By Chuck Terry, Executive Vice President & CSO, Carew International, Inc.
One of my all time favorite books on leadership is The Leadership Engine by Noel Tichy, a professor at Michigan and former consultant to Jack Welch. Although I read the book in 1998, I recently re-read it while doing research for a project.
Noel made the point that a key value of successful leaders was the ability to tell compelling stories that engage their followers emotionally and rationally. Not just random stories, but stories that weave together the ideas, values, and modes of behavior embraced by their organization. These are also stories that allow their employees to clearly see the future envisioned by the leader and how that future is a better future for them.
As I look around, I see many leaders of companies becoming more withdrawn. But the place to lead the battle is not from the rear, especially in difficult times. General George S. Patton, the flamboyant yet highly successful leader from World War Two, said, “A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.” Many of us in the ranks of leadership are being forced to make gut wrenching decisions that may have negative impacts on the lives of our employees, but are necessary for the good of the business. It is an unfortunate reality that sometimes comes with the role of leadership. Now more than ever we MUST lead from the front, not the rear.
While there is no escaping the reality of what sometimes must be done for the good of our companies in turbulent economic times, we need to remember that all whom are being impacted by our decisions are also looking to us for inspiration. Communicating our vision of what we are doing, why we are doing it, and where we going in the future is more critical now than ever. Story telling can be a medium for how we illustrate the future for our team and inspire them in process.
One of the training technologies regularly employed by Carew International is the practice of using “Hooks and Punches” to leverage stories and bring key points of learning to life in the class room. A “hook” is a story that sets up the next learning point, while a “punch” is a story that illustrates how the learning point is valid and then links it to a real situation. This same tactic can be applied to telling inspirational stories as leaders of our companies. According to Mr. Tichy, our stories should contain three essential elements: the case for change, where we are going, and how we will get there.
What I am talking about here is not blogging or “tweeting” or any other popular social communication vehicle that encourages stream-of-consciousness musing. What I am talking about is one on one, personalized story telling… leading from the front. Look into your own experiences or the experiences of others to find the source for your inspiring stories.
Here is an example of how one might be crafted in the form of a “hook”:
Many companies are being forced to lay people off in an effort to reduce overhead. The remaining employees are being asked to “do more with less” while trying to cope with the harsh reality that some of their former team mates are no longer with the organization. A leader’s story that might precede announcing the layoffs (the hook) would be based upon a situation where fewer people banded together and overcame the odds to achieve great results. It would clearly focus on the fact that in doing more with less, greater opportunity will be available for each team member to try new things. These new opportunities will help them add more value and grow as individuals. Center the story on what good will come out of this for THEM. This story could be built from events in your own past or from a story you found doing research on the subject. It should be as compelling as possible, while weaving in the three elements of making the case for change, illustrating where your organization is going and painting the picture of how you will get there.
In these uncertain times, the art of executive story telling can be a great source of inspiration in seeing the glass half full versus half empty. We are living in a country with 7.6% unemployment; but also a country where 92.4% of the citizens ARE employed. It is up to us to help our people see the hope, opportunity, and prosperity that lie just around the next bend. Sounds like the makings of a pretty great story to me!
One of my all time favorite books on leadership is The Leadership Engine by Noel Tichy, a professor at Michigan and former consultant to Jack Welch. Although I read the book in 1998, I recently re-read it while doing research for a project.
Noel made the point that a key value of successful leaders was the ability to tell compelling stories that engage their followers emotionally and rationally. Not just random stories, but stories that weave together the ideas, values, and modes of behavior embraced by their organization. These are also stories that allow their employees to clearly see the future envisioned by the leader and how that future is a better future for them.
As I look around, I see many leaders of companies becoming more withdrawn. But the place to lead the battle is not from the rear, especially in difficult times. General George S. Patton, the flamboyant yet highly successful leader from World War Two, said, “A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.” Many of us in the ranks of leadership are being forced to make gut wrenching decisions that may have negative impacts on the lives of our employees, but are necessary for the good of the business. It is an unfortunate reality that sometimes comes with the role of leadership. Now more than ever we MUST lead from the front, not the rear.
While there is no escaping the reality of what sometimes must be done for the good of our companies in turbulent economic times, we need to remember that all whom are being impacted by our decisions are also looking to us for inspiration. Communicating our vision of what we are doing, why we are doing it, and where we going in the future is more critical now than ever. Story telling can be a medium for how we illustrate the future for our team and inspire them in process.
One of the training technologies regularly employed by Carew International is the practice of using “Hooks and Punches” to leverage stories and bring key points of learning to life in the class room. A “hook” is a story that sets up the next learning point, while a “punch” is a story that illustrates how the learning point is valid and then links it to a real situation. This same tactic can be applied to telling inspirational stories as leaders of our companies. According to Mr. Tichy, our stories should contain three essential elements: the case for change, where we are going, and how we will get there.
What I am talking about here is not blogging or “tweeting” or any other popular social communication vehicle that encourages stream-of-consciousness musing. What I am talking about is one on one, personalized story telling… leading from the front. Look into your own experiences or the experiences of others to find the source for your inspiring stories.
Here is an example of how one might be crafted in the form of a “hook”:
Many companies are being forced to lay people off in an effort to reduce overhead. The remaining employees are being asked to “do more with less” while trying to cope with the harsh reality that some of their former team mates are no longer with the organization. A leader’s story that might precede announcing the layoffs (the hook) would be based upon a situation where fewer people banded together and overcame the odds to achieve great results. It would clearly focus on the fact that in doing more with less, greater opportunity will be available for each team member to try new things. These new opportunities will help them add more value and grow as individuals. Center the story on what good will come out of this for THEM. This story could be built from events in your own past or from a story you found doing research on the subject. It should be as compelling as possible, while weaving in the three elements of making the case for change, illustrating where your organization is going and painting the picture of how you will get there.
In these uncertain times, the art of executive story telling can be a great source of inspiration in seeing the glass half full versus half empty. We are living in a country with 7.6% unemployment; but also a country where 92.4% of the citizens ARE employed. It is up to us to help our people see the hope, opportunity, and prosperity that lie just around the next bend. Sounds like the makings of a pretty great story to me!
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