How Storytelling Captures Us -- Emotionally and Scientifically

My roles as  trainer and coach include frequent storytelling -- sharing anecdotes, experiences, and insights with others.  Scientists have found that the skill of storytelling is no simply a 'soft skills'.  According to findings of the National Institute of Health and other such organizations, there are physiological responses occurring during interactions between a trainer/coach and her audience/client. The Institute found that a neurological process call neuro-coupling takes place every time we engage verbally. 

This is how it works: a speaker (such as a teacher, coach, motivating speaker, or trainer), think about information and verbally communicates that information to an audience of students, clients, conference attendees, or others.)  We'll call them the 'listener'.  While the speaker is speaking, the listener's  brain activity will mirror the brain activity of the speaker.   Their brain activity starts to match. Essentially their minds begin to react similarly to the information being shared.   That's neuro-coupling.

The US National Library of Medicine published that the greater the coupling (the more the brains are in sync) the greater the comprehension and retention will be for the listener.  Therefore, effective storytelling that grabs the audience, keeps their attention, and impacts them intellectually is crucial for lasting learning.  The National Academy of Sciences reports that the same coupling doesn't happen between two individuals who are both reading the same story.  Their brain activity is not necessarily similar and the two of them will not tend to have the same level of comprehension.

 

It seems, that neuro-coupling feeds on the emotions or sentiments shared from the speaker to the listener.  If a coach shares a story that is sad, she needs to convey that sadness and the listener will perceive it too.  If the listener were simply reading that same story, they might not pick up on the sadness, and might instead perceive boredom, disinterest, or frustration.  If a trainer shares an insight that is exciting, excitement should be relayed through his speech so that the listener will be excited as well.  

Think about stories you've heard that caused you goosebumps, made you teary eyed, or left you laughing out loud. Chances are, the speaker evoked those responses as they were telling the story. Storytelling can affect change, drive effort, and inspire action.  I'm glad the scientists have finally discovered what I've know my entire career:  There is power in the story.

Work With What You've Got -- Unlocking the Potential Within

Performance Reviews and development plans often identify a person's opportunities for improvement and create goals to grow in those areas.  As a result, people sometimes spend a lot of time trying to turn weaknesses into strengths, which research shows doesn't work as well as strength-based planning and goal setting.   

A different way of helping people grow would be identifying their strengths, talents, and motivators, and developing plans to leverage those and make them even stronger.  

We all have talents that we were born with or developed over time.  Think about the things you do well, naturally.  Consider what others often tell you about yourself.  You might be analytical with numbers. Perhaps you converse easily with strangers. Maybe you are creative or love taking things apart and figure out how they work.  You might be good at proofreading or very well organized.   These aren't just habits or personality traits, they are talents.  Those talents can be leveraged to make you more productive and effective.  When we leverage our talents in this way, they become our strengths. 

So, why not work on your weaknesses instead?  Research --  including Clifton's StrengthsFinders and Buckingham's First Break All The Rules  -- shows those weaknesses will likely get a little better but not significantly.  The expenditure of time and energy wont generate efficacy. 

To demonstrate this, try this exercise:

Write your name three times using your non-dominant hand.  Then write it again three times with your dominant hand.   Compare the quality of the writing and track how long it takes you to do it.  You can work on your writing skills using your non-dominant hand everyday and eventually it might be better and faster.  Or, you could work on improving your penmanship and speed while writing with your dominant hand.  The latter, will have more significant and timely results.  

The exception to the rule is when your weakness could be a career killer. You'll want to manage that weakness to insure it doesn't cause damage to you and/or those around you. For example, if  your position requiring examination of critical safety data and you have limited attention to detail and you struggle with accuracy, that could be detrimental.  You would want to work toward improving that weakness; or consider a position better suited to your naturals strengths and talents. 

Your strengths are the key to unlocking hidden potential.  

www.yourenhance.com

Keeping Them Driven: How to Ignite, Excite, and Drive Performance

We hear alot these days about motivating people. There are books, podcasts, and TEDtalks about it.  Motivation can be a misleading word; I prefer to call it DRIVING OTHERS.  It is the combination of factors that keep being willing and able to do their best work.  Whether they are your employees, volunteers, or even your kids, don't you want them performing at optimal levels every day without prompting?


Research shows that people are motivated by lots of things including interesting work,  promotion, and relationships at work. Of course, if you are someone's manager you can necessarily provide these things.  Indeed, some individuals even label motivation as happiness or job satisfaction. Whether or not someone like their job can be an ever-moving target. As a leader, you probably don't want to spend most of your time trying to make people happy.  There are some schools of thought that say motivation is intrinsic;  and as such it can't be provided externally.  If you subscribe to the latter theory, you may be thinking you there is nothing you can do.  Nevertheless, there are ways to drive others to  do their best work and give their best effort. 



