Reading Time: 8 mins
WIIFY: This article builds on my last article Creating Better Work by Seeing the Whites of People’s Eyes, which described a method for connecting employees for greater collaboration, story sharing, and building trust and transparency with leadership.
You’ll discover tips on how to structure your ideas into stories, bringing abstract concepts to life through tangible examples, and how you can use these skills to accomplish everything you’re capable of, including contributing to a great corporate culture.
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“I walked into Heather’s office and I could see stress written all over her face. I knew I needed to find a way to help her.”
Everybody hates problems, right? Solving problems has been the core of my career because I’m passionate about helping the people who have them. The magic in every problem is that the solution creates opportunity and growth for the people and organization. However, it’s taken me years to learn how to properly pitch my solutions, and I still see room for improvement.
Recently, I’ve been spreading the word about a book I finished over the holidays called The Storyteller’s Secret by Carmine Gallo. In it, Gallo describes how today’s largest and most successful brands use the power of storytelling. One of the key takeaways for me was the analogy of describing problem/solution as villain/hero. This book helped me realize that far too often I’ve pitched myself as the hero. As a consultant, why wouldn’t I? But my most successful career moments happened when I shifted the hero moment to my client.
“Walking into Heather’s office, I knew she didn’t need me to be her hero. I needed to help her become her own hero.”
Together, we summarized her villains into three key “how might we” statements:
- HMW create a campaign for the change?
- HMW ensure key stakeholder engagement?
- HMW get 3000+ employees to buy in?
Heather desperately needed a framework that would support success, for her as the Business Champion as well as for the project.
Enter the hero – The Strategy Map!
As I described and sketched the process, I could see the visual triggering a response. As her confidence rose, her eyes began to sparkle. This little scribble helped to create a vivid portrait of the experience and outcome she would get by using the framework.
That meeting saw success because of how I structured the conversation. I gave Heather a story that she could easily find herself in.
My story was:
- a simple visual drawn in real time that supported my message
- structured around the value or outcomes so that she could clearly understand
- persuasive and action oriented towards the outcomes
The story included advice about her villains and offered solutions through the presentation of a hero. At the end of our time together, she said, “When we first met, you drew the concept of a strategy map on a piece of paper. It was then I knew I had found the process to align the stakeholders across the organization for my corporate initiative. It worked brilliantly.”
How Villains and Heroes Advance Culture
I love focusing on the internal brand of an organization – the people. My “why” comes from the idea of creating aha! moments for individuals and teams. Everyone should know how to answer, “Why do you do what you do?”
There is nothing more gratifying than hearing someone quoting an outcome from one of my workshops, a story I shared or a book I recommended. Living my passion and purpose makes a difference and keeps me going.
Recently, I facilitated a session to help a group of senior leaders develop a plan for implementing a new set of organizational values. That morning, every attendee shared their personal whys – why they come to work every day. The stories were profound, authentic, and surprisingly similar. We built on this storytelling throughout the day, which in turn helped to define their plan of action for implementing the values.
At the end of the day, I asked everyone to identify their aha! moments. The common ‘moment’ that surfaced was that most of these leaders had worked together for years without knowing the personal whys of their peers. This eye-opening moment built stronger connections amongst themselves and their teams.
And a colleague recently shared how he “used my fluffy ‘why’ stuff” in a session he facilitated with his volunteer group. This group had to raise funds for a youth marching band to travel around the world and play their music. The volunteers were struggling with their purpose statement. Then one of the volunteers related her experience as a young band member, how landing in a foreign country gave her goosebumps. In that moment, the volunteers landed on their purpose statement: “We Create Goosebump Moments.”
I love that story because it gave my colleague a hero moment and it gave me another great story to tell!
Unleashing stories plays an important part in advancing your culture. But it’s the way you tell the stories that will build the necessary connections and trust that you need to lay a strong foundation for your organization to grow and sustain itself.
Think about the times that a story has resonated with you. What made you connect? Was it funny? Was it a hardship-to-success story? For whatever reason, you’ll usually find common elements that you can frame as a villain and a hero.
In his book, Gallo describes how Walmart CEO Doug McMillion discussed storytelling at a shareholders meeting. McMillion casts concepts such as bureaucracy and complacency as the villains, Walmart’s associates as the hero, and the customers as the love interest of the story. McMillion concluded by saying, “With the right attitude, teamwork, and common sense, we’ll defeat the bad guys and win the customers’ hearts.”
From the Words of Maya Angelou
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
The quote reminds me of my mom, who would always say, “When entertaining, if you have good food and music, everything else will take care of itself.” What my mom was referring to was the impression you leave on people: the moments of truth.
I remember when she organized a baby shower for one of her friends. I was nine at the time, and I was helping her fill invitations with glitter. She explained that when the guest opened the envelope, the glitter would fall out as a nice surprise. I tested the concept by filling, sealing, and then opening the envelope – cool! The first moment of truth.
The day arrived, with the house tastefully decorated and tables covered with delicious dishes. I saw my mom greet each guest as if they were the honored one. She took the time to make everyone feel welcome, and I remember thinking “everyone here is so having so much fun.” Thinking back on it, I realized it was the experience that created the special feeling – everyone felt like an honored guest because my mom made them feel that way. The second moment of truth.
The fact that I remember that story over thirty years later creates an ultimate moment of truth, an everlasting memory – who knew my mom was such a great marketer?
Culture is the new black!
“Culture is a way to describe how we do things around here.” – Danny Meyer, New York City restaurateur and chief executive officer of the Union Square Hospitality Group
Culture is a hot topic right now. I’ve been contacted a lot about my work around helping organizations advance their culture. The most popular first question? “How do you change a culture?” My response? “By first understanding the villain.”
Nearly every conversation reveals the usual suspects: low morale, engagement, and trust. Most of these organizations choose a new purpose and value statements as their heroes. Sounds like a great place to start, right? But how do you know? Without listening to the stories, uncovering all of the villains, you can’t be sure. And when you don’t have a clear view, you grab for one-off solutions that fall short of what you want to accomplish. Then you wonder, “Why isn’t this working?”
I encourage everyone reading this article to start creating authentic conversations through storytelling wherever possible whileseeing the whites of people’s eyes. You can begin by sharing your own “why” and connecting it to your organization’s purpose and values. Doing this consistently will help create personal connections and establish trust with your audience.
Telling stories that help teams find their sparkle will go miles, and you’ll find that everyone will start to contribute a little differently – with trust, confidence, passion, and purpose.
And your organization’s culture? I think you know what the story will sound like then. Who are the heroes and villains of your stories?
If you enjoyed the post, I would be grateful if you shared within your community.
~Lynette
