Organizational Will

What is the role of will in organizations? How much can we direct and control?

1001 faces and hands are at work molding our destiny...whether it be inside of an organizations, our individual fates, or the macro entity of the organization itself encapsulated with the collective paths of many...are we equipped to become animate lighthouses searching with our long arms of probing lights casting light to discover shores of destiny among the foggy terrain of our voyages...reflective conversation...action in motion...flexibility coupled with strength and alignment of purpose will be our greatest allies

Stories operate within these dimensions to help us keep our fragile vessels afloat

Would you consider clicking on the link to this post to watch my short conversation starter video and then add your voice to the discussion…

I've setup a Voice Thread link where people can easily post audio comments, text comments, documents, images, even record video reactions to my video all from the website without any fuss (you can even use a telephone to dial into and leave your sound bite. Please consider adding to the conversation:

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

How to Make a Corporate Roast Work

I got a lot of great emails and questions from folks about a group process I use with companies. In my last video, I shared a story about an intervention I sometimes using involving leaders standing in as a symbol of the company and allow the group to roast the company. Unbelievable things happen.

Here's a link to the the video to hear the story - it's the story I tell at the end of the two and half minute video.

The roast is a challenging but powerful vehicle. Of course its a bit risky. One caveat. Be honest with yourself. If you are a confident and skilled facilitator and you are willing to stir the pot and navigate the dynamics than you will find this process rewarding. If not you might not want to try this - or let someone shadow it with you the first time to lend a helping hand in case the dynamics go awry.

Here are a few things I've learned...

1. Finding the right executive is key

2. Develop strong relationship and trust with the group

3. Lead the group in a process of deciding what it feels are ground rules for the process (I'll sometimes have folks even talk about what they think is funny, other roasts they have been in or seen) - let the group self elect one or more people to act as "keepers of the rules" - empower them to remind others when anyone strays off course

4. Have folks speak of the business as "it" never let it become directed at the individuals (the executive) he or she is only an anthropomorphic sit in/representation of the business

5. Before you conclude have a symbolic object to place in the chair and ask the executive get up and join the group (if at all possible I like using circles or U shape configurations when possible - then let the executive take a shot or two at roasting the company

6. You lead a debrief with the whole group including the executive sitting with the participants

7. I know it may sound touchy/feely but do give first the executive and the participants a chance to talk about the emotions, feelings, observations etc... that came up during the process

8. Depending on the context - I move the group to look at tangible action items that can be taken

9. Keep self-effacing humor and fun at the heart of the process - don;t let people get bogged down in pure venting

Hope that helps -. If you do the roast please let me know how it goes. Also please feel free to grab me on my cell if you want to discuss further - 415-948-8087

Strategic Communications & Chess

What might chess teach us about the nature of strategic communications in an organization? And what's the connection with stories?

Join me for another 2 minute video as I explore these questions and offer two, "P's" of strategic communications.

Strategic Communications & Chess from Terrence Gargiulo on Vimeo.

These two ideas are hardly the beginning of a conversation. Can't say it all in two minutes and neither can one person.

Take a moment and reflect on the game of chess and then share your thoughts of the other ways chess informs our ideas of strategic organizational communication. And for crying out loud...if you've got a story about chess start divulging!

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?

The Art of Persuasion with Stories: Dialog With Bob Dickman

Today I had the pleasure of dialoguing with Bob Dickman of First Voice. Bob has a wonderful book he co-authored with Richard Maxwell titled The Elements of Persuasion: Using Storytelling to Pich Better, Sell Faster, and Win More Business.

We spent 45 minutes with a great group of folks comparing notes of our organizational story work and our experiences of coaching people to be more effective.

One of the key themes that emerged was the power of story in helping us to imagine the viewpoint of others and find effective ways of sharing our own. We explored Bob's simple, elegant, and profoundly nuanced five elements of persuasion.

Here are a few of the questions we explored...

Have you ever wondered how to expand your influence without having to sell?

Have you tapped into your natural “storyability” to transport people to see the world through your eyes?

Would you like to put one or two new techniques into practice to expand your influence through story?

Here's a recording of our dialogue.

The Art of Persuasion with Stories: Dialog Between Terrence Gargiulo & Bob Dickman from Terrence Gargiulo on Vimeo.

I'd love to hear your successes and challenges with working with stories during an influence process...

