National Australia Bank

We have been working with the National Australia Bank (NAB) since 2005. Training their leaders in the use of organisational storytelling for a variety of applications. The NAB understands that storytelling is a key tool to not only engage their employees but also their customers and the wider community.

When Cameron Clyne took over as CEO in 2008, he took on a mission to change the community’s negative perception around the banking industry and to focus on ‘Doing the Right Thing’ and providing ‘Fair Value’.

The bank did not want to go out with promises that they knew would be met with scepticism. So they went out with action. The very first public act of doing the right thing and providing fair value was to abolish overdrawn fees on personal bank accounts. This was going to result in a reduction of over $100 million off their bottom line. The news was received very well by customers and the community, with all the other major banks in Australia forced to follow in some way.

What Clyne and others underestimated was the enormous internal employee engagement effect this had. Employees for a long time that had been experiencing the brunt of the organisation’s perceived ‘greed’, suddenly felt proud of what their employer was doing. Clyne, speaking at the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce in March 2009, declared this about the NAB’s employees ‘That over 24,000 employees in Australia and 40,000 globally work very hard. I owe it to them to ensure they work for a company they can feel proud of”.

Clyne wanted fair value and doing the right thing to go beyond fees. A fair value team was established and headed up by Anthony Waldron. Waldron had come from MLC where internal stories of doing the right thing were more common. Waldron commented “It was a noticeable difference when I joined the NAB. Coming from MLC I would often hear stories about the good things that the company had done in the past. This was becoming part of the culture there. One such story was about during the war when MLC stopped charging soldiers for their life insurance but still paid out on it. Everyone knew these stories but I noticed at the NAB that no such stories existed”…..Or did they? Waldron and his team knew the stories existed they just needed to be found and shared.

NAB, recognised the need for training and sharing of stories as a way of influencing the internal cultural development. The team embarked on a process of finding stories about employees providing fair value and doing the right thing. We worked with them to find these stories through facilitating specific ‘story harvesting’ sessions. One such story was about Ben who worked in a call centre. Upon ending a regular call with “Is there anything else I can help with you today?” he had the customer break down on the phone as she talked about her current battle with cancer. Ben listened and treated the person with respect and compassion. He asked if there was someone there with her, or someone she could contact? He ended the call by saying that his prayers and thoughts were with her and hoped everything worked out. What Ben did was not driven by average call times, it was not following process and procedure. What Ben did was the right thing and he was acknowledged and praised by his team leader.

These stories and others like them, once found, can then be shared throughout the company.

One such leader Matt Ricker shared a powerful story that has gained a life of its own throughout the NAB. This is Matt’s story. “Twenty years ago when I got my job at the NAB I rushed home to tell my family. I was so excited. I remember my Nana saying to me ‘That is great because if you work hard, one day you will become a bank manager and they really mean something in society’. When I reflect back on my last 20 years of my career in the banking industry and I don’t think there are too many Nana’s out there that are proud of their grand children working for a bank. What I hope to achieve with our Fair Value and Doing the Right Thing agenda is to make sure there are alot of Nana’s out there that are proud of their grandkids for working for the NAB”.

What Ben’s and Matt’s examples show are that stories are a powerful leadership and communication tool and absolutely critical in bringing a strategy alive. Critical in ensuring that an agenda or concept as broad as fair value and doing the right thing is made real.

Ericsson’s Success Story…

Early 2009, Sonia Aplin was facing a challenge.  As the Internal Communications Manager for Ericsson Australia and New Zealand Sonia was tasked with advising the senior leadership team on how best to communicate the new corporate strategy.

The challenge for Sonia and Ericsson was two-fold.  She knew that for the strategy to be successful, employees needed more than to be able to just recite the new strategy – they needed to really believe in it and understand how their work contributed to the organisation’s success.

The other challenge was that the latest Employee Engagement Survey showed two concerning facts.  The Leadership Communication index was at 57 points (compared with the Ericsson Group total of 73) while Strategy Awareness was at a moderate 66 points.  A critical success factor for the Ericsson strategy depended on improvement in both these areas.  Sonia and her HR colleagues had a goal to increase both those measures by 3 points….and anyone who works closely with employee opinion surveys will know that this is easier said than done.

During this time, Barack Obama was the hot topic.  Being a communications specialist, Sonia was more interested in the way he communicated as opposed to his politics.  What she noticed, as well as other commentators, was Obama’s effective use of story.  So that triggered Sonia’s research into storytelling.  What started with a Google search, ended with a tender process and working relationship with us to deliver organisational storytelling workshops to their top 80 leaders.

Sonia along with the Leadership & Culture Manager went to the executive team with their recommendation.  To take the leaders through a 2-day program.  The first day was designed to ensure understanding of the new strategy and the desired behaviours associated with that.

