"A powerful way to remind the people you lead of your vision is to tell good stories."
Once upon a time…
If you wanted to capture my attention as a kid, all you had to do was open with that phrase. I LOVE a good story. Who doesn’t, right? Stories have the ability to help us envision a different time, place, and even world. Good stories can teach us, challenge us, move us, and on and on. The possibilities seem endless.
We have been moved by stories in various forms. For some it’s a movie or tv show. Others have been impacted by books, poems, or songs. It doesn’t make a difference the genre, the length, or the age of the story. If it communicates in a clear and compelling way it will move us.
What is the last story you have heard that inspired you? A movie about a leader that overcomes all obstacles to accomplish something that seems impossible? A love story where the “nice guy” doesn’t give up hope on winning the heart of a woman he’s in love with? A television series of a family looking to save their family's ranch? How about a song that inspires you to take a risk, try again, hang on for one more day?
What does any of this have to do with leadership?
In my last post, I wrote about the hard truth that vision leaks and told you I would share in this post a way to combat that leakage.
A powerful way to remind the people you lead of your vision is to tell good stories.
Tell stories about people who have moved the organization forward toward the vision you are collectively moving toward. A very effective way to keep vision at the forefront of what our organizations do is to tell stories that carry it along.
Imagine you had a large bucket of water but no way to carry it to where it’s needed. It wouldn’t be of much value. The same thing can be said about a clear compelling vision. What good is a vision statement if it leaks and no longer provides motivation and direction? One of the difficulties in keeping vision at the forefront of our organization's mind is making it practical. Stories make the vision real, tangible. When we tell stories, we remind our people what we value and what it looks like to put those values into practice.
Stories are the handles on the buckets of the vision for our team. They are how we move it forward.
Do you have someone on your team that embodies one of your teams’ values? Tell their story. For example, if one of your values is being “flexible,” look for ways someone in your organization lives out that value. Find the best way to communicate their story. Is it in a meeting will all the staff together? Is it a video sent in an email? Maybe it’s an article in a newsletter. I don’t know what will work best in your setting.
The bones of the story could be like this:
“This is Mark. Mark has been with us for 3 years and really embodies our value of being flexible. Last month Mark was working on project “x” and we asked him help out with project “y” to keep us on track and come in under budget on time. Mark, being flexible, helped us cross the finish line on “y” early and is back on “x.”
It’s this kind of flexibility that will help us ___ (cast the vision of where the company is going here).”
Think about all the people in your organization. Each one of them is a story being told. They are overcoming obstacles, facing fears, failing, learning, etc. Each one of their stories can be told in a way that encourages, inspires, and reminds our teams where our organizations are going.
I hope you will grow in your ability to tell stories. Without exaggeration, I tell you that your ability to lead your people forward depends on it. Start by dreaming where you will lead them next year. If you were writing a story about how next year will go, how would you tell it…?
Go and lead well. This is your once upon a time.
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