In the work we do with business leaders on organsiational storytelling, we are often asked about ‘natural’ storytellers. Granted some people are better at it than others, just like some people are better at tennis or singing than others……but everyone can get better at it with preparation and practice.
In this our first video blog, Yamini Naidu explodes the myth of the natural born storyteller. ..and shares their success secrets with you.
I am currently reading a great book by Phillip Ralph called Leadership without Silver Bullets. First of all, I love the title because there are no silver bullets with leadership, but rather some very practical models which Phil outlines in his book.
Leadership without silver bullets exposes some of the flaws with traditional leadership and provides details on the 7 spheres of leadership. Reading the book with a constant eye on how storytelling plays a part in leadership, there were a couple of leadership spheres that stood out, for me. I want to share with you the one on ’Manage and Lead Change’.
Phil explains that “Two-thirds of organisational change initiatives fail. This is a sobering fact for all managers and leaders in organisations.” He proposes that one significant reason for failure in change initiatives is “what often motivates you does not motivate most of your employees”. This resonated with us, as we see it so often with the work we do with leaders, when they are attempting to communicate their new strategy or new change initiative there is often the mistaken assumption that what motivates them will motivate their people.
Often this results in negative stories being used to motivate people to change. The traditional ‘burning platform’. ‘We need to change because if we don’t we will keep losing market share, we will be a takeover target, we will become irrelevant’, etc, etc’.
Negative stories serve a purpose and that purpose is to raise awareness of a problem. What they will not do is change behaviour and get people excited and engaged. The best you can possibly hope for with a burning platform story or a negative message is begrudging compliance.
What will help leaders get people engaged and excited in the change is positive stories about the future. But stories that your employees find positive, not that you find positive. Stories about what you are trying to create and how the organisation and the employees can make a difference…..and here is the other catch, it needs to be how you can make a difference to the customers or the community not to the shareholders.
As Phil states “Well intentioned leaders invest significant time in communicating their change story….many leaders focus their story on the deficit-approach or the burning platform. While this may appeal to some employees, many are looking for a positive reason to change.”
So to increase your chances of success with your next change, focus on the positives of the change (without denying or covering up the negative aspects). Focus on what you are trying to create for the customer and actively find and share lots of stories about that throughout the change process………because the organisation changes when the stories change.
Recently we ran one of our workshops at the National Australia Bank with the NAB Risk Advisors. One of their key messages to both new people coming into Risk and to leaders in the NAB business was to explain the role of the Risk Advisor. One of the participants, Rosemary Read, Head of Governance, came up with this organisational story.
“I grew up in the country and can always remember my mum telling me about the dangers and risks around our property. From the red back spiders, to the dangers of the creek and to the snakes in summer. She always used to say ‘when you come across these risks you need to know what to do because I will not always be there’….
One stinking hot day, mum kept telling me to go and get my bike that I had left at the bottom of the garden path. I remember reluctantly running down the path to get it and just as I got near I noticed this huge copper head snake curled up in front of my bike, basking in the sun.
I slid to a stop and froze…..my first reaction was to go running and screaming back to the house to tell mum. But I didn’t…… I played statutes and without taking my eyes off the snake, I very slowly walked backwards. I did exactly what my mum had previously told me to do. When I got enough distance between me and the snake I then turned around and ran back to the house screaming.
I often think about what my mum did for me and the role we have as risk advisors. Mum gave me advice and skills so I would have the confidence and knowledge to know what to do. In Risk we play a similar role….We can’t own, and manage the risks when they arise. Our aim is to give you, the business, sufficient knowledge and tools so that when you come across your own copper head snake, regardless of what that looks like, you will know what to do.”
A great story that can be used when talking with her colleagues in the business units she supports, but can also be used internally as part of the induction program for new employees into the Risk area. It also highlights that business storytelling is not about business stories but rather how you can take personal stories and relate them to a business message.
Our early example about Only the Real thing story sparked some reactions from some of our followers. One such reaction was from Alan Doyle, who is a Data Specialist at the NAB’s, Group Data Management team. Alan did our workshop earlier this year and this is his story….
“In 1997, my son Finn was a cute three year old toddler who simply never stopped, from before the dawn, until way past his bed time ! In some ways I envied him – so much energy and such a sunny disposition, and with apparently nothing to worry about except whether his favourite teddy was close by him at all times.