The second day was our organisational storytelling workshops, which would give them the practical business skills of storytelling to engage their employees and clients in the strategy.

They were tentative at first…..we are talking about taking storytelling into a male-dominated, engineering firm, but their courage was rewarded. The executive team supported the approach and every single member of the team, including the CEO, attended the training and continue to encourage and role model the use of organisational storytelling throughout Ericsson.  97% of the participants agreed it was relevant to their role with 91% saying it improved their effectiveness as an influencer and leader.

Leadership Communication Capability, increased by a staggering 18 points.

So did it work?  Sonia states “Anecdotally, yes. The use of stories in team meetings, presentations and formal and informal communications is obvious and is having a real impact.  Another measure of the success is that the Australian and New Zealand Communications team won the Ericsson Global Award for Best Strategy Communications, with storytelling being cited as the point-of-difference. So that was something we were all very proud of and we are now working with our global colleagues to bring storytelling to their organisations.”

But what about the tangibles…the key measures of success?  Increasing both Leadership Communication and Strategy Awareness by 3 points. The subsequent Employee Opinion Survey showed that Strategy Awareness increased by 11 points and Leadership Communication Capability, increased by a staggering 18 points. That is what we call a success story.

Good Strategy Is Only Half The Picture

In the recent Labour leadership battle Julia Gillard stated that “Government is about having the courage do get the big reforms done and the strength in adversity to ensure you stay focused and get the job done. I believe I have demonstrated those attributes as Prime Minister”.

You will no doubt have your own opinions on whether she has demonstrated those attributes or not …I am not going there with this post.  What I do want to propose is that Government is also about ensuring that those reforms are communicated in a way that people understand and connect with.  Gillard admitted that she has made mistakes in not putting enough effort into ‘selling’ her big reforms.

There are lessons in this for current and would be leaders.  It is very well to have courage and strength to implement your new business strategy or organisational change but you if you do not have the ability to communicate that to your employees, your shareholders and the wider community then most likely you will fail in your attempts.

You can have the best strategy in the world but if and your leaders cannot communicate this in a way that your people understand and connect with then you chances of success will significantly decrease.  It has been and continues to be the reason most change efforts fail.  And here is the tough bit, it is not a one off communication, it should be a day-to-day focus for you and all your leaders in your company or team.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing John Stewart who is the ex CEO of National Australia Bank Group.  Stewart was known for his communication ability and seeing him first hand on several occasions, I can certainly attest to this.

Stewart said that “I recall when I first became a CEO I thought that about 20 to 25 percent of my time should be taken up by communication.  I soon started to realise that is was at least 75 percent of my time and often much more than that”

So as a leader you need the courage and strength to make the big decisions and implement those strategies but then you need to ensure you get out their and communicate, communicate and communicate again.  Otherwise you may find yourself in your own leadership battle.

Click through to Read the full interview with John Stewart

Communicating Strategy to Gen Y’s

As you know from previous posts we recently attended the Creative Innovation ci2011 Conference, and one of the speakers was Victor Finkel presenting on the Why’s of Gen Y.

There is no  consensus over the exact definition of Gen Y’s, but the generally accepted range is from 1980 to 1999.  So pretty much anyone who is 12 to 30 years old today is considered a Gen Y.  On reflecting on Finkel’s presentation I was struck by a major challenge companies will need to address that perhaps they are not even aware of.

Business StorytellingFirst let me take you through the three questions that Finkel believes a typical Gen Y’s is asking.

Why am I doing this?

Why does it have to be this way? 

Why can’t I cite Wikipedia?

It is the first two questions that will have a significant impact on the way organisations not only communicate strategy but how they develop it.

Finkel explained that Gen Ys want to do rewarding and stimulating work and they want to do it from day one.  They need and want a higher purpose.  Yes they understand the need for profit but it has to be a purpose behind the profit, not profit for profit’s sake.  This strong desire in the whole new generation entering the workforce will see the dawn of a new age of organisations.  You will still have you Not For Profits (NFP) but organisations will need to become Purpose For Profits (PFP).

If companies don’t have a purpose, apart from greater profits and returning wealth to its shareholders and if they cannot communicate that purpose, then they will have a whole generation of their current and future workforce not wanting to work for them.

Companies without a well articulated purpose will have very little hope of attracting and retaining talented Gen Ys.

And if you think having a workforce devoid of Generation Ys is not a problem, think again.  Because Gen Ys have the perfect attributes for innovation …but that is a whole new post.  Watch this space.

How to bring business storytelling successfully into your organisation

A recent Melcrum article about storytelling in organisations was accompanied by an online vote which asked…

Would you consider using the technique of storytelling as part of your employee engagement strategy? 

…Yes, it would really suit our organizational culture

…Maybe, I am a bit skeptical about this

…No way, our leaders would see it as too fluffy

The results of the vote were a little bit surprising.  We thought the vast majority would be in the “maybe but skeptical” camp but as of 9th June, that had only registered 19% of the vote.   14% said ”No way, our leaders would see it as too fluffy” and 67% said “yes it would suit their organization”.

