WHY IS STORYTELLING AN ESSENTIAL SKILL FOR ANY EXECUTIVE TOOLKIT?
Storytelling is a powerful Leadership tool. Stories may be the most effective way to convey information to an audience while also building a relationship with them. When you tell stories, especially personal stories, it helps people relate to you and allows you to show your vulnerability as a leader. Stories can be used to communicate your values, help to develop trust, inspire your employees and move your audience to take action.
Even simple stories from your childhood can con- tain universal themes relevant to your organiza- tion’s or clients’ key issues. You can leverage the archetypal nature of stories by cataloguing some of the significant moments in your personal and business life as a resource to draw on when plan- ning any presentation.
Specific business uses for storytelling include:
• Share Yourself: Share moments that made you who you are or that clarified your values so that others understand your leadership per- spective.
• Share your Organization: Share values of your organization. What makes up the DNA of your organization?
• Teach a Lesson: How you learned something through failure or success, how you mastered an organizational capability, how you overcame resistance to change.
• Provoke Change: Create dissatisfaction with present, share dangerous mistakes in busi- ness, establish the case for change, create a vision for future state.
• Change Perspective: Allow your audience to see a problem through a different lens, change the emotional climate.
• Build a Relationship: Sharing personal or personal business stories with direct reports or clients can highlight the common ground between you.
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LET’S � START � WITH A � STORY
Sean Kavanagh, our CEO, recently told this personal story at a learning association meeting about the impact of stress on our ability to listen and how that can undermine our most precious relationships:
It has been a stressful eighteen months. The recession has hit busi- ness hard and I’m about to send a second child off to college. I’m working long days and I’m managing tight budgets at the office and at home.
One dark evening in mid January, I’m standing in my kitchen transfer- ring three days of dishes from the sink into the dishwasher. The children have used every cup and bowl we own, including a decorative Bavarian beer stein that is now encrusted with fossilized cereal! I’m muttering bad language under my breath.
“Hey pops whassup? How was your day?” Clare, my 17-year-old daugh- ter enters. I tense, expecting this to be an expensive conversation.
“Sooooo, I wanted to ask you something. Julie’s family is going to Vegas and then Miami for winter break and they’ve invited ME! Can I go?” I explode.
“We’ve had this conversation! We have a lot of expenses right now and you still owe me money from last summer. You are supposed to be saving for college. I can’t believe you’re even asking!” She ex- plodes back.
“I can’t believe you are yelling at me! You’re not even listening to me. Julie’s Dad has free tickets. I just picked up more hours at the restaurant. Ugh! You never listen. And you’re never around and you’re always pre-occupied and we never have any time alone together. You’re just mean and grumpy all the time!”
She pauses, picks up a piece of paper and throws it at me. “Oh and by the way, here’s my report card. I made honor roll. Again!”
She runs to her room in tears.
What did my daughter teach me here? Well I learned that under stress I have much less patience, I don’t listen and I jump to conclusions. And that this behavior can cause a breach in a precious relationship.
The lesson for me is to be sure to take my own emotional temperature at home and at work, particularly in times of stress or extreme busyness. I also learned that it is important to stop, be fully present and truly listen to what others are telling you before answering. This is hard to do when stressed out and in a hurry but not doing these things can cause great damage to relationships and ultimately, to productivity.
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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING
GETTING STARTED
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REMEMBERING AND USING STORIES You already have dozens of stories at your fingertips—the tricky part is remembering them when you need them. Here are three ways to get rolling:
1. 2. 3. Begin cataloguing Keep a journal specifi- Record other people’s stories from your cally for stories and stories that you life that might serve enter any interesting hear or read that as powerful illustra- daily occurrences. might serve to il- tions of your ideas. lustrate a point.
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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING
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TYPES OF STORIES
Begin to think about stories you could tell by jotting down one or two ideas in each of the following categories. Think about when you might use the story. PERSONAL:
• Moments that made you who you are or that clarified your values
• Moments when you discovered your voice or leadership potential
• “When I was 17…”
This would be a great story to tell at the follow- I could tell a personal story about… ing event/for the following purpose:
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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING
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TYPES OF STORIES
PERSONAL BUSINESS:
• Heroic moments – difficult but worthwhile struggles or extraordinary feats in business
• Overcoming resistance to change
• Moments of truth
• “When I was working at…”
This would be a great story to tell at the follow- I could tell a personal business story about… ing event/for the following purpose:
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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING
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TYPES OF STORIES
GENERAL BUSINESS:
• Dangerous mistakes in business
• Stories of how your company has handled these things in the past
• Stories of how the future could look: bright or dark
• “The day Jack Welch started at GE…”
This would be a great story to tell at the follow- I could tell a general business story about… ing event/for the following purpose:
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