Financial Reports – Storytelling

Challenge

I work in a multinational company in the finance department, with accounting and  project management background. Our challenge is always about the lack of time  delivering reports, especially in case of strict deadlines with limited resources. In  the team we are different people with different professional background,  experience, age, qualifications. Our common approach however is to improve the  reporting process (activities and quality) within the department in order to  decrease the manual repetitive work and deliver the deadlines.

I see a lot of room for improvements, and possibilities to change with the available  resources, as the project is limited to internal assets (no budget for system changes  just employee time and IT support).

Selection

Our company recently introduced the design thinking approach. We participated  already with the team on one introduction event, we went through a workshop to  structure our tasks and processes in a more agile way.

Not everyone has “prepared mind”, many times I hear that “we did always like  this”, “why we should change...”. In spite of the differences within the team,  different capabilities and willingness to change, the design thinking tools seemed  to be very welcomed.

After the first successful introduction to design thinking tools and the positive  feedback I chose to go on with Storytelling sessions in order to get to know better  the different “Personas” and their wishes, struggles, ideas. The reason for my  choice is the scenario descripted above which could be facilitated using “Personas”.

Application

The storytelling is a very helpful tool to find ways to inspire the team members, to  improve their motivations for change, without having fear from unknown, always  frightening expressions such as “simplification, automatisation”.

During storytelling we went through the reporting steps, we shared the different  point of views, opinions and feedback, creating “Personas” and stories around  them.

Listening the people which are affected by our reports, I have created a main story  about an employee which is using our financial reports, and the reason beyond the  quality and the timing of delivery of those reports.

Insight

This quote perfectly describes the experience during this project: “Exploring new  opportunities always involves, making decisions under conditions of uncertainty”.  The colleagues are very happy to share their story and finally to listen mine about  the reason of improvement related to our reports. I am convinced that the  uncertain future can be further improved with the design thinking tools to improve  our processes, and find the opportunities by sharing experiences.

Approach

Storytelling is a great tool that I will continue to use in the future. Helpful in  understanding of the problem that we are working to solve, helps to focus on the  persons, “customers”, to share insights and learning.


Financial Reports – Storytelling Challenge I work in a multinational company in the finance department , with accounting and project management background . Our challenge is always about the lack of time delivering reports , especially in case of strict deadlines with limited resources . In the team we are different people with different professional background , experience , age , qualifications . Our common approach however is to improve the reporting process ( activities and quality ) within the department in order to decrease the manual repetitive work and deliver the deadlines . I see a lot of room for improvements , and possibilities to change with the available resources , as the project is limited to internal assets ( no budget for system changes just employee time and IT support ) . Selection Our company recently introduced the design thinking approach . We participated already with the team on one introduction event , we went through a workshop to structure our tasks and processes in a more agile way . Not everyone has “ prepared mind ” , many times I hear that “ we did always like this ” , “ why we should change ... ” . In spite of the differences within the team , different capabilities and willingness to change , the design thinking tools seemed to be very welcomed . After the first successful introduction to design thinking tools and the positive feedback I chose to go on with Storytelling sessions in order to get to know better the different “ Personas ” and their wishes , struggles , ideas . The reason for my choice is the scenario descripted above which could be facilitated using “ Personas ” . Application The storytelling is a very helpful tool to find ways to inspire the team members , to improve their motivations for change , without having fear from unknown , always frightening expressions such as “ simplification , automatisation ” . During storytelling we went through the reporting steps , we shared the different point of views , opinions and feedback , creating “ Personas ” and stories around them . Listening the people which are affected by our reports , I have created a main story about an employee which is using our financial reports , and the reason beyond the quality and the timing of delivery of those reports . Insight This quote perfectly describes the experience during this project : “ Exploring new opportunities always involves , making decisions under conditions of uncertainty ” . The colleagues are very happy to share their story and finally to listen mine about the reason of improvement related to our reports . I am convinced that the uncertain future can be further improved with the design thinking tools to improve our processes , and find the opportunities by sharing experiences . Approach Storytelling is a great tool that I will continue to use in the future . Helpful in understanding of the problem that we are working to solve , helps to focus on the persons , “ customers ” , to share insights and learning .