Leadership & Storytelling Part 13 of Many...

The Process Ring deals with how we work with information in our minds and store it. The Process Ring is composed of three competencies Indexing, Synthesizing, and Reflecting. All three competencies taken together capture the interplay of internal processes that result in learning. Stories are used as a way of codifying experiences. For example, the Indexing competency stresses the importance of consciously developing a robust array of descriptors for our experiences so that they can be easily reused in various settings. The bigger our indexing scheme the more we have learned from our experiences. A good index increases our capacity to learn in new situations by drawing upon past ones and integrating the news ones into a fabric of knowledge. Our capacity to communicate with others is also improved. Once our experiences have been transformed into easily retrievable stories that have been well indexed, and cross-indexed then we can be sensitive to other people’s experiences and converse with a greater range of nuances and understanding.


INDEXING COMPETENCY


Indexing is how we classify our experiences. The better the index the easier it is find information. The problem with an index is deciding what descriptors to use to classify our experiences. Indexes are further complicated by the fact everyone will chose different “key words,” or descriptors to classify their experiences. If we cannot access our experiences due to an inadequate index or one that does not match someone else’s, our experiences become dormant. They are left in the proverbial warehouse of our mind available to our unconscious but collecting dust. Effective communicators and learners naturally develop extensive indexing schemes. They draw upon lots of different experiences and can recall these experiences in the form of stories.

Triggers activate indexes. Triggers are any kind of stimuli that results in a search of our experiences and in a recounting of it. An item in our index can be stimulated by a variety of triggers. Therefore we need to be vigilant in creating a vast index and become more aware of potential triggers. If we think in advance about what kinds of themes, ideas, perceptions, learning, or emotions, are contained in our experience we will be able to leverage this awareness by becoming sensitive to a multitude of triggers. For example, take a conversation. Thoughts and ideas are expressed one after another. Given the flow of a conversation we can be swept along without ever consciously drawing upon our experiences. We are using them in the background in order to understand what is being communicated but we are not bringing them to the forefront of our minds. This in turn limits our ability to infuse the conversation with greater depth and energy. Our experiences left running in the background by our minds generates a base level of understanding but will cause us to miss vital opportunities to increase our learning and communicate with greater depth. From our previous discussions we have established the complex nature of our experiences stored and recounted to others in the form of stories.

In order to be an effective communicator and learner you need to have a wealth of stories. You are mistaken if you think you do not know or have a lot of stories. Our lives are rich with experiences. The trick is we need to make ourselves aware of these experiences by focusing our attention on them. The Personal History exercise is a sample of how you can recapture dusty memories and shake them off.
Let’s step back for a moment and realize that this process of experiences becoming stored as stories, indexed for retrieval, and our use of them in conversations and learning settings happens all the time. Why not invoke this mental process? We can strengthen this natural phenomenon by increasing its frequency on a conscious level. To do this we must have a solid foundation built. A big well-organized toolbox of personal stories will get the job done.


The first step in building an index and developing an awareness of triggers is to reconstruct as many of our experiences. This will result in an active collection of stories, which we can then index and associate with some potential triggers. The next exercise presents a method for building a collection of stories, identifying some major themes, and anticipating potential triggers.

Exercise: Indexing – Personal History

In this exercise you will create a timeline of your life. One end of the timeline should be marked with “birth,” and the other should be marked as “present.” Think back upon the years of your life and start scanning them for memories that stick out. As you create your timeline use the following list of seven historical triggers to help you jog your memory.


1. Major Event
Were there any significant things that happened?

2. Influence
What things had a formative effect in shaping your ideas, beliefs, values, or attitudes?

3. Decision
Did you make any decisions that had an impact on your life or the lives of others?

4. Change
What changes occurred?

5. Success
What were your major accomplishments?

6. Failures
Did you make any big mistakes or experience any failures?

7. Disappointments
Were there any

8. Significant People
How did certain key people affect you?

Be sure you find the stories behind each of these triggers. If your memory surfaces more as a fact, then spend a moment with the memory and try to reconstitute all of the details surrounding it. This will transform your memory into a story. The richness of a story is what lends itself to indexing. Facts get lost.

Some people find it useful to do this year by year while others will start randomly filling in their timeline with memories as they occur.

