Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge & Selection

Storytelling is a tool I am familiar with, even though I have learnt about it recently. A few years  ago, I used to work in the automobile industry, with an approach on loans for clients. After  enjoying some success, we were having issues and our sales were dropping drastically. To make  things worse, the managers were not accessible and open to new ideas.

My personal experience helped me through this rough patch. When I was a youngster, I had  worked with kids teaching them sports, mainly baseball, all of them coming from different social  backgrounds and holding different interests, to the point that some of them were there as an  obligation and not as a choice. Working with children has taught me to focus on what the one in  front of me (so-called client) needs, even if it means to change what I am supposed to do. Even if  it’s something that for many people might be obvious, it was a pretty valuable lesson for me. Back  then, I really leant on telling them stories about what I did and felt when I was in their place, being  a child, being taught and going through difficulties in learning or practicing as they sometimes  experience. The approach I took was different for every one of them. Sometimes it even took me  out of the field and the sport itself, and the way to help those kids was to have a chat with them,  or to allow them to make use of the space and time in a different way, even if it meant that I had  to change completely my focus. Of course, all that was possible because I never worked on my  own, and had at least one teaching partner in each class.

Application

That story helped me out on my job, which was too process-driven, thus meaning that every client  was treated as an equal. Even if all the clients had the same intention and had the economic  possibility to purchase our services, that did not mean that they were remotely the same. That  seemed hard to understand for the management Luckily, after missing on a client due to following  strictly what we were asked and not being able to fulfill his need, we got a chance to do things  differently. We spoke to one of our bosses and told him we thought we could have avoid failure if  we had focused on the client as an individual. As an example, I shared with him the story of two  brothers I have met while teaching. Both had come together and were really shy. Yet, one of them  got along with some other kids and shared the day with them. His brother was struggling and  wasn’t enjoying the activities. We decided we would take some alone time with him and take a  more playful approach, instead of teaching him through the basics.

Insight & Approach

We decided I would stay with him and I told him how important was to me taking sports only as a  way to have fun and meet new friends back in my childhood. He told me he feared he wouldn’t be  good playing. Knowing that, I shared my story with him. Me too, as a kid, had trouble getting to  know, and thus to like baseball. The friends I made there were the reason why I went to practice,  and it was then that I started to enjoy playing. After that, he relaxed and was able to take  everything one step a time, and ended up the activity making some good friends.

That struck on our boss, who understood that they needed to do more “pre- sales” work with the  client, and started giving people tasks of meeting with the clients, ask more about how they  consumed any kind of products and services, and not only what we were selling, in order to create  a better understanding of the people we worked with. It is soon to tell, but the change of  approach seems bound to have good consequences.


Reflection – Storytelling Challenge & Selection Storytelling is a tool I am familiar with , even though I have learnt about it recently . A few years ago , I used to work in the automobile industry , with an approach on loans for clients . After enjoying some success , we were having issues and our sales were dropping drastically . To make things worse , the managers were not accessible and open to new ideas . My personal experience helped me through this rough patch . When I was a youngster , I had worked with kids teaching them sports , mainly baseball , all of them coming from different social backgrounds and holding different interests , to the point that some of them were there as an obligation and not as a choice . Working with children has taught me to focus on what the one in front of me ( so - called client ) needs , even if it means to change what I am supposed to do . Even if it ’s something that for many people might be obvious , it was a pretty valuable lesson for me . Back then , I really leant on telling them stories about what I did and felt when I was in their place , being a child , being taught and going through difficulties in learning or practicing as they sometimes experience . The approach I took was different for every one of them . Sometimes it even took me out of the field and the sport itself , and the way to help those kids was to have a chat with them , or to allow them to make use of the space and time in a different way , even if it meant that I had to change completely my focus . Of course , all that was possible because I never worked on my own , and had at least one teaching partner in each class . Application That story helped me out on my job , which was too process - driven , thus meaning that every client was treated as an equal . Even if all the clients had the same intention and had the economic possibility to purchase our services , that did not mean that they were remotely the same . That seemed hard to understand for the management Luckily , after missing on a client due to following strictly what we were asked and not being able to fulfill his need , we got a chance to do things differently . We spoke to one of our bosses and told him we thought we could have avoid failure if we had focused on the client as an individual . As an example , I shared with him the story of two brothers I have met while teaching . Both had come together and were really shy . Yet , one of them got along with some other kids and shared the day with them . His brother was struggling and was n’t enjoying the activities . We decided we would take some alone time with him and take a more playful approach , instead of teaching him through the basics . Insight & Approach We decided I would stay with him and I told him how important was to me taking sports only as a way to have fun and meet new friends back in my childhood . He told me he feared he would n’t be good playing . Knowing that , I shared my story with him . Me too , as a kid , had trouble getting to know , and thus to like baseball . The friends I made there were the reason why I went to practice , and it was then that I started to enjoy playing . After that , he relaxed and was able to take everything one step a time , and ended up the activity making some good friends . That struck on our boss , who understood that they needed to do more “ pre- sales ” work with the client , and started giving people tasks of meeting with the clients , ask more about how they consumed any kind of products and services , and not only what we were selling , in order to create a better understanding of the people we worked with . It is soon to tell , but the change of approach seems bound to have good consequences .