Archive for April, 2013

What Made Nancy Duarte Resonate with Storytelling…and why should you care?

In an interview with Jonathan Fields of the GoodlifeProject, Nancy Duarte, author of Slide:ology and Resonate, explained what inspired her to write the book Resonate and what turned her into a passionate believer in the power of storytelling in business.

I recommend you watch the whole interview (you can also download the MP3s when you sign up at the GoodLifeProject website), but the part I want to share with you now comes at 27:46 when Jonathan asks Nancy Duarte about what prompted her to write Resonate.

Notice how she tells the story.

Notice how she creates a movie in your mind of the moment she realized the changed landscape of the creative industry she was in, and what she needed to do next to remain viable.

The story she shares is valuable both in its style and its message.

First, it illustrates how to make your point come alive with a story and why telling stories make your ideas more interesting and memorable.

Second, it communicates the importance of becoming a storyteller, not only in business, but in life.

Apr 29, 2013 | 1 comment View Post

Another example of how to use employee stories in Employer Branding and New Hire Orientation

In a previous post, I shared with you an example of the difference between a trite employee testimonial and an employee story. We explored how the latter does a much better job differentiating you from other employers in your efforts to attract talent.

Employee stories also make who your Employer Brand much more understandable and interesting.

Employee stories also make your new employe orientation programs more interesting and inspiring, and….help communicate your cultural norms and values-in-action.

Here’s another example with commentary by moi:

Apr 26, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

How to Use Employee Stories to Make Your Employer Branding and New Hire Orientation More Effective

Most employers do a really poor job of communicating their Employer Brand. Just go onto Youtube and put in “Great place to work” or “employee testimonials” and watch a few. While some are incredibly well produced, what they have in style they lack in substance.

While saying things like “I love the people I work with” or “We get to do really cool work with really cool people” is fine as a start, you need to say more than just that if you want to diferentiate your organization from others competing for talent.

Just Say “No” to Interchangable, Say Nothing Employee Testimonial Videos

How many of these employee testimonial videos can you watch before they all blur together?

How does one video featuring employees stating in general terms why they love working for their employer differ from all the other videos doing the same?

How many times can you hear phrases like:

“High integrity”

“Great environment”

“Great opportunities for growth”

“Work with great people”

…before they become meaningless?

This is Where Stories Come to the Rescue

Communicating your Employer Brand in a way that makes it meaningful and memorable is yet another context where storytelling shines.

So for instance, rather than just say “We empower employees”, give an example.

Tell a story.

Rather than just say “I love it here because even as a new employee, you can make a difference”, give an example of this.

Tell a story.

But What If We Don’t Have the Budget for Fancy Videography?

Not to worry, especially with Gen Y talent who grew up in a Youtube world of homegrown videos. Videos that look more “grassroots and homegrown” than corporate slick are perceived as more honest and real. They also communicate “here’s a real message from a peer” rather than “more CorporateSpeak BS from some older guy in a suit”.

Sally Falkow

Notes Digital Media guru, Sally Falkow, named a Top 1% Social Media Influencer by Kred:”With the technology available today there is no need to spend tons of money or time on a video. That said, the production value must be as good as you can possibly get it. People respond well to videos they see as “real and genuine” rather than corporate hype. But they do prefer a good quality video over a grainy, shaky, badly produced one.”

Here’s an Example

Here’s an example of using storytelling in your employee testimonial videos which I shared with participants at the Strengthening Your Talent Acquisition, Onboarding, and Employee Engagement Strategy Through Storytelling program I gave, along with Diana Oreck of Ritz Carlton, at the ERE conference this spring.

The video is from one of my favorite local organizations–the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. It was shot with a Kodak Zi8 and edited with Microsofte Live Movie Maker by a real video editing neophyte (moi).

The employee sharing why she loves working at the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland, is Lynne McGhee, Community Relationships Manager.

Notice how after she states in general terms why she loves working there, she shares some examples of what she is talking about.

She shares some stories.

Notice how the stories make the qualities she speaks about come alive. They give you a clearer understanding of what it is like working there.

Also, notice the text commentary in the vidoe and how it helps communicate directly to the type of person they want to attract. It speaks to the work experience qualities they care about and what motivates them.

Apr 24, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Share a Story; Offer a New Perspective

Recently, I was coaching a client who had a longstanding contentious relationship with a colleague. We had discussed what she could do to create a more harmonious relationship with this person. I asked her if she could focus on the things this other person did that she really respected, practice noticing the good things this person did, and intentionally engage in pleasant interactions.