My world was, at least in my eyes, so much more complex and full of worry, with so much to do and not enough time to do it. I was working amazingly long hours, trying to ‘make the right impression’ with my work colleagues, and often went days without seeing Finn, or my beautiful five year old daughter Jessie and my lovely wife Sarah. I loved the precious moments we did spend together, and made a huge effort to spend ‘quality’ time with them, reasoning that I could make up for the lack of ‘quantity’ by trying to do lots of things with the them in the little time we had. Funny how maths equations like that make sense to an adult – pity they don’t ‘add up’ for the children.
One day at breakfast Finn excitedly showed me his latest family portrait in all its primary coloured crayon glory. He was always very artistic, and his drawings were remarkably clear even at three years old. My heart sank when I asked him to tell me all about his wonderful drawing as he bubbled with joy telling me “this is me, and this is Jessie, and this is Mummy !!!” I asked Finn “…..and where is Daddy?” to which he replied “ooops Daddy, I forgot to draw you ! “. I knew immediately what that meant, and I literally came apart at the edges soon afterwards. I had no illusions about what I needed to do……work life balance finally had a real meaning to me. That day, Finn changed my life forever!”
Last Friday we attended the IPAA Writers Forum as guest speakers and had the privilege to hear Bernie Dean, who is the Executive Director of Marketing & Communications at WorkSafe Victoria. We have for a long time used WorkSafe Victoria as example of using business storytelling right and it was great to hear first hand from Bernie how Worksafe have strategically used storytelling to influence and persuade.
Years ago when workplace safety was not high on people’s radar, WorkSafe used negative ‘shock’ advertising to raise awareness to the problem. That is the power of negative stories. They raise awareness of a problem. If you don’t abide by safety procedures, people die. If we don’t change our strategy, we will become irrelevant. If we don’t outsource this division, we may go out of business…in essence they create a burning platform.
However, negative stories can only get you so far. Those familiar with the workplace adverts over the last couple of years will notice that they have started using positive stories . One such advertisement is about a boy sitting on the step waiting for his dad to come home, his mother is getting increasingly worried and all the time you are thinking the worstthen his Dad pulls into the drive way and the tag line reads ”The most important reason for making your workplace safe, is not at work at all.” View the ad on YouTube
The workplace safety ads often get criticised for their graphic content but again Bernie emphasised that you should not dumb down the message. He said he learnt this from reading to his two young children. When he moved from reading Enid Blyton to Treasure Island with them, they were introduced to some rough characters and language. He thought he needed to ‘tone’ down the language but realised that as soon as you start to do that you start to diminish the impact. So don’t underestimate your audience.
So the lesson we can learn from Bernie Dean and the success of the WorkSafe advertisements is that you need to understand that negative stories will raise awareness to a problem but will only get you so far. Introducing positive stories will have more impact on encouraging the change of behaviour you desire.
Recently we were leading a storytelling workshop at the Department of Justice and Darren Whitelaw, General Manager, Corporate Communication shared this story:
‘Last month I had the opportunity to travel overseas and was looking forward to it as it would be a break from the routine.
When I was overseas, my wife set up our laptop on my daughter’s breakfast table and I talked to my daughter daily via web cam. My wife told me that once when the lap top was lying shut on the sofa, my daughter picked it up and hugged it and said ‘Daddy’. That moved me and I realised that sometimes in life you can substitute the real thing but sometimes only the real thing can do.
I am sharing this with you as it reminds us that every day we have that same choice as communicators. We can send out emails or we can go out and talk to our people face to face because sometimes only the real thing can do…’
Last week I was driving between appointments and listening to 774 ABC Melbourne. Waleed Aly (filling in for Jon Faine) was co hosting conversation hour with Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson.
Waleed Aly asked the question that was on everyone’s mind after he introduced Beth Wilson ‘Health Services Commissioner – you sound important but I don’t really know what you do?’
Beth Wilson explained her role through a few key sentences (which most people would do) but then she said ‘let me give you an example’ and launched straight into a story that said it all and was memorable.
Till I heard Beth Wilson on radio, I like a lot of people didn’t know Victoria had a health commissioner. But now after listening to Beth and the story she told I not only understand what her office does, but will also remember it and probably repeat what I heard to a few people.
So the next time someone asks you that question ‘So what do you do?’ can you give them an example, tell them a story that helps them remember and understand what it is you do?
Read through the whole story below or listen to Beth herself through this link. You can fast forward to about 38:16, on the time line in the podcast to listen to the story.