Once you have your timeline filled in with stories develop a two columned list for each story that includes story triggers and themes. Your triggers will be any situation or time where you believe your story could have applicability. At the same time, examine your stories for themes. These are in essence things that you have learned and insights you have gained from your experiences. If you are aware of what themes can be found in your experiences it will help you index them based upon potential triggers.


All of these skills can be measured with the only assessment in the world that measured story-based communication skills (recognized in 2008 with an HR Leadership Award from the Asia Pacific HRM Congress).

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 my book, 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 12b of Many...

PART II: MODELING COMPETENCY OF THE INTERACTION RING


Let’s move to the second aspect of modeling. Explaining an idea with words can take a fair amount of time. Each piece of the idea has to be carefully laid out and all of the pieces have to be put in order. I am always amazed at how much time it takes me to present an idea when I lecture. The same idea can almost always be quickly grasped with a simple illustration that takes a fraction of the time compared to more didactic modes of communicating. That of course leaves us lecturers without much to say and our recipients with more retention. The problem lies in the effort it takes to come up with a compelling illustration.

I was teaching a technical writing course. In one of the exercises I had the group write a technical explanation for some engineering principles that could be understood by a twelve year old and that used an analogy to help explain the principle. They were forced to use constructs that an average twelve year old would know. It proved to be tough to come up with analogies but when they did they were amazed at how simple the principles really were and how easily they could be explained. There is a natural fear that if you over simplify an idea people will miss out. That is an incorrect assumption. Once a construct is in place it is far easier to refine it. Much of what we assume to be important turns out to be unnecessary detail that cannot nor need not be retained by most people.

We can model with words by coming up with analogies, similes, anecdotes, or metaphors to illustrate our ideas. This is a form of synthesis. We are using a known entity to explain a new one. A new entity can be explored by establishing a baseline with a known one. In essence we are creating word pictures. Through words we are painting vivid pictures. The assumption is that these pictures have a correspondence with our listeners’ experiences. We are invoking their imaginations. Our models as word pictures serve as tantalizers, which summon rich associations. Without some form of association our ideas will fizzle before they ever come to life. This next exercise explores the key questions you need to answer in order to effectively model with words.

Exercise: Modeling Competency – Answering the Key Questions


Here is a mental checklist of questions to run through when you are interested in using verbal models:

1. What do I want to communicate?
2. What constructs are known to this person or group?
3. How does the new construct relate to what is already known and understood by them?
4. Are there gaps between the two constructs being related to one another?
5. If there is a gap, can we work within the proposed model to explicate the differences?

Pick an occasion when you will need to explain something to an individual or group. Walk through the questions above and come up with some potential models. Try them out and evaluate the impact. How did you close the gap between the model you used and the full construct you were trying to communicate? Did you notice any difference in the recipient’s level of engagement? How did they respond?

It is not important for our model to be perfect. Inevitably it will fall short. However, once we have a fertile learning space we can expand our model and allow the recipient to refine it to successfully complete the transfer of information. Stories are tools for thinking. When we use word pictures and facilitate a discovery process to close the gap between the model and the desired construct being transferred we are engaged in using stories as tools for thinking.


Organizational Practices for the Interaction Ring

Communications can be so stiff in organizations. Efficiency rules and stories are deemed as inappropriate. We do not make the time to work with stories. I’ve already argued that stories are the most efficient way of storing, retrieving, and conveying information. Since story hearing requires active participation on the part of the listener, stories are the most profoundly social form of communication.

In one of my workshops I had a Director of Engineering. He was an extraordinarily bright individual, fair minded and even in his approach to all things. However, he struggled with how to invest time in the people around him. When a project called for it he would gladly work with whoever needed his guidance but as a general rule he preferred the solitary peace of his unperturbed work environment. Throughout the workshop I kept pushing him to see the value and long-term speed of a sinuous path between two points. In other words I was challenging him to discover that sometimes engaging in inefficient behaviors such as mutual storytelling sows seeds for future benefits. He could see my point intellectually but I could tell he was struggling with its application. So I gave him a homework assignment. I instructed him to come in the next day with three or more stories that he was instructed to weave together into a story collage. The next morning he came in very excited. He shared with me how he came up with three stories while he was running. Upon examination he was surprised to realize that the stories were not personal. In fact, he further realized that he had a habit of never using personal stories. Next he sat down and started thinking about some key personal stories and before long he had a string of them. The class was amazed when he sat in front of the group and began his web of stories with an explanation of the instructions I had given him the day before and the series of events leading up to his discovery of his personal stories. That was just the tip of the iceberg. His series of stories was rich, engaging, and full of insights. When he was done he sat back and smiled. Nodding his head he said, “Now I understand what you mean by a sinuous path being the shortest distance between two points.” He experienced the value of selecting and telling stories and realized they would not get in the way of him being more efficient. I also set him up to experience the model and I have the added pleasure of sharing his actions with you to reinforce my assertions.

