Example reflection – Story Telling

Challenge

Last week I was invited to help out with one of my customers currently going through a new software  deployment. They were having some challenges getting all their employees’ buy-in into the project.  It’s a small organization with a very senior population of employees whose day jobs involve them  being incredibly critical, and who are used to challenge a lot innovative decisions. Because they  hadn’t been fully involved in the decision to move to the new solution - they were resisting.     The first thing I did was to spend time hearing from a couple of people who had some involvement in  the project, one of the partners as well as the project lead. This really helped me understand the  background in more detail and the specific aspects of the organizational culture which were making  this project so challenging. Based on my observations the biggest gap appeared to be a lack of  commitment from employees and the sponsors. They didn’t care if it was a success or not.

Selection

Working with the project lead we decided to craft a story to share with the employees to explain in  details why the decision to move to this new solution had been made, why it was the right strategic  partner for them, and how they individually would benefit in their day-to-day activities.

Application

We designed the story asking ourselves some questions like

•  To whom the story is addressed to? Is it someone in particular? A group? A team? This helps  us define our “hero”

•  What is his/her challenge?  Which issue are we trying to solve with this story? What this  challenge brings to our “hero”?

•  How our “hero” did actually respond to this challenge?  What are his/her motivations?

•  Why did our “hero” make the choice he/she did?  What gave him/her the courage to act?

•  What was the outcome of this choice?  Why does it matter?

•  What is the moral or leadership lesson in this story?

We told the story in a very personal and empathic way during one-to-one informal catch-up, around  a lunch or a coffee. As it’s often the case with the communications messages given to employees  about change, there hadn’t been much thought given to making an emotional connection with them  about the change during any of the initial communications messages. This proof of empathy and we,  showing that we were actually caring about them, really get to them and granted us to start building  a more trustful connection with most of them.

Insight and Approach

As soon as we started to share the story with employees, we had an immediate positive reaction. In  the early days, the initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and has also contributed to the  executive sponsor agreeing to step up and take a larger role in the project moving forward.     The above is a very simple example that shows that storytelling can be a much more impactful way of  communicating with people than using standard, dry, boring IT communications.

Storytelling can be used to drive and inspire change. Stories have the power to make information  memorable, repeatable and easy to spread. They can motivate our brains to pay attention. They can  help shape new beliefs, change minds and inspire action.   Through storytelling we teach people (starting with the children) right from wrong, we share lessons  learnt and we create bonds with each other.   Storytelling allows people to connect with each other, to learn and to be inspired.    What I’ve seen to be very effective is having employees from different teams and divisions of an  organization tell their own personal stories, and sharing them with the rest of the company. Hearing  a story from Jane in the Marketing team about how she was skeptical about a change she was being  asked to make, having insights into her values and challenges, then hearing how she overcomes them  and the success it has bought her is much more interesting reading than hearing a similar story about  an unknown person who works in a big and unknown tech company.


Example reflection – Story Telling Challenge Last week I was invited to help out with one of my customers currently going through a new software deployment . They were having some challenges getting all their employees ’ buy - in into the project . It ’s a small organization with a very senior population of employees whose day jobs involve them being incredibly critical , and who are used to challenge a lot innovative decisions . Because they had n’t been fully involved in the decision to move to the new solution - they were resisting . The first thing I did was to spend time hearing from a couple of people who had some involvement in the project , one of the partners as well as the project lead . This really helped me understand the background in more detail and the specific aspects of the organizational culture which were making this project so challenging . Based on my observations the biggest gap appeared to be a lack of commitment from employees and the sponsors . They did n’t care if it was a success or not . Selection Working with the project lead we decided to craft a story to share with the employees to explain in details why the decision to move to this new solution had been made , why it was the right strategic partner for them , and how they individually would benefit in their day - to - day activities . Application We designed the story asking ourselves some questions like • To whom the story is addressed to ? Is it someone in particular ? A group ? A team ? This helps us define our “ hero ” • What is his / her challenge ? Which issue are we trying to solve with this story ? What this challenge brings to our “ hero ” ? • How our “ hero ” did actually respond to this challenge ? What are his / her motivations ? • Why did our “ hero ” make the choice he / she did ? What gave him / her the courage to act ? • What was the outcome of this choice ? Why does it matter ? • What is the moral or leadership lesson in this story ? We told the story in a very personal and empathic way during one - to - one informal catch - up , around a lunch or a coffee . As it ’s often the case with the communications messages given to employees about change , there had n’t been much thought given to making an emotional connection with them about the change during any of the initial communications messages . This proof of empathy and we , showing that we were actually caring about them , really get to them and granted us to start building a more trustful connection with most of them . Insight and Approach As soon as we started to share the story with employees , we had an immediate positive reaction . In the early days , the initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and has also contributed to the executive sponsor agreeing to step up and take a larger role in the project moving forward . The above is a very simple example that shows that storytelling can be a much more impactful way of communicating with people than using standard , dry , boring IT communications . Storytelling can be used to drive and inspire change . Stories have the power to make information memorable , repeatable and easy to spread . They can motivate our brains to pay attention . They can help shape new beliefs , change minds and inspire action . Through storytelling we teach people ( starting with the children ) right from wrong , we share lessons learnt and we create bonds with each other . Storytelling allows people to connect with each other , to learn and to be inspired . What I ’ve seen to be very effective is having employees from different teams and divisions of an organization tell their own personal stories , and sharing them with the rest of the company . Hearing a story from Jane in the Marketing team about how she was skeptical about a change she was being asked to make , having insights into her values and challenges , then hearing how she overcomes them and the success it has bought her is much more interesting reading than hearing a similar story about an unknown person who works in a big and unknown tech company .