‘People who come to my office usually want three things – they want to know what went wrong and why and what happened to them doesn’t happen to some one else. It’s that third aspiration that really gives us an opportunity to improve the quality of our health services by listening to people’s experiences and learning from them.
My job is to try and resolve complaints through my office through a process of mediation or conciliation. Can I give you an example?
We had a lady who was having headaches and her GP had tried a number of cures none of which was particularly successful for her. The GP was trained in using acupuncture. I mention he was trained because sometimes registered doctors don’t think they need training for complementary therapies when of course you do. He took her down the back room, he explained very carefully to her what was going to happen and how long it would take, he put on lovely flute relaxation music. Now this lady is in the back room wearing a white gown with all these needles dangling in her head and neck and the flute music runs out and she is concerned with picking the children up from school. So she called out ‘Helllloooo’ and she got no response what so ever. She waited a bit longer and by now the twilight is starting to descend very seriously outside the window, so she called out really loudly ‘HEELLOOOOO’ and still nothing.
Very gingerly she got off the bed and tippy toed out into the clinic not sure if she was going to hurt herself or not and the clinic was utterly completely totally deserted. Doctor’s gone home, no nurses, no receptionist, no cleaning person, she’s locked in and the phone is on the night switch. Fortunately she was on the ground floor and she flagged down a stoical passer by who was really good. He got the police, who got the doctor who lived a long way from the clinic. The lady was supposed to have been discharged at 4:30 that afternoon but in fact she was released at 9:30 pm, so she was not happy. Her complaint to me was to try and make sure the doctor never forgot another patient. The doctor was fabulous, totally cooperative, apologetic, not afraid to say sorry. He put in a bell and a buzzer and a stopwatch, an alarm clock and some flashing lights, some laser beams and there’s no way he will forget another patient and he gave her two free consultations.
At the end of our processes she said ‘Beth I can see the funny side of this now and I’m really pleased that he is still my doctor because I really like him’. That’s what we call a win win situation.’
We were recently sent an article Caring Ceo’s of the Future that featured in the August 2010 edition of Management NZ by Brenda Ward. It explores how the role of leader is changing and what skills the future leaders of tomorrow need. The article suggests that amoungst other aspects ”tomorrow’s leaders will… ask only ‘powerful ‘ questions, tell lots of stories and make decisions in split seconds”.
The article states that future leaders will be “reflective, ethical, transparent, authentic and trusted advisor to their team” and that “storytelling is a big part of the new leadership style”.
This article re confirms the trend we have seen over the last few years - the rise of business storytelling and the recognition by companies that it is a key leadership skill that needs to be taught and practiced. We have seen many leaders use business storytelling to achieve real business results. One such example was of a client of ours called Michael. Michael managed 20 branches and for 2 years none of his branches ever met their quality sales leads targets. Michael had tried everything – logic, reasoning and even attaching their bonus to the targets…nothing worked. What he did know for sure was that everyone hated that part of their job.
This is the story Michael told…
“When I was a kid I hated brussels sprouts. When they were dished up for dinner I would push them to the side, knowing full well I would have to eat cold brussels sprouts at the end of my meal because my mother would never let me leave the table without eating all my vegetables. One day I decided to eat the brussels sprouts straight away and then sat back and enjoyed the rest of my meal. Do you think we can treat our sales targets like brussels sprouts? We can’t leave the table until we have eaten them. Do you think we could eat them fast and early at the start of the week and sit back and enjoy the rest of our week?”
The following week, Michael experienced the best improvement ever for the number of quality sales leads generated. The term “brussels sprouts” also became short-hand within the team for meeting their weekly targets! They would say “How many brussels sprouts have you eaten? I have had three already!”
So business storytelling is definitely a leadership skill. The biggest mistake leaders make is thinking that the storytelling they do in their personal lives can be transported, as is, into business. The most common feedback we receive from leaders is that they were unaware of the skill that is involved in storytelling….”this is a lot harder than I thought” is common feedback from our clients.
To read the full CEO’s of the Future article click here
…and to read about what leaders have to say about business storytelling check out our Interview With section.
I was walking my dog yesterday and came across this sign which made me smile and also reminded me so much of what we try and do in business every day.
So often in business we are stating what we believe is the bleeding obvious and yet we get so little cut through and so little recall. Most of us can barely remember what we ate for lunch yesterday let alone what was said in a meeting two weeks ago. What then is the solution? Research and our own personal experience inform us that ‘emotion is the fast track to the brain’ i.e. how I feel, affects how I think and my performance.