The purpose was for her to help them build positive emotional associations with their interactions to help offset the many negative emotional associations they both had around their past interactions.

My client responded honestly that she didn’t think she could. She said she had tried, but all she could think of and notice were the things this person did that angered her and which she found objectionable.Rather than challenge her further or launch into a mini-lecture on how she might overcome this obstacle, I decided to tell her a story about someone else who experienced a MAJOR shift in his relationship because of the work that he did on himself. The shift was quite miraculous.

Before I share his story—or more specifically, have him share his story—let’s talk briefly about why you want to use stories to help shift someone out of a stuck place.

Use Stories to Paint a Picture of Possibility

One of the best ways of helping someone see the possibility of a new response to a troubling relationship or situation is to tell them a story about someone else (including you) who dealt with the same challenge.

Don’t Give Advice. Tell a Story

Rather than offer your five-step solution or other helpful advice, if you instead share a story you:

Make your message more captivating, because we are fascinated by stories of other people dealing with challenges we face.
Help the person see possibility where before they could only see obstacle or certain failure. Your success story of you or someone else overcoming a similar challenge as they are facing provides them with an image of what is possible.
Help shift the person’s emotional state to a more empowered, uplifted state. In that state, they can see opportunities and generate solutions that were unavailable to them when they were feeling stuck and overwhelmed.

LeRoy Lowell

Here’s the story that I shared with my client. It was told to me by LeRoy Lowell about what happened in his contentious relationship with his mother-in-law after he did his own work.I also shared with my client about the work a friend and colleague of mine, Bonnie Vestal, MD does with people who are stuck in angry, bitter relationships with spouses, bosses, colleagues or friends, and want to feel free of the animosity that is poisoning their lives.I walked her through a visualization Dr. Vestal does with her clients that enables them to genuinely send the other person love and goodwill. I did this conversationally, simply describing the process.

My intent was to provide an opportunity for my client to insert her relationship into the “visualization walk through” if she wanted to, or to simply hear it as a description of a technique that facilitated the outcome I told her about next.After describing the technique, I shared an example of an amazing relationship transformation a client of Dr. Vestal’s had during the week following the visualization.

Bonnie Vestal, MD

I shared LeRoy Lowell’s story and Dr. Vestal’s visualization story with my client because of storytelling’s ability to create both “inspiration and simulation” as Made to Stick author’s Chip and Dan Heath say. When you share stories of people overcoming challenges, it inspires the listener, it offers hope. When you describe what the person did to overcome their challenge or achieve their result, you offer a simulated experience the listener can engage in, that shows them how they might do the same. It’s sort of like virtual reality learning, or like a flight simulator pilot’s use in their training.My goal was first, to help her shift from “I can’t find it in my heart to see good in this person” to “I can…” Then, my goal in sharing these stories was to provide her with a couple of paths to doing so. This ability to provide both hope that a positive outcome is possible, and an example of how to make the outcome happen, is one of reasons why sharing stories is such a powerful way of helping people solve problems and achieve better outcomes.

Here is LeRoy Lowell’s Story

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Apr 23, 2013 | 2 comments View Post

A Video “Perspective Shift Story” about Self-Image and Beauty

Perspective Shift Stories are a powerful, yet gentle, way of inviting a person to look at themselves or their situation in a new, more empowering way.

Sometimes you can use a short “video story” to help someone shift their perspective.

I just came upon an example of this kind of video this evening.

Earlier in the day, I stumbled upon an article about a video that spoofed how guys are the opposite of women in terms of their self-assessment of their attractiveness–i.e. the majority of men rate themselves as above average in looks (I’m sure women readers don’t find this surprising…).

The video is pretty funny, and…it made me wonder about the video it was playing off of which was sponsored by Dove and about women being out of touch with just how beautiful they are.

And then…low and behold, the ad to a Dan Pink video I wanted to send to a client just happened to be the original Dove video the other video was based on.

Besides being very moving, it’s a great example of using a video story as a vehicle for helping the listener engage in a perspective shift about whatever they see as “not enough” about who they are.

If you want to increase your ability to experience how to use this video as an example of using a video story to create a perspective shift, think about some aspects of yourself that you are less than kind to yourself in your assessment–whether something about your looks, your abilities, your accomplishments, etc.

Then watch the video.

If you want to see the video spoof, here it is.

