The Power of Small Stories

power-of-stories-richard-andrewsSmall Stories are flying round every organization every minute of every day. Like mosquitoes over a lake in summer they get everywhere: in the corridors, the restrooms, the stockroom and the kitchen. They hover around the photocopier and the water cooler, they get under the door and through the smallest gap in the window. They settle for just an instant on some exposed skin and, almost unnoticed, they give a little bite. One bite’s no problem, but over time there’s one more then another; Ten, twenty, and they start to have a real impact!

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Small stories are those little one-liners that are a great indicator of an organization culture.

A single story:

“I see the boss is out on the golf-course again”

tells you very little. But if the same kind of story is being repeated again and again, it becomes a big deal and whether truth or perception, it certainly has an impact on people’s beliefs and behaviors.

“I hear that the boss really bawled out Molly at the meeting last week”

quickly becomes a perceived truth that managers are disrespectful, abusive and don’t value the staff team. Forget about what it says in your values statement, it’s the Small Stories, truthful or perceived as truthful, that create the culture!

Leaders and managers are great ‘Big Story’ tellers: the annual staff day where the CEO delivers an upbeat PowerPoint about the great opportunities ahead, the monthly sales meeting, the annual appraisal, the staff newsletter and more! But most times leaders and managers don’t do small stories; they don’t like small stories. They get dismissed as ‘rumour or ‘gossip’. They’re seen as viral and uncontrollable, needing to be suppressed.

Using stories to turn negatives into positives and develop a great workplace culture.” Richard Andrews Tweet this!

You can spend a whole lot of energy trying to eradicate Small Stories but you’ve got no chance! Give up trying to kill your organization Small Stories and embrace them instead!

Small Stories don’t all need to be negative, there are great Small Stories too. What’s important is the balance between positive and negative.

So how about getting into the Small Story business?

Instead of trying – and failing to control those pesky mosquitoes, how about releasing a few of them yourself?

“It was great that Julie went that extra mile to close a deal.”

“The way John helped out in making sure that customer had a great experience of us made me feel really proud of our organization”

“There’s been a real feel of enthusiasm this week!”

Power-Small-Stories-Richard-Andrewsall have the potential to buzz around the workplace infecting people and counteracting any negative stories that may be hanging around. And if you and your management team are each releasing twenty Small Stories each week the balance between negative and positive will soon start to swing.

Positive emotion is just as contagious as negative.” ~ Richard Andrews Tweet this!

Be careful what your Small Stories are saying.

“Jane has really embraced the new strategy and has won a great new contract!”

is enough. It’s positive and everyone can draw whatever conclusion they wish to from it.

“Jane has really embraced the new strategy and has won a great new contract! It’s a shame everyone else isn’t as proactive as she is.”

ruins the whole impact! Suddenly we’ve got a story about how resistant and unhelpful the boss thinks the workforce are! What a waste of a good Small Story!

Equally, the thing that gives your Small Story wings is its truthfulness. If it’s not true, genuine and heartfelt it becomes nothing more than cynical manipulation.  Don’t be fooled, your people will see through that in an instant!

Please don’t ditch the Big Stories. The staff day’s fun, it’s informative and it makes your people feel they belong. Instead, add to it with a simple Small Story strategy. If you can stick to it, you might notice those mosquitoes giving way to butterflies!

Really Useful Things Leaders Can Do In A Recession

Leadership - RecessionA Brit, Jenson Button, recently won the first Formula 1 motor race of the 2012 season. You might not know too much about Formula 1, but those of you who follow Nascar will get the picture. These super fast and highly complex cars are designed and tuned to perfection by a dedicated team of experts. The drivers are trained and highly skilled. Any mistake, any imperfection can lead to disaster. Yet despite the complexity and despite the critical importance of getting it right, Button did not drive around the track in Melbourne pulling a team of engineers behind him in a trailer! The hard work had been done in advance, when things were quieter, when the pressure was reduced and when there was time for careful thought and analysis.

As Leaders, whether in business, in not-for-profits, or in public service; we are constantly looking for that key competitive advantage, that unique something that will set us apart from the competition and will result in us making it to the chequered flag before everyone else. We’re also consistently challenged by the tension between investing time and energy for the future whilst still delivering today.

Global recession is pretty challenging for most of us, but as we start to see early signs of recovery we have an opportunity: Race day is coming closer!

Now’s the time to get that engine tuned, to get some re-design so that we can make the best use of our aerodynamics when the race starts. Now’s the time to make sure that every member of the team has the chance to deliver peak performance.

People

No improvement journey can be successful if there’s no focus on people so people have to be the starting point!

When times are hard, our natural human inclination is to revert to survival mode. Creativity can become stifled, and anxiety can lead to team members becoming competitors or even enemies. But no one ever united around a vacuum! What a great time to share a positive vision of the future and to support team members to develop a better understanding of themselves and each other. Leading a vision is crucial, – and thinking around some key team-building, team-working, and team-development tools offers a road-map. In most organizations, it’s not the skill set that causes problems, it’s the attitudes, the commitment and the ability to collaborate with trust and creativity.

Process

Jenson Buttons Formula 1 Pit Team can change a wheel in about five seconds. – Actually, they can change four wheels in about five seconds!  Whether we’re delivering products or services, we can’t disregard key processes. Process review is pretty challenging when we’re at 105% of capacity and if things go well, that’s where we’re going to be in the near future. 65% of capacity doesn’t feel great but it can provide the margin that’s needed.  Those managers and leaders who maintain a focus on their processes will know: if you’ve been running with the same process for 18 months or so, the chances are that there are some valuable gains to be made!

Product

Over the last few months, I’ve worked with a manufacturer of office storage solutions that has realized that their existing machinery is ideally suited to make a whole range of other products for a completely different market; and with a service provider who has recognized that its excellent process for supporting people with learning difficulties, can offer a competitive edge in the care of elders. Now’s the time to talk. Talk with clients and customers, talk with the production guys and the R&D guys, talk with colleagues, neighbors and suppliers. What does the market want from our existing products and services? Where is the brave new world? What are we really great at and how else could we use that expertise? Innovation sometimes comes in a flash of inspiration. But usually it comes from hard work and collaborative exploration.

Leadership - Recession FinalRecession certainly doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do, but it can offer us an opportunity to focus on getting people, products, and processes in great condition – ready to take on the challenge of future opportunities no matter how each of us, defines that particular chequered flag.

 

 

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