Stories & Customer Experience

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of being a guest on Michelle Romanica's BlogRadio show on Customer Experience.

How stories come into play with customer experience is a rich area to explore. Our conversation dove into some ideas and practices that are powerful yet subtle.

Listen to internet radio with Customer Experience on Blog Talk Radio

Among other things we discussed how customers experiences can start with catalyzing the internal experiences of employees with a variety of communication and strategic initiatives employing the natural power of stories.

How are you do you architect customer experiences with the disciplines of organizational storytelling? Add your voice to the conversation.

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):

Organizational Relationships

I find myself drawn to the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...

"Ships that pass in the night,
and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness.
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another.
Only a look and a voice;
then darkness again and a silence."

How do relationships in organizations stack up with Longfellow’s observation? Has technology accelerated our relationships or hindered them? Is there any way to gratify those human needs that infiltrate our workplaces in the oddest ways…our needs to be accepted, respected, and valued by others?

Like a blooming flower relationships take time. In the ethos of our organizations we are called to cultivate and nurture the people around us. Sunlight, water, time, and a host of other hard to traces forces work their complex magic…

There may be no short cuts to forming relationships but the shortest distance between two people is a story.

Draw the stories of people around corporate imperatives and watch how people are drawn to each other and become more engaged performers.

Spend 2 minutes with me reflecting by watching in this video and the share your thoughts...

Organizational Relationships from Terrence Gargiulo on Vimeo.

Waves & Organizational Stories

"We are connected through meaning. Stories manifest our being. Fluctuating variations pierce placid surfaces of possibilities."

The waves of the Asilomar Coastline in Monterey, California act as a backdrop for some thoughts about the nature of stories in organizations.

Waves & Organizational Stories from Terrence Gargiulo on Vimeo.

How are you working with stories in your organization? What metaphors best describe your work and expectations?

Stories & Fire

Fire is a wonderful metaphor for understanding some of the subtleties of stories. Spend two minutes with me and reflect on what light fire can cast on our understanding of stories...

Terrence Gargiulo - Stories & Fire from Terrence Gargiulo on Vimeo.

In what ways are fire and stories related to you?