Sign up the free webinar Fascinating Inspiring U

(you can get the recording if you can’t attend live)

Apr 23, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

How NOT to Lose a Sale: a Self-Disclosure Story by Peter Bregman

Note from David: Before you get to the story, if you want to learn more about Self-Disclosure Stories and the Hows and Whys of using them, read How to Use Self-Disclosure Stories to Foster Self-Awareness.

Also, please note, this post is like all the stories I share or ask others to share on this site. It is meant to teach on two levels.

First, the content itself is meant to be helpful. That being said, not every topic covered in every story is relevant to every reader. However, the STRUCTURE and USE of that story genre is relevant to anyone who wants to learn storytelling.

That brings us the second, and main purpose, of sharing the story in this post.

Each post is designed to demonstrate story genres you can use and how to use them. So even if the content does not directly seem relevant to you, you can use the example as a prototype for coming up with your own versions. So for instance, even if you think “Well, I’m not a sales person, so losing a sale is not relevant to me”, the structure and application of this story will still be very useful to you.

This post is by Peter Bregman, author of 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done. He is an strategic advisor to executives, a keynote speaker (see his TedTalks on Youtube) and columnist for Harvard Business Review.

OK…now for the story….

How NOT to Lose a Sale

by Peter Bregman

Robyn*, a close friend of mine and senior leader at a large pharmaceutical company, referred me to work with Dan, the CEO of one of her company’s subsidiaries and someone she knew well. She would arrange for the three of us to meet. The lead wasn’t just warm; it was hot.

During the sales process I made a series of decisions, all of which felt — in fact, still feel — eminently reasonable. Here’s what happened:

With Dan’s permission, Robyn and I met several times before the meeting to discuss Dan and his situation. Dan was new to his role as CEO and needed to step up in tricky circumstances. By the time I met with him, I understood his challenges and it was clear that they fit squarely in my sweet spot as an advisor.
The day of the meeting, Robyn and Dan were running behind schedule. We had planned for 60 minutes but now only had 20. “No problem,” I told them, “I’ve been briefed about the situation, so we can cut to the chase.”
I sat down in an empty office chair which happened to be uncomfortably low to the ground and I instinctively raised the seat to the level at which I normally sit.
Dan started the conversation with a compliment about my latest book and told me how much he enjoyed my blog posts, which reinforced my decision to “cut to the chase.”
I explained briefly what I knew about his situation and when he acknowledged that I understood it, I launched into how I would approach it.
At one point, Dan asked me a question and I hesitated before answering. Robyn suggested that we discuss it later but I didn’t want to disappoint so I thanked her but said I’d be happy to share my thoughts and I did.

Nothing I did or said or thought or felt was dramatically off base. In fact, each step — each choice I made — was practical, sensible, and appropriate from my perspective.

Which is precisely why I crashed.

I was operating from my perspective. But Dan wasn’t. He was operating from his perspective. And from his perspective, the fact that I was operating from my perspective was a deal-breaker.

The problem? I wasn’t attuned.

Daniel Pink, in his excellent book To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, calls attunement one of the three most valuable qualities you need to move others. (Pink talked about this in a recent HBR Ideacast.)

Essentially, attunement is being in synch with who’s and what’s around you. When you’re in attunement, you’re curious. You ask questions, you listen to the answers, and you empathize.

I might have been attuned to the challenges Dan was facing — but everything I did and said indicated that I wasn’t attuned to Dan. Or even to Robyn.

According to Pink, the first rule of attunement is to reduce your power. You do that by letting go of your perspective, which opens space for you to share the perspective of others. Pink quoted one highly successful salesperson who related this to humility. Great sales people, she said, take the attitude, “I’m sitting in the small chair so you can sit in the big chair.”

I did the opposite. I raised my seat, literally and figuratively. I took control of the conversation, sidelined Robyn when she suggested we talk later, and spent what little time I had trying to prove to Dan that I understood it all and I was the right guy to help.

I was too easily flattered by Dan’s comment about my book, too rushed by our time crunch, and too eager to impress both Robyn and Dan. I tried so hard to prove my competence that I came off as incompetent. Maybe not in terms of my solution, but certainly in terms of our relationship.

I acted with the sensibility of an extrovert, which is typically assumed to offer a strong sales advantage. But Pink’s research suggests that being extroverted can actually be a liability. Why? Because too often we talk when we should be listening.

To the extent that I listened at all, I was listening to gather enough information so I could make a case to Dan that I could solve his problem. In other words, I was listening simply to empower my speaking.

But why didn’t that work? Wasn’t Dan looking for information about me and what I might do for him?

