Focused Storytelling

William Wong June 2018

Accelerating Change thru Stories

People tell work-related stories everyday throughout the organization. Stories are just someone's experience at work, and it shapes their belief about what's important and how work should be done. They come in many forms; could be gossip, venting, seemingly innocent chatter, reminiscing war stories, congratulatory emails, etc.

Regardless of whether they are good or bad, stories resonate and travel fast because it's personal, relatable and told by someone you know. They are one of the strongest influencers on a company's culture.

Do you know what stories people are telling each other in the organization? What stories are you telling? What is the impact? If it's negative, how do we go about changing the narrative to focus on stories that improve our culture?

"When it comes to the impact of stories, there is no neutral ground. To someone hearing it for the first time, a compelling story can seem as real as it did to the person who first experienced it. One person's story is often another person's experience." - PIL

Hearing is Believing

The Skinny

Organizational Culture is the sum of all experiences, beliefs, actions and results of a company. At the bottom are experiences which fosters beliefs, beliefs that influences actions, and actions produce results. To put it simply, organizational culture is the way people think and act. Every organization has a culture and it either works for or against you.

Where Do Stories Fit In?

Stories are the reincarnation of someone's experience. Because experiences are at the bottom of the pyramid, stories have the strongest impact on a company's culture. If enough stories are told, it will shape what everyone believes in.

What is... Focused Storytelling

Because stories can spread like wildfire, negative ones can be really damaging to the performance of your organization. To control the narrative, what you need to do is focus on the stories that promote the experiences you want. This is what Focused Storytelling is about - identifying the Cultural Beliefs you wish your organization to have, and then tell as many of these stories as possible to bolster positive experiences. Hire a bard if you have to, hm... I'm just kidding, or am I?

OK I'm Sold - So How Do I Start?

Focused Storytelling targets your organization's Cultural Beliefs. It calls out specific stories that describe people living these Cultural Beliefs. This will reinforce the importance of these beliefs and also gives people an example on how to turn those beliefs into practice.

Focused Storytelling has three parts: a beginning, middle and end.

[ 1 ] Beginning. Think of the Cultural Belief that your story represents. Frame the context of the story using the actual Cultural Belief title (if your organization don't have Cultural Beliefs set up, then create some for your team). Referencing the belief helps the audience draw a correlation between the story and the belief.

Start by saying: "Here's what [insert Cultural Belief] looks like to me." For example, if one of your Cultural Beliefs is 'Dive Deep", then say "Here's what Dive Deep looks like to me.

[ 2 ] Middle. Stories should take no more than 45 seconds. By listening to these stories, people will start seeing the changes that they themselves may need to do. Stories help people self-correct their own actions.

Your story should show people what good beliefs and actions look like.

[ 3 ] Ending. Like all good stories, the ending is where you drive it home.

This is where you describe the impact of the action described in the middle of the story.
Wrap it up using the same language that you used to being the story. End by saying, "That's what [insert Cultural Belief] looks like to me."

Want an Example?

This is what 'Win the Day' looks like to me.

Drew recently made a hire with Amazon but it was rescinded by the client the very next day due to a loss in funding. As you can imagine this was quite disheartening because we all know how much work it takes to get a deal. Couple this with the negative impact on the candidate side and you've got yourself a double whammy. So of course Drew was taken aback by this news. He even went out for a walk to shake it off. But Drew didn't play the victim card. Together with his Account Manager, they devised an action plan. He delivered the news to the candidate with poise and never gave up partnering with her. The AE marketed the candidate via multiple channels (HM referrals, HM to HM debriefs, MSP recommendations, direct partnerships) and was able to secure an offer with another team at Amazon just 2 weeks later. The candidate has since received multiple offers but Drew stayed in contact with her the entire time, knew what was on her plate and how Amazon stacked up against them. The candidate accepted our offer.

That's what 'Win the Day' looks like to me.

** Many of the contents, diagrams and wisdom come from and are trademarked by Partners in Training. I am merely paraphrasing what I've learned from them and retelling as constant reminder of it's teachings. If you wish to learn more about this topic, go directly to them.