfil that cause, and storytelling was a great tool to explain and hopefully  convince them to pursue it.

Application

‘Design thinking’ course provided me with a framework to structure my story.  My fellow researchers were finding our challenge too big to overcome but I  figured out that if I can tell a story that will aid them in converting our  challenge to a cause, I was sure I can get them on board. I wanted them to feel  involved and present them with all the possibilities that our research work had.  In my next research meeting, I gave a presentation where I told a story. India is  a country with a population of over 1 billion of which 88 million people are  below the poverty line. They are always neglected when it comes to  healthcare, especially diabetes 2. It is a sad situation and our research has the  potential to figure out a diabetic assessment kit that way cheaper than the  ones available in our market currently and could be easily accessible to all the  villages in the country. I told them the story of ‘Raji’. A single mom in a village  called Pollachi, south of India. She had diabetes 2, but being a daily wage  worker who had to provide for her children, she decided not to get her  treatment. I told them of her struggles daily and clearly explained to them the  challenges she has to face regularly. This was a story that had a lot of emotions  but it also had logic attached to it.  She was just an example in a country of  over 100 million whose healthcare is neglected. This story had a larger  purpose. So, I felt it was the right story to tell my group to convince them to  take a different approach in our project to serve Raji and millions more like  her.

Insight and Approach

My whole team was moved by this story. My fellow researchers came from  different parts of India, mostly rural areas where healthcare was costly, so they  could all relate to the story and felt that they have the resources to find a  solution if a proper work plan is charted. Our senior research scholar was  convinced with our new approach and now our team is working on a new  cheap ‘saliva-based diabetic test kit’ which if successful could save many  people. And I truly believe that if not for my story, it would have been  impossible to convince my team. In a research-based environment, our  meetings were always data-driven but for a change, bringing the human aspect  of our research into the meetings brought a big change and I am sure that I will  continue to present my research talks with a human approach and continue to  remind my colleagues of the great work we are doing and I’m thankful to my  friend for suggesting me to take up this course.

