Storytelling – Enabling Belonging for everyone across the globe

Challenge & Selection

As a Diversity & Inclusion practitioner originating from the eastern part of the world, it is my  responsibility to tell a story that is global and can resonate across multiple differences and geographies. I  was born and raised in a worldview where respect is directly linked to someone’s age – the higher the  age the more respect for that individual, which is not necessarily true across the globe because in other  worldviews people are respected for their thoughts, perspectives, ideas and challenge that they bring to  the table. Story telling is such a powerful tool to create opportunities for people to empathize with  others and enable them to exercise perspective taking during the journey. In some of my work – I find  storytelling to be a key differentiator between someone who is facilitating a session and delivering  content versus someone who is engaging and connect with people at a level that his or her story  becomes their story. If we use story telling as a technique, it has significant potential to create greater  engagement and connection between participants.

Application

We are a global organization but the question to ask is our DNA also global. I was on an assignment to  UK where I was roped into a project that was trying to initiate a global dialogue on Belonging. Belonging  as a topic is very squishy and difficult to get our heads around because it is built on emotional  connection and feeling. So the team I worked with came up with 7 indicators of belonging. These  indicators highlighted all the right words you would use in the western world to define belonging – these  were Trusted, Valued, Respected, Connected, Inspired, Accepted and Safe. When I was asked to share  my perspective I started with a story of a shared service center and an experiment we had done on  Belonging – the words that came up during our discussion on Belonging were Assimilated, Absorbed,  Elevated, Privileged and Embraced. The team was shocked to hear the words because how can they  possible create a sense of belonging when they are such wrong words to use for Belonging. The story  made it possible for them to shift their perspective on belonging and expand their definition of  belonging.

In the shared service center – the reason why a team was using words like Absorbed and Assimilated  was because when they are included in a project that is much bigger then themselves – they feel a sense  of belonging. When in their home country they don’t have access to large projects and when they are  included in a project that originates from US or UK – they feel privileged to be part of it and sense of  belonging to contribute to its success.

Insight & Approach

As the participants heard my story they had quite a few light bulb moments during the journey because  they had never thought that words like these could create a sense of belonging for our people. It was  also very personal for me because I had been in situations where a story is being told and some of the  voices that should be heard where not even present in the room. Through story telling I was able to  bring those voices into the room and people were able to get a different perspective. This story has not  become part of our Belonging Journey globally and every time we run a belonging session we encourage  people to not box this concept into a few indicators and instead become more curious and empathetic

about others and their experiences. We are now in the process of building a jigsaw game on this concept  which will be built on Design Thinking and Storytelling to engage all our people across the globe.

This was a very valuable course for me to sharpen my story telling and design thinking principles to use  in my day to day work as I create more solutions for global application.


Storytelling – Enabling Belonging for everyone across the globe Challenge & Selection As a Diversity & Inclusion practitioner originating from the eastern part of the world , it is my responsibility to tell a story that is global and can resonate across multiple differences and geographies . I was born and raised in a worldview where respect is directly linked to someone ’s age – the higher the age the more respect for that individual , which is not necessarily true across the globe because in other worldviews people are respected for their thoughts , perspectives , ideas and challenge that they bring to the table . Story telling is such a powerful tool to create opportunities for people to empathize with others and enable them to exercise perspective taking during the journey . In some of my work – I find storytelling to be a key differentiator between someone who is facilitating a session and delivering content versus someone who is engaging and connect with people at a level that his or her story becomes their story . If we use story telling as a technique , it has significant potential to create greater engagement and connection between participants . Application We are a global organization but the question to ask is our DNA also global . I was on an assignment to UK where I was roped into a project that was trying to initiate a global dialogue on Belonging . Belonging as a topic is very squishy and difficult to get our heads around because it is built on emotional connection and feeling . So the team I worked with came up with 7 indicators of belonging . These indicators highlighted all the right words you would use in the western world to define belonging – these were Trusted , Valued , Respected , Connected , Inspired , Accepted and Safe . When I was asked to share my perspective I started with a story of a shared service center and an experiment we had done on Belonging – the words that came up during our discussion on Belonging were Assimilated , Absorbed , Elevated , Privileged and Embraced . The team was shocked to hear the words because how can they possible create a sense of belonging when they are such wrong words to use for Belonging . The story made it possible for them to shift their perspective on belonging and expand their definition of belonging . In the shared service center – the reason why a team was using words like Absorbed and Assimilated was because when they are included in a project that is much bigger then themselves – they feel a sense of belonging . When in their home country they do n’t have access to large projects and when they are included in a project that originates from US or UK – they feel privileged to be part of it and sense of belonging to contribute to its success . Insight & Approach As the participants heard my story they had quite a few light bulb moments during the journey because they had never thought that words like these could create a sense of belonging for our people . It was also very personal for me because I had been in situations where a story is being told and some of the voices that should be heard where not even present in the room . Through story telling I was able to bring those voices into the room and people were able to get a different perspective . This story has not become part of our Belonging Journey globally and every time we run a belonging session we encourage people to not box this concept into a few indicators and instead become more curious and empathetic about others and their experiences . We are now in the process of building a jigsaw game on this concept which will be built on Design Thinking and Storytelling to engage all our people across the globe . This was a very valuable course for me to sharpen my story telling and design thinking principles to use in my day to day work as I create more solutions for global application .