Can I tell you a story about the photo below?
It was January 2020 and we were rounding up a trip to the USA in the state of Texas. My son and husband are huge NBA fans with Noah being a long time, ardent supporter the San Antonio Spurs.
The excitement was mounting ahead of the big game. Noah was desperate to meet Australian Patty Mills of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal Australian descent. Cardboard paper in hand, Noah said he was off to borrow a few marker pens from reception.
I said “What are you going to say?”
He said “Can I please borrow some markers?” (points for great manners!)
I said “No, son! Tell them the story! Tell them why you need to borrow the markers. Tell them how you’ve been counting down the days til today to meet Patty. Tell them how far you’ve travelled and what you plan to write on the sign. Tell them how much this means to you.”
It worked!* Stories work because they
- Inform
- Align
- Inspire
- Connect
- Engage
What does this mean for leaders? A leader who can tell a story well comes across as more genuine, approachable and human. You’re letting the people you lead have a sneak peak into your life – the ups, downs and roundabouts you’ve travelled to get to where you are now.
So what makes for a good story? If you’re a reader or movie watcher or have followed TV campaigns (like Genesis’s George and her family or ASB’s Ben and Amy or Partners Life’s Get Life Right) you already know!
- Character development
- Action
- A point
- A learning
- A challenge that gets resolved
- And it doesn’t have to be long to be good and compelling!
Looking to share more stories? Here are some prompts:
- What’s been your biggest leadership lesson or learning?
- What’s the most impactful feedback you ever received and what did you do with it?
- Share a story about a time when a project you were working on got really sticky or off track. What did you do to get back on track?
- Share a story of a team you’ve been proud to be a part of. What made the team hum?
I love including story telling in my programmes as an essential skill for all leaders and influencers. Yell out if you want to hear more about how we can work together on this with your leaders.
So, how was the rest of 2020 after we got back from our trip to the States? Well, that’s a whole other story….
*Photo credit Ross Halpin. There’s a whole lot more detail to this story and you’ll have to ask the photographer for the rest.
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#teamdevelopment
#leadingchange