Leaders need to promote telling stories, modeling behaviors to generate stories, and verbal models by practicing these competencies. We are not talking about the use of these competencies during only all-hands-on meetings or other large events. These competencies need to be seen all the time in every type of interaction. For less verbally oriented employees, written communications provide just as much of an opportunity to leverage the competencies of the Interaction Ring as any other. Individuals do not need to carry the burden of coming up with effective stories or models all on their own. This means these stories can be discovered in a collaborative process. People can work with one another to turn an idea into a compelling story or model. Until it becomes second nature, story facilitators can be used to help organizations develop repeatable processes for leveraging the competencies in the Interaction Ring. These processes should be woven into a wide range of organizational activities. As a facilitator I might prompt someone to support the introduction of a new idea by telling a story or providing a model. Clear command of an idea is demonstrated by the use of either one of these.

Selecting stories is a central part of an organization’s’ knowledge management efforts. What stories are chosen to become a part of the formal institutional memory? Contrary to what many assume, these stories are better selected by employees rather than its leaders. Certain stories will naturally rise to the surface. Stories like how the organization started, what some of the early days were like, etc… The stories with the greatest impact will come from the memories of individuals both inside and outside of the organization. These are all the hidden gems. If leaders encourage people to remember stories and carry them forward there will be less pressure on them to broadcast the perfect story. In this sense, organizations can support the development of all the competencies in the Interaction Ring by providing employees with ample opportunities to share stories.


SUMMARY OF THE INTERACTION RING

The competencies in the Interaction Ring are the most visible but the least important. The Process Ring and Core are the foundation. Selecting stories depends upon a rich index of stories that can only be gained through reflection, synthesis, and all of the listening competencies in the Core. We looked at some ideas on how to determine what kind of story to select. Telling stories was shown to be less concerned with execution and more concerned with being sensitive to expanding and collapsing the amount of detail in a story, eliciting stories from others, and telling stories in an interactive manner. We concluded our tour of the Interaction Ring by looking at the different ways we can use models.

Leadership & Storytelling Part 12a of Many...

In this entry we pick up with the third competency of modeling of the Interaction Ring of the Story-Based Communication Skills model. In previous entries we explored the tow other skills of being able to select a story and tell a story. There are two aspects of the model skills. Here's the first of two discussion on the story-based communication skill of modeling.


MODELING COMPETENCY

There are two aspects to the modeling competency. The first aspect can be summed up in a cliché, “actions speak louder than words.” Our behavior has the potential to speak volumes. Our actions can create memorable experiences for others that are retold as stories. We should strive to enact our intentions instead of announcing them. Be mindful of how your actions can create stories. The modeling competency also describes how we use language and visual aids to explain complex ideas. Analogies, similes, metaphors, and anecdotes are just a few examples of using language to generate models.

While interviewing an executive at Dreyer’s Ice Cream I heard a wonderful story that is a perfect example of how stories are created by actions. This story takes places towards the beginning of the company’s history. It was a day or two before Christmas Eve and the receptionist working the phones was not busy. There had been almost no calls for the day. When the President walked by her desk the receptionist asked him if she could leave early. The President thought to himself, “I have one of three possible responses. I can tell her what she wants to hear and instruct her to forward the phones into voice mail and to go home early and have a wonderful holiday. I can tell her that every call is important and that by greeting each customer personally she helps the company succeed. Or I can tell her to make the decision herself.” The President decided to let the receptionist make her own decision. To this day he’s not sure what she decided nor does he care. She was the best person to make the decision and he trusted her to make it. This story is retold at every employee orientation. The President enacted the values of the culture he espoused and it left an indelible mark in the minds of his employees.

