Part One of this series was published in the HRVoice on April 05, 2007. Read Part One now.
Part Two of this article was published in the HRVoice on April 12, 2007. Read Part Two now.
Nicky Fried
It was 11am on a brisk fall day in London, England when Joey McBain received the call from France. A customer had hired a car from them the day before. She had not taken out insurance with the global car hire company Joey works for, because her insurer had told her that they would cover rental insurance.
The car was involved in accident in France. The woman had immediately called her insurance company. “We can’t help you,” said the insurance representative, “we only cover accidents in the UK.” The customer was distraught and alone in a foreign country.
Joey knew what needed to be done. He reassured the customer. Got specific instructions on where to find her and in ten minutes was on the road. Luckily it was mid week so he was in the Chunnel by early afternoon and soon after was with the tired and unhappy customer. The first thing he did was to buy her lunch. Before driving his customer home, he made contact with an insurer and arranged for the car to be repaired. All in a day’s work.
Joey’s story packs a whole lot of punch. Quite a bit more than “proactive customer service” - the type of goal that organizations like to write to encourage behavior like Joey’s.
Storytelling is truly a leadership tool, but it is not confined to the people in the corner office. Joey is a leader in customer service and his is a great story. The real power of storytelling is not in spicing up a presentation, but in engaging the entire organization in the journey from vision to action.
Just as communication is a process, not an event, so too is storytelling more effective when treated as a process. In my first article I spoke about how stories live on in the minds of the readers. It makes perfect sense to capitalize on the natural human inclination to take ownership of stories, and develop process around that.
Here are some of the steps you can take to use storytelling effectively within your organization:
1. Clarify the framework story. Before you begin telling individual stories of success you need to fully understand the story of the organization. This is the story that describes what the organization does, its prime goals and objectives and where it is headed; the story that relates to the business plan. To develop this story you will need to work with the executive team and build a clear and simple picture that defines your organization.
2. Find the employee stories (like Joey’s) that support the story of the organization. These are the stories that showcase the kind of behaviors your organization is looking for. They are the heartwarming anecdotes that define organizations and become legend within them. Inspiring stories help employees to adjust everyday behaviors for the journey ahead and to discover their own stories of excellence.
3. Engage the leadership group in the story of the organization. Ensure your leadership fully understands the journey your organization is traveling. Give them the tools and strategies to take the corporate story to their groups, share it with them, and draw out more stories that reflect local issues and priorities.
4. Once you have a reservoir of stories find ways to send them out into the organization. Develop a campaign to let employees know about others who are living the behaviors the organization wants to see. Your tactics may include:
- The web for storing and giving people access to stories
- Posters and visual displays in public areas and on notice boards
- Groups meetings where employees cooperatively build on the stories already developed.
The ultimate aim is a reservoir of stories that everyone can relate to and use to build local priorities and stories; stories that help employees to understand, believe and act in line with corporate goals and objectives.
About the Author:
Nicky Fried is Vice President of Communications and Development with Strategic Connections Inc.. Strategic Connections Inc. helps organizations establish competitive advantage through aligned and fully engaged employees. Strategic Connections Inc. is the Canadian license holder for Storytellers, a corporate engagement process based on storytelling. Visit the Strategic connections Inc. website at www.strategicconnections.com to learn more about the Storytellers process.