Interview with Jay Cross on 21st Century Leadership & Stories

During Jay Cross's trip to Monterey I had a chance to catch up and learn about his new work on 21st Century Leadership Skills. Of course we had to talk about a stories.


Jay posted this blog with a few impressions from our lunch.


READ JAY'S SUMMARY OF OUR CONVERSATION


Below are two videos from a second conversation...



Here's another video with some more sound bites from our conversation...

 For more complimentary resources - white papers, tips, techniques, tools

CLICK HERE

Organizational Priorities

What are the priorities in your organization? Are you caught in the cogs of performance pressure? Has constant acceleration become a way of life in your organization?

A recent experience with dolphins works as backdrop in this video to explore how we might meet these challenges and realities of speed and purpose with equanimity and even joy.

Organizational Priority from Terrence Gargiulo on Vimeo.

What happens when we move past thinking of stories as tools of persuasion?

We unearth a Rosetta stone for critical thought, deep conversation, and emergent possibilities…strategic organizational story work creates an environment that enmeshes people into networks of meaning that leads to adaptability and performance…this integrative pattern of interrelating produces a wonderful by product of joy.

Consider this video's working metaphor and then be a part of the conversation.

Share with us experiences of what this looks and feels like for you in your organization. What things are you doing or think you could be doing in your organization to bring about "the dolphin effect?"

I've posted this video on Voice Thread to allow folks a vehicle for responding with comments, audio, video, documents, etc... (all of these things can be done for free from the website):

Learnings from Webinar with Shawn Callahan & Participants

Flexing Your Business Storytelling Muscles with Deliberate Practices

Collaborating with other story practitioners is a special treat. When Shawn Callahan and I of Anecdote regroup to share our latest ideas it's always stimulating. Wish it was easier to reveal all the behind the scenes conversations and work that go into pulling together a session.

Business storytelling is really more than a trend. People are hungry for connections whether it be in the workplace or even in their personal relationship. "The shortest distance between two people is a story" (you can quote me on that one :). While we're all natural storytellers there still needs to be purposeful attention and effort made to tap into "the natural power of story" (you can quote Shawn on that one :).

There's some good news. Since we're involved in various degrees of storytelling/storylistening/story triggering all the time we don't need to start from scratch and put in the 10,000+ hours of practice Malcom Gladwell suggests we need for mastery.

I've developed some specific practices, tools, and techniques to help people gain better access to their innate capabilities. Among other things, I have research/evidence based model that identifies nine story-based communication skills, an assessment instrument, book of self-development exercises, group process activities, and organizational interventions I use with clients.

If you haven't had a chance to checkout Anecdote's website with its new face lift be sure to pour through the rich coffers of their blog and wonderful collection of ready to go stories for business in their Story Finder Tool.

I digress let me share with you what we did during our August complimentary webinar...

Have you wondered why you are not making better progress at becoming a storyteller at work? Are you finding it difficult to find good stories to tell? Are your stories relevant to your colleagues or do they look at you blankly wondering what planet you're on?

Spend an hour with master business story practitioners Shawn Callahan of Anecdote and Terrence Gargiulo of MAKINGSTORIES.net as they share deliberate practices you can employ today to be a better storyteller.

This session was conducted as conversation with participants. So there are lots of wonderful ideas and experiences shared by all. Be sure to add your voice by chiming in with your ideas, experiences, and of course stories below.

Here's a recording of the webinar...

WEBINAR: It's a Marathon Not Magic: Deliberate Practice Approach to Developing Business Storytelling Skills from Terrence Gargiulo on Vimeo.

Now it's your turn, please take a moment and add your voice to the conversation...

It's a Marathon - Not Magic - New Webinar

Last year Shawn Callahan and I delivered a webinar in the triple threat of storytelling. It was really popular and we had a great time doing it.

Well we're back for another webinar, this time we're exploring how to become a better storyteller by applying some specific and deliberate practices.

Here is our little marketing blurb. Sign up details are at the bottom of this post.

Have you wondered why you are not making better progress at becoming a storyteller at work? Are you finding it difficult to find good stories to tell? Are your stories relevant to your colleagues or do they look at you blankly wondering what planet you're on?