We don’t realize how significant our actions can be. Ad hoc water cooler conversations are riddled with stories of people’s behavior. Imagine your actions in terms of what stories they might generate. There is no need to be paranoid. Every person will not perceive our actions no matter how noble our intentions may be positively but we need to be more purposeful in how we go about them. A good modeler lives by example.


Exercise: Modeling Competency – Creating Stories through Actions

Identify a key message you want to communicate. Perhaps it’s a message you have tried communicating several times but it has failed to stick or maybe it’s a new idea you have been trying to advance. Consider what actions you could take to model it. One of my favorite examples comes from a client who was having difficulty with their quality control department. The CEO of the company held a luncheon and had everyone’s lunches purposely mixed up. Sometimes these actions will be single acts that have a big dramatic effect as in the quality control example however; sometimes you may need to try a series of actions. Think of what actions you can take to model your message. Will anyone else be involved in the actions you need to take? Why do you think these actions will be effective?

There are times when you cannot directly reach your target audience. In these instances you need to mold the actions of others. You need to act as a coach by helping others determine what actions they can take that have the potential to create stories. Guide them to look for opportunities that are a natural part of the organization’s activities. These are great places to look because when we introduce variation in otherwise stable behaviors they are likely to be noticed. When you are coaching someone have them consider the impact of their actions and how others might respond. Help them prepare for the possibility that their actions may not create a positive story. How will they handle any negative ramifications? Ask them to imagine how any of these can be transformed into positive ones?


All of these skills can be measured with the only assessment in the world that measured story-based communication skills (recognized in 2008 with an HR Leadership Award from the Asia Pacific HRM Congress).

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 my book, 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 10 of Many...

We start our detailed look at story-based communication model for leaders by looking at the Interaction Ring.

The Interaction Ring with its three skills describes how we use stories to connect with others and communicate. The three skills are:

1. Selecting
2. Telling
3. Modeling

This is the tip of the iceberg. When people think of storytelling skills these are the ones that come rushing to mind.


The Interaction Ring contains the competencies that are most noticeable by outside observers. Selecting, Telling and Modeling describe how we use stories to communicate. In actuality, these are the least important competencies. They demonstrate mastery of the competencies found in the Core and Process Ring without which the competencies in the Interaction Ring amount too little more than showmanship. The Interaction Ring is the icing on the cake. All the other competencies have to be working in concert in order for us to be effective communicators and learners regardless of how clever we are in selecting stories, how theatrically we tell them, what behaviors we model or analogies we leverage to explain ourselves.


SELECTING COMPETENCY

One of the questions I get asked the most is, “how do you know what story to tell?” It’s an excellent question. Of course the setting of where a story is to be told has a lot to do with it. Stepping back to do an audience analysis will be instrumental in guiding you. For example, it is more straightforward when you are giving a presentation at a conference in front of a large audience than if you are attempting to select a story on the fly in an informal conversation. When you have advance information about who the people are, why they are coming, and a sense of what you think they want to get out of your talk than it is easy to use your preparation time to scan a wide assortment of story options. However, when we do not have the luxury of planning, selecting a story becomes more challenging. In these extemporaneous settings you must rely on the “listening” competencies of the Core, and the Indexing competency from the Process Ring. How to select a story is a function of our index.

Here's a complimentary copy of a tool I developed to help leaders select stories.

Complimentary Tool for Selecting Stories: Click Here...


We'll be continuing our exploration of the Interaction Ring and the two other skills in the next two blog entries.


All of these skills can be measured with the only assessment in the world that measured story-based communication skills (recognized in 2008 with an HR Leadership Award from the Asia Pacific HRM Congress).

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 my book, 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 8 of Many...

Over the last seven blog posts I have characterized eight leadership behaviors. Before diving into our final one here's a recap of the first seven. I'm sure none of these will surprise you:

1. Cultivate Trust
2. Delegate
3. Manage Boundaries
4. Share Passion to Instill Passion
5. Recognize Talent
6. Park the Ego
7. Stop and Listen

And now for number eight...but wait be sure to add your commnets. What other key leadership behaviors you would add to this lsit. This isonly a conversation starter...

8. Know When and How to Take Risks

Without risk and uncertainty very little can be achieved. Jumping into a situation with reckless abandon is seldom fruitful and may simply be a different face of the same malady afflicting those who are paralyzed with fear and unable to ever take a risk. So there is a delicate balance between risk and safety. A leader must learn how to decide when to take a risk and how to take it in such a way as to minimize its potential damage. Part of success in risk taking lies in allowing others to take risks and trusting their judgment, especially when the risky action being considered lies closer to their realm of experience and knowledge than to yours.