Maybe. But he as much as told me told me he knew enough about me from my writing, just like I knew a lot about him from my conversations with Robyn. No, Dan didn’t really want to hear me speak. He wanted to hear me listen.

What Dan was really looking to figure out — what most people are looking to figure out — is what it would feel like to work together. And what I showed him in our brief conversation is that it would feel like some expert coming in and telling him what he should do.

If I were Dan, I wouldn’t hire me either.

What would I do differently next time? I would sit in the chair I was offered and listen to Dan tell his story. Then I would ask him a number of questions to make sure I could see the situation with his eyes, analyze it from his point of view, and feel his emotions. I would attune to him.

That would require that I let go of my agenda, stop trying to get hired, give up trying to quickly and smartly summarize what Dan needed, and cease trying to prove myself.

My goal, the entire purpose of my presence, would be to connect.

If I did that well, I wouldn’t have to worry about showing him what I was capable of. There would be plenty of time for that later — once we started working together.

*Names and some details changed

Article originally published in the Harvard Business Review

For another one of Peter’s excellent stories check out the post Using Stories to Foster Vulnerability and Self-Discovery

About Peter Bregman: He is the author, most recently, of 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done, winner of the Gold medal from the Axiom Business Book awards, named the best business book of the year on NPR, and selected by Publisher’s Weekly and the New York Post as a top 10 business book. He is also the author of Point B: A Short Guide to Leading a Big Change and co-author of five other books. Featured on PBS, ABC and CNN, Peter is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, National Public Radio (NPR), Psychology Today, and CNN as well as a weekly commentator on Fox Business News.

Apr 20, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

How to Use Storytelling to Make Your New Hire Orientation and Employer Branding More Inspiring

If you want your New Employee Orientation program to be more inspiring, if you want to communicate to your new employees “You can be proud to work here”, if you want them to understand what your cultural values look and sound like in the real world…

Tell stories.

If you want your Employer Branding message to be more powerful and memorable, so it stands out from the competition…

Tell stories.

Here’s an example of the kind of stories you want to tell:

Apr 19, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Use Ritz Carlton’s “Wow” Story Approach to Remind Employees of the Importance of their Work and…

Ritz Carlton is probably the best example of an employer who consistently uses storytelling to inspire and remind employees what excellence looks like.

In this excerpt from the program Ritz Carlton’s Diana Oreck and I did at the ERE Conference titled Strengthening Your Talent Acquisition, Onboarding, and Employee Engagement Strategy Through Storytelling, Diana shares an example of the wonderful “Wow” Stories Ritz Carlton managers share during their daily line-ups. Each week, two of the daily line-ups include such stories.

Sharing stories of customer service excellence as well as other stories that illustrate employee excellence accomplishes several important objectives.

They provide inspiration – When people hear stories of excellence, it inspires them to be their best.
They recognize and demonstrate appreciation for greatness — Recognition and appreciation are two of the most powerful human motivators. Sharing stories of employees doing great things addresses both human needs.
They communicate your Behavioral Vision in a clear and compelling way – Your Behavioral Vision consists of the employee behaviors that make your Vision, your Mission, your Brand Promise, and your business goals possible. When you share stories of excellent customer service in action, you reinforce your vision of what great customer service looks like. When you share stories of employees engaging in behaviors that make your Vision, Mission, Brand Promise and business goals possible, you create a clear “Line of Sight” between their actions and performance and your business goals. This helps them understand exactly how they can contribute the most effectively to your organization’s success.
They increase the likelihood such greatness will be repeated — Because what gets noticed and appreciated gets repeated, sharing Wow Stories increases the odds that other employees will engage in such behaviors.
They foster pride — Employees–especially A Players–want to be proud of where they work. Sharing “Wow” Stories helps remind people they are part of a great team.
They keep employees connected to a sense of meaning and purpose – By sharing stories of employees doing great things and the impact of what they do, it helps them infuse their daily work with a sense of meaning and purpose. This is HUGE both in terms of employee engagement and in employee resilience. Employees are far more resilient, they have a far greater capacity to deal with stress and challenge, when they feel like what they do makes a difference in the world.

So you don’t have to scroll through the closing comments and questions again, here they are:

So…how will you use stories to connect your employees to the difference their work makes?

How will you share customer stories with your employees, so you infuse their work with greater meaning and purpose?

How will you capture and share stories that communicate your Behavioral Vision of what equals “Wow” customer service and expands your employees’ perspective on how to create memorable, brand-building experiences?

