Example Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge & Selection   Storytelling has been quite instrumental with the kind of challenges that I face at my workplace. I have  been working in government department of education and my job is to act as a liaison between the  government education ministry and various school boards. The difficult part of my job is that both  government and school boards have same objective to add more value to students learning experience,  but their approaches are quite different. While government has an attitude to impose regulations, school  boards have tendency to question every change that government try to bring-in. Storytelling comes to  rescue in this conflict situation because the differences lies only in the process but the objectives of  both the parties are same which is to add more value to students. We choose the common thread  between them students and try to build stories around them so as to help them visualize the impact of  their decisions. The idea was that once they are able to visualize the change that has been proposed, the  change implementation process would be smooth.     Application   The story of dealing with the situations goes like this. In one particular incidence, few years ago, the  government had decreed that a change was to occur and that all school boards within the jurisdiction  needed to conform within a certain timeframe. As more boards became aware of the change and the  impact it would have on their organizations, many naturally questioned why the change was needed.  The project team that I am part of needed an effective way to present the long-term value of the change  without boring people with facts or figures, or getting into long winded explanations. So we focused on  the one common value driver that all the school boards had in common: the student.  We used a short two-minute before-and-after video depicting a day in the life of a new student and how  the change would positively impact their educational experience. Even seasoned educators had their  heartstrings pulled seeing the video; they could immediately empathize with the student and recognize  how the situation described was all too common in today’s world. We used this story to introduce  nearly every presentation and dialogue we had with our stakeholders for several years, as it helped  establish the reason for why the change was necessary and put everyone’s mindset into focusing on the  common goal all stakeholders had – providing the best possible education to the student.      Insight & Approach   Stories can captivate an audience, give them the critical information they need to understand a complex  problem in a concise package, and be used to get people with very different backgrounds and goals to  relate to shared events and situations. Leveraging stories has helped student’s learn from new or  challenging experiences. Story telling is a timeless teaching tool.   In my experience at work, I found that Stories can be a powerful and effective tool at conveying  information to audiences, and when done well can be used to give people with entrenched viewpoints a  chance to look at another perspective without being bombarded with facts or differing opinions.   I shared this example with the senior authorities in the government and they found it very useful in the  areas of conflict resolution and educating people on change. Their view was that government’s first  problem to implement change is to resolve the conflict and educate the people on the impact that  government decision especially in education will have to the people, and such problems can be  addressed to some extent by using the storytelling as a tool going forward. I have been appointed as a  coach for twenty-district government officers responsible for government schools in their district to  adapt the new approach through story telling to education on the change.


Example Reflection – Storytelling Challenge & Selection Storytelling has been quite instrumental with the kind of challenges that I face at my workplace . I have been working in government department of education and my job is to act as a liaison between the government education ministry and various school boards . The difficult part of my job is that both government and school boards have same objective to add more value to students learning experience , but their approaches are quite different . While government has an attitude to impose regulations , school boards have tendency to question every change that government try to bring - in . Storytelling comes to rescue in this conflict situation because the differences lies only in the process but the objectives of both the parties are same which is to add more value to students . We choose the common thread between them students and try to build stories around them so as to help them visualize the impact of their decisions . The idea was that once they are able to visualize the change that has been proposed , the change implementation process would be smooth . Application The story of dealing with the situations goes like this . In one particular incidence , few years ago , the government had decreed that a change was to occur and that all school boards within the jurisdiction needed to conform within a certain timeframe . As more boards became aware of the change and the impact it would have on their organizations , many naturally questioned why the change was needed . The project team that I am part of needed an effective way to present the long - term value of the change without boring people with facts or figures , or getting into long winded explanations . So we focused on the one common value driver that all the school boards had in common : the student . We used a short two - minute before - and - after video depicting a day in the life of a new student and how the change would positively impact their educational experience . Even seasoned educators had their heartstrings pulled seeing the video ; they could immediately empathize with the student and recognize how the situation described was all too common in today ’s world . We used this story to introduce nearly every presentation and dialogue we had with our stakeholders for several years , as it helped establish the reason for why the change was necessary and put everyone ’s mindset into focusing on the common goal all stakeholders had – providing the best possible education to the student . Insight & Approach Stories can captivate an audience , give them the critical information they need to understand a complex problem in a concise package , and be used to get people with very different backgrounds and goals to relate to shared events and situations . Leveraging stories has helped student ’s learn from new or challenging experiences . Story telling is a timeless teaching tool . In my experience at work , I found that Stories can be a powerful and effective tool at conveying information to audiences , and when done well can be used to give people with entrenched viewpoints a chance to look at another perspective without being bombarded with facts or differing opinions . I shared this example with the senior authorities in the government and they found it very useful in the areas of conflict resolution and educating people on change . Their view was that government ’s first problem to implement change is to resolve the conflict and educate the people on the impact that government decision especially in education will have to the people , and such problems can be addressed to some extent by using the storytelling as a tool going forward . I have been appointed as a coach for twenty - district government officers responsible for government schools in their district to adapt the new approach through story telling to education on the change .