Applying the storytelling tool to a challenge.

Challenge - The challenge is from a scenario that I’ve been in personally and my hypothetical

approach to solving it.  A regional sales organization within a Fortune 15 company is struggling with employee engagement, which is having an obvious negative effect on employee performance, turnover and morale at work.  The organization, consisting of about 100 people, shows improvement in year-to-date sales performance, but it is still not at 100%.  The regional manager has tried numerous techniques to address the issue, including implementing a cadence of conference calls, performance review meetings, “rebranding” the organization and incentives to name a few, but performance and employee engagement is still unsatisfactory. Possibly the most critical issue is employee turnover, as 7 employees have quit in the past 2 months.

1. Selection

- I am using the Storytelling tool, as reviewed by Jose Green in the Week 2 video.

This tool is used to create a cause in order to address a challenge.  It connects the facts, data and recommendations with a story.  Storytelling generates excitement and purpose by communicating a vivid imagery of a new and better future.  I chose this tool because I believe that this specific situation can be solved through the right application of inspiration and team dedication towards a common goal, which requires the stimulating delivery of storytelling.

2. Application

- I applied Storytelling by immersing myself into the organization’s culture in order to

create a good story, asking these questions:

o Who is the audience? Where do they come from and what do they need? o What is common among everyone’s desired outcome? o What can we conclude from the current facts? How can we utilize the

design thinking framework, specifically the question “what is?”

- From there, I connect the dots between where the organization is and where it wants

to go. I formed what is seen as the “perfect end result”, identified the gaps and what is needed to fill them in.

- In a nutshell, the organization is 90% millennial. They want more purpose behind

what they do.  They want to feel like they directly contributed to the solution and not like cogs in the system. This can be done in two parts:

o By telling the story of how sales plays a role in the company as a whole

and how each employee’s effort keeps the business alive.

o How the products and services help other businesses evolve and carry out

their own mission.

- The story is this case can be dynamic.  In other words, it can be told both up front

and as time goes on.  The elements of the story can be directly linked to the detailed data of sales performance, why the quota is where it is and how that individually benefits or hurts the mission.

3. Insight

- I learned that nowadays, more than ever, a purpose-driven mission is crucial to

organizational and individual motivation.  Addressing this at a micro-level translates into a macro-level response.  Storytelling is the perfect tool to use because it ignites and unites, and connects to emotions, character and values of the people that live the product/service/business every day.  We no longer live in a time where top-tier performance is inspired by just meeting a quota in this case.  Like all situations, there needs to be insight into the unobvious drivers, which can be done by asking “What is? What if? What wows? What works?”

4. Approach

- Next time I might use the Projective techniques tool, which uses open-ended

ambiguous stimuli to find hidden or deeper motivations, in order to individually survey the employees.  This approach would identify the details of the employees

at a more individual level to inspire engagement techniques.  It would be more time-consuming, but may provide better results.


Applying the storytelling tool to a challenge . Challenge - The challenge is from a scenario that I ’ve been in personally and my hypothetical approach to solving it . A regional sales organization within a Fortune 15 company is struggling with employee engagement , which is having an obvious negative effect on employee performance , turnover and morale at work . The organization , consisting of about 100 people , shows improvement in year - to - date sales performance , but it is still not at 100 % . The regional manager has tried numerous techniques to address the issue , including implementing a cadence of conference calls , performance review meetings , “ rebranding ” the organization and incentives to name a few , but performance and employee engagement is still unsatisfactory . Possibly the most critical issue is employee turnover , as 7 employees have quit in the past 2 months . 1 . Selection - I am using the Storytelling tool , as reviewed by Jose Green in the Week 2 video . This tool is used to create a cause in order to address a challenge . It connects the facts , data and recommendations with a story . Storytelling generates excitement and purpose by communicating a vivid imagery of a new and better future . I chose this tool because I believe that this specific situation can be solved through the right application of inspiration and team dedication towards a common goal , which requires the stimulating delivery of storytelling . 2 . Application - I applied Storytelling by immersing myself into the organization ’s culture in order to create a good story , asking these questions : o Who is the audience ? Where do they come from and what do they need ? o What is common among everyone ’s desired outcome ? o What can we conclude from the current facts ? How can we utilize the design thinking framework , specifically the question “ what is ? ” - From there , I connect the dots between where the organization is and where it wants to go . I formed what is seen as the “ perfect end result ” , identified the gaps and what is needed to fill them in . - In a nutshell , the organization is 90 % millennial . They want more purpose behind what they do . They want to feel like they directly contributed to the solution and not like cogs in the system . This can be done in two parts : o By telling the story of how sales plays a role in the company as a whole and how each employee ’s effort keeps the business alive . o How the products and services help other businesses evolve and carry out their own mission . - The story is this case can be dynamic . In other words , it can be told both up front and as time goes on . The elements of the story can be directly linked to the detailed data of sales performance , why the quota is where it is and how that individually benefits or hurts the mission . 3 . Insight - I learned that nowadays , more than ever , a purpose - driven mission is crucial to organizational and individual motivation . Addressing this at a micro - level translates into a macro - level response . Storytelling is the perfect tool to use because it ignites and unites , and connects to emotions , character and values of the people that live the product / service / business every day . We no longer live in a time where top - tier performance is inspired by just meeting a quota in this case . Like all situations , there needs to be insight into the unobvious drivers , which can be done by asking “ What is ? What if ? What wows ? What works ? ” 4 . Approach - Next time I might use the Projective techniques tool , which uses open - ended ambiguous stimuli to find hidden or deeper motivations , in order to individually survey the employees . This approach would identify the details of the employees at a more individual level to inspire engagement techniques . It would be more time - consuming , but may provide better results .