Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge & Selection

The first tool I used was the Storytelling tool. As a Learning &  Development leader for 2 business units supporting more than 2000  employees with a  6 member team, I realized that while we offer a wide  variety of learning offerings, very rarely did we do a good job of  marketing our work to our stakeholders. Often, we are so involved in  executing our day to day deliverables meticulously, we forget how  involved some of our stakeholders are and whether they have the same  understanding of the value we provide. I started using Storytelling as a  tool which helped me structure my communication to stakeholders in a  manner in which they understand the value being provided.  Considering the sheer number of programs being run & time & mind  space availability of our leaders, stitching together a crisp, succinct  story of our work in regular intervals works well.

Application

I start the process by creating a straw man of the problem domain, in  this case, lack of a well stitched together Learning & Development story  for my leadership team. To develop this straw man, I will draw from  existing materials available, like reports, mailers, feedback,  participation, compliance and formal/informal discussions. The  template I often start with also has a column on the left to identify  partners and value chain providers and a column on the right to identify  impact areas.

For the activity, I will divide the stakeholders into different logical  groups, based on the nature of L&D services being provided. I then

invite my team to look at this format. Based on their observations, they  start listing down all relevant L&D activities for the last quarter that  impacts the various different stakeholders. I then challenge them with a  few specific questions to ensure these points are being viewed from a  leaders’ perspective. Responses to these questions will result in the top  impacting areas that we would like to showcase

Insight & Approach

What I have learnt from conducting this exercise is that, while we  engage in multiple different activities throughout the course of the  year, and while all of them are relevant & important, there are always  only a few that really catch the eyes of the stakeholders, that are  directly aligned with some of their goals. This activity helped me & my  team to keenly observe linkages of L&D activities with respective goals  & priority areas of leaders and use this insight to stitch together a crisp  story each quarter. This resulted in us publishing quarterly learning &  development stories, instead of mere dashboards, which has resulted  in a higher engagement in learning from our leadership stakeholders


Reflection – Storytelling Challenge & Selection The first tool I used was the Storytelling tool . As a Learning & Development leader for 2 business units supporting more than 2000 employees with a 6 member team , I realized that while we offer a wide variety of learning offerings , very rarely did we do a good job of marketing our work to our stakeholders . Often , we are so involved in executing our day to day deliverables meticulously , we forget how involved some of our stakeholders are and whether they have the same understanding of the value we provide . I started using Storytelling as a tool which helped me structure my communication to stakeholders in a manner in which they understand the value being provided . Considering the sheer number of programs being run & time & mind space availability of our leaders , stitching together a crisp , succinct story of our work in regular intervals works well . Application I start the process by creating a straw man of the problem domain , in this case , lack of a well stitched together Learning & Development story for my leadership team . To develop this straw man , I will draw from existing materials available , like reports , mailers , feedback , participation , compliance and formal / informal discussions . The template I often start with also has a column on the left to identify partners and value chain providers and a column on the right to identify impact areas . For the activity , I will divide the stakeholders into different logical groups , based on the nature of L&D services being provided . I then invite my team to look at this format . Based on their observations , they start listing down all relevant L&D activities for the last quarter that impacts the various different stakeholders . I then challenge them with a few specific questions to ensure these points are being viewed from a leaders ’ perspective . Responses to these questions will result in the top impacting areas that we would like to showcase Insight & Approach What I have learnt from conducting this exercise is that , while we engage in multiple different activities throughout the course of the year , and while all of them are relevant & important , there are always only a few that really catch the eyes of the stakeholders , that are directly aligned with some of their goals . This activity helped me & my team to keenly observe linkages of L&D activities with respective goals & priority areas of leaders and use this insight to stitch together a crisp story each quarter . This resulted in us publishing quarterly learning & development stories , instead of mere dashboards , which has resulted in a higher engagement in learning from our leadership stakeholders