Challenge and Selection

I often use Storytelling to try to align the people I work with around a common vision. In my role, I am  charged with standing up cross-functional teams to address problems our customers are experiencing.  Most often, my organization is engaged when the problems occur between functions, each of which is  focused on a set of metrics that they don’t always align. For example, the Sales organization is measured  on Sales, so their primary focus relating to new business is getting orders placed as quickly as possible.  The Fulfillment organization is measured on throughput, so they are primarily focused on how quickly  they process orders once they are completed and sent to them.

What was occurring was that Sales was sending in orders with incomplete information. Fulfillment had  no incentive to do any information gathering on their own and rejected any order that did not have  100% complete information. Sales then had little incentive to provide the necessary information  because it wasn’t in their measurement, so they would either not provide the update timely or not  update with incomplete information, only for the order to be rejected again, and the cycle continued  again and again. Eventually when Fulfillment received the complete information, the order was  processed quickly. Sales metrics were good because the initial submission was quick. Fulfillment metrics  were good because completed orders were processed quickly. But the customers waited a long time to  get their order fulfilled and were not happy.

An effective story can capture people’s attention and help break down functional silos while aligning  them around a common goal and strategy, as mentioned in the Storytelling Tool video from week 2.

Application

In the example above, I used a story related to the child’s game Red Rover:

In this game, kids split into 2 teams, with each team forming into a line with kids tightly holding the  hands of the 2 kids next to them. Then one team yells “red rover, red rover let (someone’s name from the  other team, for now we’ll say it’s Johnny) come over.” Then Johnny’s runs as fast as he can and tries to  break through one of the connected hands in the other line. If he gets past the line of kids, his team wins.  If he doesn’t his team loses. So imagine what would happen if the kids in the line dropped their hands  and each kid focused on making sure Johnny didn’t knock them down. What would happen? Naturally,  Johnny would run between the kids and get past the line. Each kid in line would think they succeeded in  not getting knocked over, but their team would lose. That is exactly what is happening with our Order  Delivery right now. Each of you think you are doing your part, but as a whole we are not satisfying our  customer, which ultimately means we are losing.

Insight & Approach

Using this approach inspired the team to see the problem not from their siloed point of view, but as an  issue that collectively needs to be solved for the benefit of our customers, and ultimately making

everyone better off. They rallied around the customer view of the problem and Sales agreed to do  better with providing more information in the initial order while Fulfillment agreed to not wait until all  of the information was provided before starting to process the orders.

But that example hasn’t been my typical course of action. I realize after seeing the information  presented in this course, I could be much more intentional about using storytelling to help change  people’s perspectives and generate better outcomes. I plan to enact this more going forward.


Challenge and Selection I often use Storytelling to try to align the people I work with around a common vision . In my role , I am charged with standing up cross - functional teams to address problems our customers are experiencing . Most often , my organization is engaged when the problems occur between functions , each of which is focused on a set of metrics that they do n’t always align . For example , the Sales organization is measured on Sales , so their primary focus relating to new business is getting orders placed as quickly as possible . The Fulfillment organization is measured on throughput , so they are primarily focused on how quickly they process orders once they are completed and sent to them . What was occurring was that Sales was sending in orders with incomplete information . Fulfillment had no incentive to do any information gathering on their own and rejected any order that did not have 100 % complete information . Sales then had little incentive to provide the necessary information because it was n’t in their measurement , so they would either not provide the update timely or not update with incomplete information , only for the order to be rejected again , and the cycle continued again and again . Eventually when Fulfillment received the complete information , the order was processed quickly . Sales metrics were good because the initial submission was quick . Fulfillment metrics were good because completed orders were processed quickly . But the customers waited a long time to get their order fulfilled and were not happy . An effective story can capture people ’s attention and help break down functional silos while aligning them around a common goal and strategy , as mentioned in the Storytelling Tool video from week 2 . Application In the example above , I used a story related to the child ’s game Red Rover : In this game , kids split into 2 teams , with each team forming into a line with kids tightly holding the hands of the 2 kids next to them . Then one team yells “ red rover , red rover let ( someone ’s name from the other team , for now we ’ll say it ’s Johnny ) come over . ” Then Johnny ’s runs as fast as he can and tries to break through one of the connected hands in the other line . If he gets past the line of kids , his team wins . If he does n’t his team loses . So imagine what would happen if the kids in the line dropped their hands and each kid focused on making sure Johnny did n’t knock them down . What would happen ? Naturally , Johnny would run between the kids and get past the line . Each kid in line would think they succeeded in not getting knocked over , but their team would lose . That is exactly what is happening with our Order Delivery right now . Each of you think you are doing your part , but as a whole we are not satisfying our customer , which ultimately means we are losing . Insight & Approach Using this approach inspired the team to see the problem not from their siloed point of view , but as an issue that collectively needs to be solved for the benefit of our customers , and ultimately making everyone better off . They rallied around the customer view of the problem and Sales agreed to do better with providing more information in the initial order while Fulfillment agreed to not wait until all of the information was provided before starting to process the orders . But that example has n’t been my typical course of action . I realize after seeing the information presented in this course , I could be much more intentional about using storytelling to help change people ’s perspectives and generate better outcomes . I plan to enact this more going forward .