Over the last 6 years of running workshops and public speaking on storytelling we have been conducting our very own internal polls.  We know that whenever we conduct workshops or present, people fall into three categories.

1.  “Business storytelling is something that is really going to help me in business so I am all ears.”

2.  ”You have to be kidding me, what could storytelling possible help me achieve in business?!”

3.  “This is all very good but I already use storytelling.”

In our experience, we would say the majority fall into category 2 “You have to be kidding me?” but we find we can quickly move them to category 1.   Thankfully there are very few people in category 3 and normally their response of “I already tell stories” is met with the roll of eyes from their peers.

So if you are feeling a bit unsure about bringing storytelling into your organisation as you think the leaders may be a bit skeptical, there are a few strategies to consider that we have seen clients use with great success.

First, bring business storytelling into your organisation linked to a business issue.  So this may be communicating the new strategy, increasing employee engagement, improving sales or simply improving the leaders’ ability to communicate.

Second, run a pilot workshop and strategically invite some of the influential skeptics along.  There is power in converting your biggest skeptic into your strongest advocate.

Third, get the CEO and senior leadership team on board early …because as they start using storytelling it gives legitimacy to the skill and permission across the culture to start using storytelling.  By default, the other leaders in the company will not only see the power of storytelling but personally expereince the power of storytelling.

Also, try to train your leaders up in quick succession to build momentum around the skill.

Check out the Ericsson Case Study to see a great example of doing this right.

These are just a few strategies and if you want to find out more please download our Checklist to Introduce Business Storytelling Into Your Organisation and feel free to share other strategies you have used.

Business storytelling and your brand – Push Pull Story Strategy

In a previous post we discussed brand stories.  The stories people share about their experience with your company, your people or your products.  So what stories are being told about your company and how can you influence that? 

You can do this through a ‘Push Pull Story Strategy’ to borrow from a common marketing term. 

Pull stories are the organic stories people narrate about their interactions with your organisation.  While traveling in Sydney we always use the same private taxi service. Recently I got off a plane late at night and there was a bottle of water waiting for me in the back of the taxi, exactly what I needed.  Another time, I arrived early one morning into Sydney.  My meeting was delayed.  The taxi driver carefully checked my coffee preference and then bought me a coffee from the taxi drivers’ café at Sydney airport.   A hidden gem and perhaps the best coffee in town.  I often share these taxi service stories with friends and colleagues. These stories that customers like me share, collectively build the taxi company’s brand.  How many positive stories are your customers sharing about your company?

The other option is push stories.  Authentic stories that are strategically found and shared through various mediums.  Stories that are shared between employees and customers, shared by the CEO at AGMs and profit announcements, shared by Corporate Affairs and Marketing through all the formal internal and external mediums.  There is one significant factor though…the most critical success factor…and that is the stories need to be authentic.  They cannot be marketing spin, or inaccessible corporate jargon. They have to be real stories from the coal face, not fabricated.

The pull stories are usually more powerful than the push stories because they come from the coal face and there is an unmistakable authenticity about them.  So think about the pull stories that are being generated everyday but also think of other stories that you can strategically harvest and put out there.

Interview with Terry Dwyer

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.

Strategy and Storytelling

As companies emerge from the Global Financial Crisis with a fresh strategy they are looking for better ways to communicate their strategy and to really engage their people in it.  To move from the false ‘nodding of heads’, to a stage where employees really understand the strategy, remember it and can retell it.  Understand, remember, retell – universal challenges in business highlighted by Dan and Chip Heath in their book ‘Made to stick’,

Organisational storytelling or business storytelling is fast becoming one of the key tools to achieve this. Noel Turnbull Adjunct Professor in communications at RMIT university was recently quoted in BRW as saying “The most successful business leaders excel at storytelling – using simple clear language to set out their vision and explaining what they mean for employees, customers, investors and other stakeholders’.

Strategies are normally quite complex, with dense complex messaging.  So how can leaders communicate in a way that connects with their people?  Getting people to understand is difficult enough, but to get them excited and engaged….that is even more challenging.

So how can companies use business storytelling to engage people in their strategy?  Clients often start at the point of ‘we need a strategy story’.  One single ‘strategy’ story that explains everything a company is going to do, and how they are going to do it, does not exist.  Because strategies are complex it cannot be explained by one story.  What organisations need is many stories to explain the various aspects of their strategy and they need a variety of stories for their various stakeholders.

What they also need is their leaders narrating these stories on a day to day basis to constantly engage employees and customers in their strategy which is often implemented over a long period of time.  Check out what Ericsson and the NAB are doing with story to bring their respective strategies to life.

Contact Us

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

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