Spend 45 minutes with master business story practitioners Shawn Callahan of Anecdote and Terrence Gargiulo of MAKINGSTORIES.net as they share deliberate practices you can employ today to be a better storyteller.

We will conduct the session as a conversation involving everyone. Yippee!

We expect you'll walk away with three things from this session:

• Three practices to deepen your storytelling skills
• Ideas from other attendees of how they improve their skills or what works for them...what works in their organization
  
• Some specific resources for finding good stories

We're doing this webinar twice, one timed for Asia Pacific and the other for the Americas. Just click on the link of the webinar you want to attend and fill in your details.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM AUSTRALIAN. EST

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM USA PDT

Looking forward to chatting with you on the call.

Three Questions We Usually Get from Leaders About Storytelling

Back in August Shawn Callahan of Anecdote and I collaborated on a leadership and storytelling webinar.

It was a rich experience for us and the participants. During our interactive dialog we explored the Triple Threat of storytelling leaders.

Are your leaders...

Storylisteners (that's not a typo - watch the video and find out why)
Story Elicitors (trigger storytelling of others)
Storytellers

We'd love to hear your experiences with developing the story capacity of leaders in your organization. Share your thoughts below...



ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Story-based Communication Assessment: Click Here...


I also have a book of self-development exercises to work on these skills with yourself or others. All of these exercises that map to the nine skills of the competency model


Book of Self-Development Exercises: Click Here...


I also recommend, Once Upon a Time: Using Story-Based Activities to Develop Breakthrough Communication Skills. It contains a collection of group process activities aligned with these story-based communication skills.

Leadership & Storytelling Part 2 of Many

This is a continuation of the previous post. I am taking an extending look at leadership from a storytelling perspective. I am beginning by looking at eight key leadership behaviors. Then I will explore nine specific story-based communication skills critical for leaders. Be sure to check out my complimentary webinars in August with Shawn Callahan of Anecdote on leadership and storytelling. I'll add a description of the webinar at the end of this post.

2. Delegate

Distribution of work is a passive form of delegation and only scratches the surface of this management tool. Delegation also means sharing the baton of leadership. When leadership is shared, talents are maximized in an organization. People become more aware and willing to assume optional responsibilities, tasks, or initiatives that lie outside their work-defined domains. Delegated leadership results in team members who seek to maximize the use of their unique gifts and talents by dovetailing them to the organization’s current and future mission and objectives.

Everyone wears lots of hats, some of them better than others. We hope we have a good mix of talents and experiences on our team, but if we don’t we need to develop a strategy for diversifying that team. When delegation operates well within our team, people are proactive. People naturally gravitate to the things they do well. We have a responsibility to bring out the best in each other. We do not need to compete with each other. Recognize and enable the gifts of others. If a member of our team shines we all benefit. The spotlight can move from one contributor to the next. None of us has the full set of talents that will ensure the team’s success. Make a point of identifying the capabilities and strengths of everyone on the team. Enable people to take the initiative for deciding the best way to be an invaluable contributor to the team.


Practice

• During a staff meeting take a few minutes to ask everyone to write down strengths and skills that he or she has noticed and appreciated in other team members.


• Ask each person to make a note of how his or her strengths and skills complement those of others.


• Ask each person to write a list of things he or she currently does as part of the job that he or she could teach others to do.


Three Questions We Generally Get From Leaders About Storytelling: Reflections, Discussion & Tools

Are your leaders great storytellers? And, why should you care anyway?

With over forty years of combined experience, two of the world’s leading narrative consultants divulge some of what they have learned. Join Shawn Callahan of Anecdote and Terrence Gargiulo of MAKINGSTORIES.net for a 45-minute rousing interactive discussion rich with examples and practical tools.

I wonder…

Will you be as surprised as we were when we discovered the “Triple Threat,” of storytelling for leaders?

Find out the answers to the three questions we get asked the most. Prior to the event we'll share a white paper on leadership and storytelling. Following the webinar we'll send you a job aid that we use in our work. So give us the pleasure of your company and interact with your peers to take a nuanced but deep dive into the art and science of leadership through narrative.


TIMES & REGISTRATION LINKS:

Wednesday, August 12th, 12:30-1:15 (Australia, Eastern Standard Time)

Wednesday, August 19th, 12:30-1:15 (US, Pacific Standard Time)