Capture customer stories.

Share them.

Inspire your employees.

Build a stronger brand.

Apr 17, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

“You can be proud to work here”: One of THE most important story themes to tell in new hire orientation

“You can be proud to work here.”

That is one of THE most important messages your new employee orientation program should communicate.

This is so crucial because people of the caliber you want to attract and retain place a high value in working for an employer of whom they can feel proud.

So, make sure you communicate to your new employees — both explicitly and implicitly – that they can be proud to work at your organization.

You communicate the message “You can be proud to work here” implicitly by conducting a well-designed, well-organized, effective onboarding program. They see by the way you deliver the onboarding experience that your organization does things right. Conducting a high quality onboarding program engenders both pride — “I’m part of a great organization” –and respect for management — “They know what they’re doing here.”

You communicate the message “You can be proud to work here” explicitly by sharing stories that demonstrate why your organization is worthy of pride.

“Pride Story” Themes You Can Draw From

These include stories with the following themes:

What makes your product or service great.
How your product or service has made a difference in the lives or businesses of your customers.
The good things your organization does in your local community, or for the world community.
Examples of employees performing at elite levels, such as providing over-the-top customer service that blows your customers away.
How your organization is run with integrity, respect for its people, and competence.

A Story About Integrity

I recently heard a great example of a story demonstrating the last theme on the above list from the Director of Claims at a property and casualty insurance company. While her story was part of an interview I did prior to a leadership retreat, it is a perfect example of the kind of story you want your leaders to share with your new hires during orientation.

You also want to put brief video clips of such stories such as this on your recruiting website.

When I asked this director, Barbara, what she liked about working at the insurance company, one of the things she mentioned was their high level of integrity:

“It’s not one of those companies that does things you feel uncomfortable about. I can sleep well at night working here.”

She went on to give an example. Whenever an official hurricane warning or watch is announced, the company reimburses their marine clients for the cost of removing their boats from the water. It’s in both their customers and the insurance company’s best interest that customers don’t gamble with this, whether it’s worth the cost to pull their boats out of the water versus risk the potential damage caused by a hurricane. Thus, the insurance company reimburses them to do that, if it’s an official hurricane warning or watch.

During last fall’s Hurricane Irene, the storm gradually faded as it reached New England, losing its status as an official hurricane. However, given the vagaries of weather, it could have easily ramped back up to hurricane status when it reached Maine.

The leadership team found themselves facing a decision that would affect both their customers and themselves.

“Technically we didn’t have to pay for boat owners to pull out their boats, because Irene was downgraded. But … what was the right thing to do? If we waited until it reached Maine to decide, they never would have gotten their boats out on time. We talked about what was the right thing to do. We decided it was to fund it. That’s one of the things about this company that I love, the high integrity.”

As she told this story, her expression and voice tone beamed with pride.

This is a perfect example of the type of story you want to collect, catalog, and share at your new employee orientation programs. You also want to use these on your recruiting website, at job fairs, and in your interviews. Not only does it communicate “You can be proud to work here,” but it also communicates your organization’s core values, an important role of your employee orientation program.

Sharing stories that inspire pride as part of your new employee orientation program not only will make your program more inspiring, it will also help “seal the deal” in your new employees’ minds that they made the right choice. So start collecting and using stories that communicate “You can be proud to work here.”

So How Can You Put This Into Action?

Collect stories from employees at all levels, about Moments of Truth that illustrate why they are proud to work in your organization.
Collect and catalog these stories in a database. Note what message they communicate, what value they personify, and use these as searchable keywords in your database. That way, you can easily locate what stories communicate the specific message you want to communicate.
Start including these stories in your new employee orientation program, but don’t stop there. Include them also on your recruiting site, have your recruiters share them at job fairs, and include them in your hiring interviews.

Note: this article was originally published in ERE.net

Apr 17, 2013 | 2 comments View Post

Using Storytelling in Talent Management: News from the ERE conference

A couple of hours ago, Diana Oreck from Ritz Carlton and I finished our program on using storytelling to make your Talent Management process more compelling and effective. It was a fun group (way to go gang!) and way fun working with Diana (thanks Diana!).

She shared some of those amazing Ritz Carlton stories that provide a great example of how stories provide both “inspiration and simulation”–to borrow from Made to Stick’s authors Chip and Dan Heath.

Here are two examples of the stories we shared.

More to come…

If you liked, please tweet this to your friends at @ereexpo

Apr 15, 2013 | 0 comments View Post