Let's explore three must-have factors for sustained performance:



1.  Clarity - Clear expectations and thorough directions are essential to top performance.  This means articulating specific outcomes and results desired.  Your team also needs the right resources and tools to accomplish what's asked of them.  Just as importantly, they need to understand boundaries -- what they shouldn't do, spend, say, or risk. 
 


2.  Environment - One thing leaders can provide is a level of collaboration and support for their staff.  Providing a supportive environment could include being available to talk through issues, providing guidance when they run into barriers, or encouraging them verbally.  A collaborative environment also provides people opportunities to work with others, learn from others, and be exposed to different parts of the organization.




3.  Value - The people you lead need to know they matter and the work they do matters.  Leaders have to seek out the opinions of others. Valuing them also includes asking for their feedback on how you're doing; and giving them feedback on how they are doing.   Leaders also need to invest in their people's development and provide opportunities to learn and apply new skills. 


Keep in mind that drive is about performance and results.  As such, there are things leaders can do to manage and improve performance.  While, you can not completely control it, you can influence it on a daily basis.

Sorry to Bust You Bubble, but Failure IS an Option

We often hear sports team, companies, and even non-profit organizations, tout that failure is not an option.  The statement 'failure is not an option' is no doubt meant to be a driver and motivator; it's supposed to focus people on success. But, in reality failure does happen. Failure -- like success -- is indeed valuable.  

Accept that people won't always accept you
You may not be the first one picked for the team; in fact you may not be picked at all.  Will you still be able to pick yourself up, brush yourself off and try again, with self esteem intact?

Know that you don't know it all
When you realize this is true, leverage the power of partnership.  Surround yourself with those who know what you don't know. If your partner, mentor, or coach has the same strengths and attributes as you, one of you is unnecessary.  

You will make mistakes
Listen to what pro athletes say when they are interviewed after loosing a game.  It's a lot more insightful and telling than what they say when they win.  When they loose they are specific about what opportunities they missed, what options they should have exercised, and how they could have improved.  There are valuable lessons in the losses.  

When you are forbidden to fail you might not even try
When people are told that mistakes won't be tolerated, they may not do their best.  Tom Edison reportedly failed 2000 times before inventing the light bulb; each time he got closer to the formula that worked.  Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star; he then started his own company where he created Mickey Mouse. Oprah was told by her employer, a Baltimore TV producer, that she was unfit for television; she was put on a little-known program which gave her a chance to hone her craft.  They didn't see failure as final.  When we learn that failure is okay, we're not crushed by it or immobilized by it. Sure, it can be scary, but learn from it and keep moving forward.  

I'm not suggesting that you should strive to fail.  However, when/if you do, embrace it.
www.yourenhance.com

From Classroom to the C-Suite: Storytelling Matters in Business

In order to move others, we need to become better at clearly stating what we want, value and expect. 
Storytelling is thought to be an effective way of accomplishing this.  Daniel Pink explores a storytelling model know as the Pixar Pitch, in his book "To Sell is Human" . The Pixar Pitch is a technique used by Pixar Animation Studios, in movies such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo.  Pixar has produced 13 feature films that together have grossed nearly $8 Billion. The company has won 26 Academy Awards for these films including 6 Best Animated Film Awards.

There are probably a number of interrelated reasons for Pixar's success, but no one will discount the stories themselves. Pixar story artists claim that each story has the same narrative composition – a  storytelling structure that involves a six part sequence:
1. Once upon a time there was …
2. Every day …
3. One day …
4. Because of that …
5. As a result …
6. Until finally …

Take, for example, the plot of Finding Nemo:
1. Once upon a time there was a widowed fish, named Marlin, who was extremely protective of his only son, Nemo.
2. Every day Marlin warned Nemo of the ocean’s dangers and insisted he stay close to home.
3. One day Nemo rebels against his father’s warnings and swims into the open water.
4. Because of that he gets captured by a diver and ends up in a dentist's fish tank in Sydney Australia.
5. As a result Marlin sets off to find Nemo, enlisting the help of other sea creatures along the way.
6. Until finally Marlin and Nemo are reunited and discover if you truly love someone you have to set them free.

This six-sequence template is both appealing and subtle. It allows the story teller to take advantage of the persuasiveness and impactful way to relay a moral or tenet.  

In learning environments, like the ones I work in on a weekly basis, stories are used to illustrate a point and complement learning content. 

