Fernando Luis – Monterrey, N.L. México

Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge & Selection

The challenge I’ll use it’s about building an effective organizational structure in an NGO, the  challenge more specifically will be that volunteers can 1. Identify, 2. Feel deeply committed and 3.

Effectively work in our NGO; to give some background, we work developing and helping people in  rural areas, and we use a lot of young volunteers, in the age of 18-25 years, so trough a Strong  Leadership across the organization drive by storytelling, the organization could form a strong fort  on the volunteering department.  This is a challenge because we notice young volunteers have

the time to do this kind of activities, but they won’t do something that they are not inspired from,  so our leaders working with volunteers, have to deeply connect with our core values and main  task and inspire people towards action and a deep commitment to help our beneficiaries.                      The reason I select storytelling is because it’s a tool that engages

people in an action, and injects energy, so your audience won’t feel trapped in just a superficial  mission and vision, or a normal meeting, so you put a well-structured and compelling speech, and  punch’s monotony, and really starts a reflection aided by some powerful questions I know ignite  change, and self-consciousness, this questions are, why I am doing this? And What I want to  achieve? This Later brings really powerful commitment given you have done a reflection of your  background. Therefore, I will include this method, that contains a powerful effect needed in our  volunteers because, we have the resources, but our resources are people, just like you and me,  so in order to achieve the connection required that really brings work and commitment in the  equation, we use storytelling, and make this happen, but, we have to develop a narrative and  skills with the aid of a strong leadership. I really look to reach the level of master of the storytelling  tool, that Andrew Mendiola from Mars Co. showed up in his talk, this really inspired me to choose this  tool.

Application

So in order to reach the level of commitment and drive work within the organizations, we apply

the storytelling tool, and we discover a few things, but first I’ll explain the “what I did” and then  “how I did”, the WHAT phase: First we think that in order to reach our commitment goals, we  have to deliver a key message about the work we do, and also how the lives of our  beneficiaries changes with a little effort of the volunteers, so we build the skills of storytelling in

our leaders and then apply this to the groups of volunteers, so we choose a story about this old  lady named “Juana”, Juana was living in a very far rural area, she has a blind husband and felt  depressed and left out of his community, his sons now grown up also don’t visit her, so with the  help of the volunteers helping in that village, she felt attended and part of their community so  much that she shared how she was feeling, and we get to know her at a very special level that  she was now our “mother” Juana, this was after we develop a real friendship and a close heart

to heart communication, with this story we touch some of the hearts and minds of the

volunteers, and meet the criteria to change the mindset, from a “it’s a lot of work and  organization” to a mindset of a “We’ll be changing lives, let’s do this”.

Now we move to the HOW phase, as the “Juana” story develops the leaders also build

a strong connectivity among volunteers so they will find friends instead of just “fellow  volunteers” or “the guy who volunteers with me” and this is part of the how, because it’s a  structured introductory meeting, where volunteers know all the mission, vision, and goals of the  NGO, and also helps them to know each other better, but also now with this storytelling tool,  helps them to connect to the pure reason we all work here, change people lives. This tool at  the time we applied with several groups worked really well, so we intend to do more of this  introductory sessions with the storytelling tool and iterate in the way we tell it to perform it  better.

Insights

By applying this tool we identify a series of key aspects the volunteer really want to know and  may consider in order to develop a more committed volunteer community, the first aspect was  deeply connection , the volunteers really want to know the inside story of the people they would  help, his story and why he/she is the way it is, but in order to do this, we’ve to make them  curious about the work we do, another one was process transparency, they want to know how  our processes are made, how we select our villages, the leaders etc., and as they really dig out  this information they were really supportive to help in other areas where they really don’t need  to, so they connect even far beyond their volunteering tasks, and last they want to really put  the NGO a personalized touch, such as they sometimes feel improving one activity or changing  some things about the schedule, this has been sometimes difficult but it develop richness in the  process of constructing a more plural based NGO.  So with this discovered we really like how  the DT process reach a level of psychological and process change in our NGO, we really  expect to apply in different ways this tool to really get the most of it, till’ we become experts and  build a more solid organizational structure.

Approach

Another approach could be use storytelling across an online platform, with some developing  and engage content in our fb page, so this could give us some more hard number analytics

about the overall evaluation of the course and making it more easy and less time controlled, in  order to achieve a personal level of impact, and then sharing it in a chat group.  In conclusion  we were really glad this whole course was very illustrative and formative, this way we really get  the big picture about how our organization might develop strong leadership and build upon

iterative organizational cycles, because the storytelling tool puts really the emphasis in the  most important thing we do as an organization, change lives.