Practice

• Challenge yourself to learn or try something new. Look for opportunities to get out of your comfort zone.

• Seek people who can act as your coaches.

In the next nine posts. I will discuss what I have discovered in my research, publishing, and coaching on storytelling skills for leaders. We will dive into nine story-based communication skills for leaders.

BTW thanks for reading and please share your thoughts!

Leadership & Storytelling Part 4 of Many...

A picture of two passionate people engaged in Tango dancing seems like a perfect image to set the stage for this entry. Dance is a wonderful metaphor for leaders in today's organization. Feel the music vibrating, see the flood of opportunities, risks, challenges, and dynamics ever-changing. The music doesn't stop and it draws us on. Are our leaders prepared to put their passions on the line? How will their passions instill a burning desire for others to pick up their heels and join the dance.

Here's the fourth behavior in our series of eight leadership behaviors and story-based communication skills. Grab your tango partner and join me now in the dicsussion...


4. Share Passion to Instill Passion

Tuning into the fires of the heart is a mission-critical ingredient for success. Without passion the organizational actors are just reading their lines from teleprompters on a bare stage. In whatever personal form it takes, leaders must find ever-new ways to share their passions. They must do this not simply for the purposes of rallying others to be illuminated by the leaders’ brilliant blaze but to model and encourage others to stoke their own fires. Having lots of fires ensures that the organization is bright, alive, and warm and that it contains a plethora of inviting interpersonal places for people to gather around and share their stories of how thingshave been and dream about how things can be.


Practice

• Take a piece of paper and draw a large heart. In the center of the heart write down all the things you are most passionate about in your organization. Describe how the role you play in the organization relates
and contributes to these areas of passion.

• During a team meeting ask people to share these pictures of their passions.Discuss how various team members’ passions overlap. Discuss any gaps between people’s passions and the organization’s
current goals and direction.

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)

Round-up StoryMatters Episode 7 - Words & Stories

If you haven’t had a chance read the blog entry before this one - it has three 99 word stories from our last StoryMatters Episode.

After Brian shared the stories posted in the last blog entry, I reflected the stories back to him. In the process I look for some key words to help me index (pinpoint) something central in the story that stands out for me. These index words are the gateway to finding my own personal stories that are associated with the 99 words stories. I use the 99 word stories as trigger for my own story reflection.

The three words from the stores that jumped out for me were:

IMAGINATION
COMPREHENSION
PROBLEM

I then proceeded to tell some stories of my own...I shared a story of a year in Budapest living in Communist built apartment complex, without a working phone, the beginning of Desert Storm with CNN images of smart bombing, my father in the hospital for heart surgery and no way for me to get back home, reading a book in my apartment - Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle (Mad Dog Bonzgo and WWIII) when the lights in the entire city of apartment buildings go out - I felt so vulnerable I crawled to my bed and did not move for 12 hours...

I told another story about a 30 year old hotel worker and the depth of experience and knowledge about a place that was otherwise falling apart. It had been a grand hotel - this guy had not only knowledge, but deep comprehension ... he had ideas of how and what the hotel could do to make things better but given his lowly position no one was talking to him

The last story I shared was about watching how more often than not people's initial grievances and complaints with large scale software implementations face away and settle with a little time and patience. More problems are created by over reacting to problems too quickly or soon.

Brian then shared a stored about having to facilitate a workshop in a loud school gymnasium. When he reframed his annoyance into a challenge of imagination by pretending it was the launch deck of the Star Trek Enterpise his whole attitude changed and his it no longer became an onerous task to ignore the initial noise and distractions


After our stories we opened up the discussion tot he group. We asked them to reflect on the relationship between the words

IMAGINATION - COMPREHENSION - PROBLEMS

Here's what people had to said. Of course other stories were shared too...

Imagination enables us to choose the frame we use to interpret or
comprehend a situation

With imagination, the "frame" of our comprehension becomes more flexible
than we might have thought.