Here's a (true) story I tell in diversity and inclusion workshops:   
Once upon a time there was a man living on the street in a bustling business district.  Everyday he sat in front of the same office building asking passersby for their spare change. One day, a top executive who worked in that office building offered the homeless man a job in the company mail room.  Because of that the man was able to get off the streets and show his talents and abilities to decision makers within the company.  As a result, the man quickly moved up in the organization, because even though he had fallen on hard times, he had once been a highly admired and successful businessman.  Until finally, he was able to show everyone who passed by and ignored him when he was living on the street that you can't judge a book by it's cover and everyone deserved a second chance.


I also encourage learners and facilitators to use this same approach to facilitate problem solving and creative thinking.  A pre-K Board of Directors was asked how they might address issues in early education using the six sentence template.  They came up with something like this:
1. Once upon a time there was an education crisis in schools across North America.
2. Every day large percentages of children were not achieving proficiency in vital literacy skills to the point that some in our community even doubted whether they ever could.
3. One day administrators parents and teachers in one town developed a simple curriculum of what children had to know to be ready for school and they agreed on what each of their roles would be to get the children ready.
4. Because of that early childhood educators and parents became better at helping kids get ready for kindergarten.
5. As a result this community saw a great improvement in literacy and test score and shared their proven system with others
6. Until finally every child in America received the pre-school prep they needed regardless of socio-economic background.

The holiday season, when friends and family are gathered, is a great time to practice story telling.  It's a compelling way to help people see a point of view rather than insisting or arguing what they should think, feel, or believe. If your work requires you to influence others, negotiate terms, sell something, solve problems, or motivate others, storytelling could be the missing tool in your toolkit.   

December Challenge: Be Grateful

My birthday is this month!  Every year I make a list of all the things I'm thankful for, on my birthday. I list as many things as the number of years I've lived.  It forces me to really reflect on life's blessings and acknowledge new things I've gained or experienced during the year, like my riding lessons and safari, pictured below.

But this year, I'm going to make a list of things to DO to demonstrate my gratefulness.  At this point in my life, being thankful isn't enough,  I need to show it.  Gratitude makes me happy; so it's a win-win.

My list includes but isn't limited to:

Giving things away - there are so many needy people and many of them are close by.  They go virtually unnoticed everyday.  I'm taking notice and sharing what I have.  I'm not only giving away things I don't want anymore.  I'm giving away things that I like and use; realizing that someone else needs it more than I do.

Saying a kind word - I'm committing to compliment someone on their thoughtfulness, appearance, intellect or other attributes every day.  This means paying closer attention to those around me and giving credit where credit is due.

Entrusting someone with something - You may have a car you won't let your spouse drive, a favorite sweater you won't let your daughter wear, or a piece of jewelry you won't let your friend borrow.  I did too!  But, now I'm making a conscience effort to share those precious belongings.  The real value in them is letting other enjoy them.

Encouraging someone -  I want to be positive and optimistic with those who are struggling or just need a kind word.  I want to be truly present with people in order to notice their needs.  This may allow me to make deeper emotional connections in my relationships as well.

Improving myself - Because I'm grateful for the health and talents I have, I want to work on strengthening them.  That might mean resuming piano lessons or sticking to my healthy eating goals.  I don't want to take for granted, the gifts I've been given.

Caring for someone who's sick - I don't know about you, but there have been times when I've connect with a friend and they told me they had been ill (even hospitalized) for several days. I didn't even know! So, part of this commitment involves staying connected.  From there, the service part is pretty easy.  

What can you start doing this month, and continue into the new year?  Take the Gratitude Challenge.  You and your circle of influence will be glad you did.

OPTIMIZING IN OCTOBER

All this year, I have been writing a monthly series focusing on one initiative or goal per month. This month, the month of October, my focus is Optimizing.  Optimizing is not to be confused with optimism.   It's not about putting on your rose-colored glasses and believing that everything will always turn out fine, no matter what.  For our purposes this month, we want to leverage strengths, serve others, and share.  Optimizing encourages us to try something new, trust people more, and dare to tell the truth.  The purpose: different and better results -- optimal results!

When you TRY something new you might help someone out of their funk -- that someone just might be you.  Trying different approaches can reduce discouragement, diffuse disillusionment and push ourselves and others to new paradigms.  

TRUST starts with self.  You have to trust yourself to make good decisions and give good advice to others.  Then trust others to follow through, keep their word, and do a good job.  If we don't give ourselves and others a chance to prove their value, we will never know what could have been.

Optimizing also includes TELLING your truth.  Push or inspire others by sharing an anecdote.  Encourage someone else to try by telling them your success or struggle story.   Be bold enough to state your point of view and respectful enough to listen to the points of view of others.  
(inspired by Courage Goes To Work by Bill Treasurer)

Optimizing is also about creating your own happiness.  We'll get together in the next installment.  Stay tuned.

www.yourenhance.com