Fernando Luis – Monterrey , N.L. México Reflection – Storytelling Challenge & Selection The challenge I ’ll use it ’s about building an effective organizational structure in an NGO , the challenge more specifically will be that volunteers can 1 . Identify , 2 . Feel deeply committed and 3 . Effectively work in our NGO ; to give some background , we work developing and helping people in rural areas , and we use a lot of young volunteers , in the age of 18 - 25 years , so trough a Strong Leadership across the organization drive by storytelling , the organization could form a strong fort on the volunteering department . This is a challenge because we notice young volunteers have the time to do this kind of activities , but they wo n’t do something that they are not inspired from , so our leaders working with volunteers , have to deeply connect with our core values and main task and inspire people towards action and a deep commitment to help our beneficiaries . The reason I select storytelling is because it ’s a tool that engages people in an action , and injects energy , so your audience wo n’t feel trapped in just a superficial mission and vision , or a normal meeting , so you put a well - structured and compelling speech , and punch ’s monotony , and really starts a reflection aided by some powerful questions I know ignite change , and self - consciousness , this questions are , why I am doing this ? And What I want to achieve ? This Later brings really powerful commitment given you have done a reflection of your background . Therefore , I will include this method , that contains a powerful effect needed in our volunteers because , we have the resources , but our resources are people , just like you and me , so in order to achieve the connection required that really brings work and commitment in the equation , we use storytelling , and make this happen , but , we have to develop a narrative and skills with the aid of a strong leadership . I really look to reach the level of master of the storytelling tool , that Andrew Mendiola from Mars Co. showed up in his talk , this really inspired me to choose this tool . Application So in order to reach the level of commitment and drive work within the organizations , we apply the storytelling tool , and we discover a few things , but first I ’ll explain the “ what I did ” and then “ how I did ” , the WHAT phase : First we think that in order to reach our commitment goals , we have to deliver a key message about the work we do , and also how the lives of our beneficiaries changes with a little effort of the volunteers , so we build the skills of storytelling in our leaders and then apply this to the groups of volunteers , so we choose a story about this old lady named “ Juana ” , Juana was living in a very far rural area , she has a blind husband and felt depressed and left out of his community , his sons now grown up also do n’t visit her , so with the help of the volunteers helping in that village , she felt attended and part of their community so much that she shared how she was feeling , and we get to know her at a very special level that she was now our “ mother ” Juana , this was after we develop a real friendship and a close heart to heart communication , with this story we touch some of the hearts and minds of the volunteers , and meet the criteria to change the mindset , from a “ it ’s a lot of work and organization ” to a mindset of a “ We ’ll be changing lives , let ’s do this ” . Now we move to the HOW phase , as the “ Juana ” story develops the leaders also build a strong connectivity among volunteers so they will find friends instead of just “ fellow volunteers ” or “ the guy who volunteers with me ” and this is part of the how , because it ’s a structured introductory meeting , where volunteers know all the mission , vision , and goals of the NGO , and also helps them to know each other better , but also now with this storytelling tool , helps them to connect to the pure reason we all work here , change people lives . This tool at the time we applied with several groups worked really well , so we intend to do more of this introductory sessions with the storytelling tool and iterate in the way we tell it to perform it better . Insights By applying this tool we identify a series of key aspects the volunteer really want to know and may consider in order to develop a more committed volunteer community , the first aspect was deeply connection , the volunteers really want to know the inside story of the people they would help , his story and why he / she is the way it is , but in order to do this , we ’ve to make them curious about the work we do , another one was process transparency , they want to know how our processes are made , how we select our villages , the leaders etc . , and as they really dig out this information they were really supportive to help in other areas where they really do n’t need to , so they connect even far beyond their volunteering tasks , and last they want to really put the NGO a personalized touch , such as they sometimes feel improving one activity or changing some things about the schedule , this has been sometimes difficult but it develop richness in the process of constructing a more plural based NGO . So with this discovered we really like how the DT process reach a level of psychological and process change in our NGO , we really expect to apply in different ways this tool to really get the most of it , till ’ we become experts and build a more solid organizational structure . Approach Another approach could be use storytelling across an online platform , with some developing and engage content in our fb page , so this could give us some more hard number analytics about the overall evaluation of the course and making it more easy and less time controlled , in order to achieve a personal level of impact , and then sharing it in a chat group . In conclusion we were really glad this whole course was very illustrative and formative , this way we really get the big picture about how our organization might develop strong leadership and build upon iterative organizational cycles , because the storytelling tool puts really the emphasis in the most important thing we do as an organization , change lives .