You can't make a problem go a way by imagining it differently but you
can change its severity or intensity

Comprehension is driven by the frame we draw around something and that
frame can be flexible with imagination

We can never erase our frame entirely; can never fully see something
from another's perspective

Being circumspect about our attitude allows us to flex our frame

Using our imagination to practice flexing our frame of reference teaches
us a level of tolerance for the sometimes unusual frames that other
people are using

Imagination and comprehension are necessary for good problem solving

I think it takes first comprehension and then imagination to take a look at what is perceived as a problem and reframe it as not a problem, or perhaps discover solution

Problems are best solved with complete comprehension plus imagination thrown

Okay so what words stand out for you from the three stories?
What do you see as the relationship between these words?
And, most importantly...what stories can share that are triggers/associated with these words?

Thanks in advance for sharing!

StoryMatters Episode 7 - Three 99 Word Story Triggers

Today we had the first live virtual studio audience for Episode 7 of StoryMatters. We'll be posting the recording soon but until then here are the three 99 word stories that were the trigger for our rich dialogue and story swapping.

Imagine!
Jeff was not an urbanite but he lived in an apartment above a busy Manhattan street. The rush of city– especially the noise of traffic – began to affect his sense of wellbeing. So, when a friend suggested he spend his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Jeff did not hesitate.

Two weeks surrounded by gulls and waves healed Jeff’s spirit with lasting impact. Back in New York, he still awoke with the sound of surf in his ears – even though it was really the traffic far below his window!

Imagination plus attitude equals potent medicine for everyday coping.


Who Knew?
At three and a half, my daughter was a pacifier junkie. She only popped it in her mouth after daycare yet no amount of encouragement could induce her to kick the habit.

One day, my wife and I were discussing a report that the chemical softener in pacifiers could be carcinogenic. Our daughter interrupted to ask what we were talking about. We explained, in simple terms, that her pacifier might be dangerous for her long-term health. Without a word, she took it out of her mouth. Cold turkey.

We never really know how much a person comprehends!


The Passing Lane
Ahead of me climbing the steep mountain highway, three cars and a very slow truck jockey for dominance. The drivers all know this is the only passing lane for several miles. I can just imagine the tension in those cars as everyone tries to get around the lumbering truck before the passing lane ends. They are bumper to bumper at 60 mph!

Two cars pass the truck. Not me. But at the top of the hill, the truck makes a left turn onto another highway.

Some problems take care of themselves. Some problems we make ourselves.


STAY TUNED MORE TO FOLLOW SOON...

Guideline for Working with a Group's Stories - Part 8 of 9

8. Connect stories to one another

Treat each story as a building block that can be pieced together with another one to generate greater understanding. Stories left in isolation are like cold statues in abandoned temples erected as grand testimonies of heroic accomplishments but devoid of depth and significance. I developed a group facilitation technique called Story Collaging™ (described in Part II of this book) for helping groups see the connections between stories. Leave no stone unturned. As members of a group create a shared history, lots and lots of stories will naturally emerge. Your job is to remember these stories and constantly look for how they relate to one another. You are also tasked with inciting others in the group to do the same thing.

Stories are reflection in motion. One story leads to another and before you know it you have a mosaic of experiences crisscrossing with one another. Stories are like the tiny pieces of glass in a stained glass window. Every time the sun shines through new colors and shades of meaning emerge. Story listeners function like the sun in our image of a stained glass window. This is one of the most exciting things I do as a facilitator. I never know what will surface. The stronger the connections between the stories and the greater the number of connections between them directly correlates with the quality of learning.

Guideline for Working with a Group's Stories - Part 7 of 9

7. Be open, respectful, and non-judgmental of the stories people share

Treat all stories with respect. When someone shares a story they have given us a part of themselves. Handle it accordingly. The fragile pieces of our identity rest in our narratives. Never feel entitled to know anyone’s story. People will share what they want, when they are ready, and in a manner that does not violate their sense of themselves. However, you will be surprised at how willing and eager people are to exit the precarious myth of their separateness and embrace a sense of belonging granted by tying their experiences to those of others in a tapestry of shared consciousness.


The most vivid pictures we own are the stories in our hearts. Stories support a lattice of human experience. Each new story acts as a tendril tying us to the past, making the present significant, and giving shape to the future. Stories by their nature are a microcosm of who and how we are, so be sure you’re always respectful and non-judgmental. We can never fully understand the mysteries of someone else’s journey. Stories have no need to compete with one another and stories exist to coexist with each other. Act as an unbiased, self-aware, gracious curator and stories will usher in a cornucopia of delights and wisdom.

