Challenge and Selection:

I work in mechanical R&D organization which manufactures metal valves. Here we

work on different project which take ample of time because of different reasons. During  those time as team lead, I need to keep my team motivated to focus on work by doing  some interesting things. I was in search of what can I do that will solve my purpose. I tried  different options like change of assignments, training. But that couldn't worked out the  way I wanted. Then during one of workshop on tools for leaders to improve efficiency of  team, I come to know about tool called “Storytelling”. Case studies which were referred  during that event encouraged me to use those at my work location. Which will make my  team members more capable of work collaborative.    Application:

I used story telling tool to discuss about different scenarios we may come across

during product design process.  In design process there are different steps we need to follow like study customer  requirement, concept design, CAD work, finalization of dimensions etc. Even though we  follow all steps correctly, we may end up in failure. At that point only team needs  motivation to focus on work.  Incident I am going to share is that, there was requirement of fugitive emission for a metal  valve. We failed twice for same reason and we couldn't achieved expected results. Project  got delayed for several months &because of that whole team was working on same  monotonous job.  Effect of that was, we were not able to find out exact root cause of failure. This was might  be because we were not able to look at problem from user point of view. At one point of  time, management was about to stop that project.

Then I started conversation with each member, discussed about real life failures

faced by other organization and how successfully they overcome those and went ahead.  Discussed about collaborative working style. Not all were motivated, changed their mood  but some of them understood the importance of project to team and organization. And  then team set together and found exact resolution of problem by imagining different  possibilities of probable failures. During that session we found that real cause was  inappropriate clearance between components leaded to fugitive emission failure. Also we  simulated different scenarios by using competitor’s data analysis.    Insight & Approach:

After using this tool for our own situation at work place, team members encouraged

to solve the fugitive emission problem. Team divided assembly in to different zones and  focused on probable failures and ultimately found out the exact root cause.

Learnings of this conversation was used by team members during next project in

which we proactively identified issues we may face in future and started looking for  resolution of those.  This tool is effective for person to go and fit in to someone’s shoe and think in that way.  That different thinking will remain there for long time and will affect his or her action  pertaining to a specific situation.  For me also it was good experience to manage team in a different way in different situation  by using Storytelling tool.


Challenge and Selection : I work in mechanical R&D organization which manufactures metal valves . Here we work on different project which take ample of time because of different reasons . During those time as team lead , I need to keep my team motivated to focus on work by doing some interesting things . I was in search of what can I do that will solve my purpose . I tried different options like change of assignments , training . But that could n't worked out the way I wanted . Then during one of workshop on tools for leaders to improve efficiency of team , I come to know about tool called “ Storytelling ” . Case studies which were referred during that event encouraged me to use those at my work location . Which will make my team members more capable of work collaborative . Application : I used story telling tool to discuss about different scenarios we may come across during product design process . In design process there are different steps we need to follow like study customer requirement , concept design , CAD work , finalization of dimensions etc . Even though we follow all steps correctly , we may end up in failure . At that point only team needs motivation to focus on work . Incident I am going to share is that , there was requirement of fugitive emission for a metal valve . We failed twice for same reason and we could n't achieved expected results . Project got delayed for several months & because of that whole team was working on same monotonous job . Effect of that was , we were not able to find out exact root cause of failure . This was might be because we were not able to look at problem from user point of view . At one point of time , management was about to stop that project . Then I started conversation with each member , discussed about real life failures faced by other organization and how successfully they overcome those and went ahead . Discussed about collaborative working style . Not all were motivated , changed their mood but some of them understood the importance of project to team and organization . And then team set together and found exact resolution of problem by imagining different possibilities of probable failures . During that session we found that real cause was inappropriate clearance between components leaded to fugitive emission failure . Also we simulated different scenarios by using competitor ’s data analysis . Insight & Approach : After using this tool for our own situation at work place , team members encouraged to solve the fugitive emission problem . Team divided assembly in to different zones and focused on probable failures and ultimately found out the exact root cause . Learnings of this conversation was used by team members during next project in which we proactively identified issues we may face in future and started looking for resolution of those . This tool is effective for person to go and fit in to someone ’s shoe and think in that way . That different thinking will remain there for long time and will affect his or her action pertaining to a specific situation . For me also it was good experience to manage team in a different way in different situation by using Storytelling tool .