The people who crafted this sign were trying to influence our behaviour with emotion (humour)…and we all hope they succeed! Often in business we think logic informs people (which it does) but we also expect people to shift behaviour based on logic. And when this doesn’t happen we get frustrated. If logic did persuade us to change our behaviour then no one would speed, we would all eat right and exercise every day, no one would smoke etc.
As business people every day we make choices with our communication – are we trying to just inform or are we trying to influence behaviour? If it is the latter then what emotion can you tap into to influence your audience? This isn’t manipulative but shows empathy for your audience as well as an understanding of the issue from their perspective.
Here is a link to some recent work place safety ads that did this really well and tapped into the right emotion with their tag line and message: ‘The real reason to be safe at work is not at work it is at home’.
Yamini Naidu interviews Terry Dwyer (Executive General Manager – Organisational effectiveness CPA Australia) on storytelling and leadership.
Yamini Naidu: Terry why did you consider storytelling as part of the leadership development at CPA?
Terry Dwyer: We embarked on a program to build the capability of our leaders particularly our senior leaders because we feel that senior leaders shape the organisation. So storytelling was part of a broader leadership development program. I think that one of the keys to good leadership is communication and that is where storytelling is of real benefit in being able to communicate effectively. There is nothing like some really good examples and when we put our leaders through the training they could see the value in storytelling, in communicating with their teams, in coaching and mentoring.
YN: When you presented storytelling as a development opportunity what was the reaction?
TD: When you first mention storytelling, it isn’t something that figures in the corporate vocabulary so you really need to explain what it is, but once we talked about what organisational storytelling was, the power and the benefits, people really got it. As you know we put our senior executives through the storytelling workshop as were looking for a way of adding value for a seasoned group of executives but also adding value to the business. Our executive team got it straight away and thought this is a real opportunity. We also put our general managers through the program.
YN: What are some of the barriers in organisations that stop leaders from using storytelling? Leaders get storytelling intellectually they connect with stories but something stops them from using stories more often?
TD: For many people it is challenging, probably more than those who are natural storytellers. Sometimes it is a confidence thing – thinking is this story really worth telling? You have to overcome that feeling and I think there is nothing like success. So if you experiment with storytelling and the lights go on with people then you are obviously encouraged to continue doing it. I think also from my own experience and people I have talked to, it is good to have a number of stories that are top of mind, otherwise it is too easy to revert back to your old style.
YN: What helps leaders with their storytelling?
TD: I think leaders have to buy into the fact that good communication is the key to good leadership. Quite often when you see ineffective leadership it comes down to poor communication whether lack of or inappropriate communication. In leadership communication is so important – once leaders buy into this they look for communication methods that resonate. I also think there is nothing like good role models, so if you experience good storytellers you think “I can do that” and start to develop your own stories. The training we did with One Thousand & One was to draw those stories out.
YN: Where have you seen stories used well?
TD: I have seen senior executives tell stories to large groups of staff when they are wanting to engage people in change or in a new strategic direction. When you are addressing a diverse group of people storytelling can be really powerful because it can convey strategic thinking in a very practical way. I have also seen it work in smaller forums; in small teams or one on one coaching when you are trying to communicate a principle or to encourage someone to think differently. For me, I find storytelling has quite a broad application. We often find it easier to tell stories in our home life or personal life and it is more of a challenge at work.
YN: We often heard about the ‘Chipped mug story’ at CPA, please tell us more
TD: Our former CEO used to tell this story when he was talking to staff about the organisation’s brand strategy. Our three year strategic plan includes positioning CPA as a “premier global brand”. The CEO tells the story about attending an internal event and discarding a cup that he saw had a chip. The CEO then used this story to explain how being a premier global brand doesn’t just mean getting the strategy or the big things right but also depends on getting the little things right every time. Sometimes you get a story that has a disproportionate impact on culture and this was definitely one.
One Thousand and One
HUB Melbourne
3/673 Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000.
Email Us
Or call us
Gabrielle 0405 144 092
Yamini 0409 856 987
Fly like a butterfly – another example of business storytelling
Last week we ran a workshop for Many Rivers who provide micro financing predominantly for ... Read more » | 14 comments
Is Storytelling the new black?
A new General Manager has joined one of our client’s organisations. And the word has spr... Read more » | 14 comments
The desires that drive us to connect
Recently we had the pleasure of both presenting and attending the Creative Innovation 20... Read more » | 12 comments