Guideline for Working with a Group's Stories - Part 2 of 9

2. Incorporate material relevant to the group into stories


Good storytellers know how to customize a story to a group. Think back to when you were a kid and your teacher personalized a story by using your name or one of your favorite things as a detail in the story. Didn’t you feel engaged and excited to become an integral part of the story? Was your imagination stimulated? The same is true for adult learners. We love to see ourselves in the situations being painted by a compelling story. Our techniques for incorporating relevant material into stories with adult learners can be as simple as weaving in a personal fact to richer ones such as referencing other people’s personal stories. As you become more adept at this you will find yourself naturally weaving in all sorts of artifacts from the group’s process or history. In this way stories cease to be stale since they offer tellers a way to stay invigorated. The very act of weaving in new material with the story will create opportunities for the teller to uncover new nooks and crannies of meaning.

Story-Based Communication

Here is a comparison of traditional forms of communication with story-based ones...

More Traditional Forms of Communication	Story-Based Communications
Explicit – information is presented in a direct, precise and clear manner.	Implicit – information is encoded in packets of compelling and memorable nuggets.
Logical – information is organized in an easy to follow linear fashion.	Evocative – information is more emotional in nature and lends itself to less structured types of presentations (including non-linear threads that can be followed and navigated based on people’s needs and interests).
Controlled – information is structured to leave as little as possible to people’s interpretation.	Emergent – information is meant to trigger people’s experiences, personal associations, and linkages.
Sense Giving – information is used to minimize uncertainty by offering tangible and discernable chunks of meaning.	Sense Making – information requires people to generate more of their own meaning and in some instances may leave people feeling uncertain as to the nature of the information until they do make sense of it for themselves.

Bear in mind both buckets are critical to the success of effective organizational communications. It’s just we tend to think of stories as another tool in the first bucket; we need to understand that stories operate best when they act as stimuli as opposed to information containers.

Stories achieve their greatest punch when they are used to create interlocking webs of meaning. A story used as a solitary chunk of communication is far less effective than when we find innovative ways to string associations of stories together. If one story paints a powerful picture what will several well integrated stories do, especially if we invite people to co-create them with us? Although this may seem counter intuitive, stories used to stimulate the storytelling of others yield the best results.

Think of story-based communication strategies as cloud chambers in your organization…

Cloud Chamber - apparatus that detects high-energy particles passing through a supersaturated vapor; each particle ionizes molecules along its path and small droplets condense on them to produce a visible track (definition courtesy of www.answer.com)

Stories act as organizational cloud chambers. They create a space of dialogue and sense making. This “story space” is where people interact with each other’s stories in different ways. Some interactions might occur as people reflect and react to organizational collaterals peppered with stories, some interactions might happen when we create formal and informal opportunities for people to respond to the stories we use to incite dialogue, and still other interactions, once we have put the initial stories out there, will happen without us doing anything whatsoever to orchestrate them. As stories elicit more stories by bouncing off of each other, organizational trajectories of meaning and understanding emerge. People’s actions provide a visible albeit subtle and ghostly trace of the impact of story-based communications.

Stories are not another lever in a machine. Machines or systems take known controlled inputs that produce reliable and consistent outputs. Stories are more chaotic. Once you stir up or perturbate the social fabric of individual nodes of sense making (aka the people in an organization) unexpected behaviors emerge. What is lost in control is gained in the propagating strength of the communication signal and the rolling waves of self-directed behaviors it has the potential to create. Communications function less like instructions and more like picture frames waiting to be filled with collages of vibrant photographs.

Poetic Vision of Stories & A Story Benediction

Stories fold in and out of themselves to reveal subtle worlds of meanings, purpose, and connections.

They are gentle transporters bound by time but that travel beyond the boundaries of what we have experienced at any given point in time.

Stories free us to move through a landscape of change. We leave the dusty road of the familiar and embrace a void where we can find the freedom to chose and perceive new realities and project worlds of our own making.

Stories can either crush illusions we have become enslaved to due to habit or they can lift our veils of fear and familiarity and give us a glimpse of new ways of being. Here we will find a place where we can be our unique selves while in communion with others.

Terrence L. Gargiulo

May stories...
Stir you heart,
Inform your thoughts
and guide your actions