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Rebecca Self-Hill, Ph.D.
If you want to capture the imagination of your front-line employees, tell them
a story. Companies ranging from toymaker LEGO to telecom platform provider Avaya
are using the age-old art of storytelling to energize their troops. LEGO recently
produced "The LEGO Spirit," a CD-ROM and Intranet program that tells employee
stories from around the globe. Some showcase best practices, others illustrate
the benefits of company loyalty. This story from the CD-ROM exemplifies the brand
value of creativity: Erik
Bundgaard, known as the Mayor of LEGOland, heads the LEGO amusement park in Billund,
Denmark. Every year, he spent $200,000 on reproducing existing LEGO models in
the park because the colors of the blocks were fading in the harsh Danish weather.
When he read that church bells in England are polished with a mixture of baking
powder and water propelled from a blasting machine, he immediately tried it on
a LEGO boat from the park. It didn't work at first, but when he added glass and
sand to the mix, the LEGOs gleamed. The models don't have to be rebuilt as frequently
and LEGOland saved 80% in maintenance cost. Christian
Iversen, VP of HR at LEGO, explains that an initial batch of 120 stories was collected
through interviews with senior managers and employees. "Today stories are collected
through submission to the editorial board through our Web site." He adds that,
"the stories that have been most successful at LEGO are stories about employees
going the extra mile; they seem to get the most hits on the Intranet." The
storytelling tradition that LEGO is tapping into is as universal as it is effective.
Gather a group of people together, at any time in history, anywhere in the world,
and storytelling happens. Stories are being told over lunch or coffee, in the
hallways of every organization, each business. Every family, each nation has its
stories of origin, of identity, of purpose and mission. Stories share what is
celebrated and reviled in every culture. Francesco Ciccolella, LEGO's senior VP
of Corporate Development, touts the benefits of exporting the company's values
and stories across borders. "The story is what the customer wants to buy. People
attach value to good stories."
As religious and communal institutions have been eclipsed as the central myth-
and meaning-making organizations in societies around the globe, other types of
organizations have stepped up into that role. Corporations now play that role
in society through advertising, design, and the creation of new ideas, products,
and values. Corporations have become bestowers of meaning, creators of narratives,
images, and symbols depicting the valuable and cheap, beautiful and ugly in an
increasingly global marketplace.
For corporations, generating value through stories can happen in myriad ways.
Leadership can use stories to:
 | engage
and motivate employees | | create
a sense of identity and purpose throughout an organization |
|
manage change | | communicate
brand and core values | | establish
standards and best practices or | | boost
moral | A good
story can engender memorable advertising or recruiting. Harvesting stories can
help gauge the success of a product launch or generate priceless qualitative market
research. Some of the best, most forward-thinking communication programs use stories
and storytelling techniques to engage participants and increase retention.
During telecom equipment maker Avaya's
annual sales powwow in Las Vegas last November, the Gronstedt Group prepared short
movies chronicling highly successful sales stories. One of the stories started
with the account rep recounting how the team was brought into an account and told,
on the first day, that they would be out in four years: the client had decided
to hand all its business to a competitor. The movie was interrupted at various
points to let the audience of 2,400 field reps vote with handheld remote devices
on what they would do next. For instance, would they go directly to the executive
suites, schedule more middle management meetings, set up a product test, or roll
over and play dead. The next segment of the video showed the heroic actions of
the sales team as it battled to win the client over. The
audience burst into applause when the sales team eventually won the client over.
These stories breathed life into the company's critical imperative of selling
strategic solutions addressing client business needs. Later in the afternoon,
a fictitious sales case was presented on the big screen, and audience members
got to actually participate in the development of a virtual success story by voting
on what actions should be taken at several key steps in the sales process.
These kinds of active, engaging simulations
take storytelling to new levels, allowing the audience to actively participate
in constructing the story. Using modern simulations, Gronstedt Group clients let
employees create their own individual stories, and innovative technologies are
used to illustrate the brand credo and inspire productive action. Stories are
not only moving; they move people to action. 15
Uses for a Good Story 1. Hire
an archivist. Tell the story of your company to highlight its values and strengths.
2. Break the ice or seal the deal:
a visionary leader should always have good personal tales to tell.
3. Use simulations to let employees create their own stories. 4.
What stories are told over coffee or at your water cooler? Use those for feedback
and guidance. 5. Give people productive
new stories to tell at the water cooler, at lunch, or over coffee. 6.
The best training programs use stories to engage and intrigue participants.
7. Harvest customer stories. What does
your brand mean to people? How, where, and with whom do they use your products
or services? 8. Highlight and
acknowledge jobs well done by spreading the story on your Intranet. This can clarify
best practices for your employees. 9.
Make knowledge public. Use the oral tradition so that knowledge will live in the
legends and lore of your company, not just with individuals. 10.
Use stories to help manage change. If your once-small company has gone global,
gather and create stories that express, motivate, and fit your new global image
and personnel. 11. Storytelling
- not just the stories themselves, but the act of telling and listening together
- binds people together. Create times and places for people to experience your
story. 12. Invite people to tell
their stories. Nothing pleases people - employees, vendors, and customers alike
- more than telling their own unique tales. 13.
Host leadership training to enhance your executives' storytelling skills, because
winning leadership involves the creation and dissemination of powerful narratives.
14. Collecting project stories
is an effective way of gauging motivation and commitment. The process can uncover
issues before they become major problems. 15.
Keep training and certification lively and engaging by using interactive, digital
stories and scenarios.
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