Wally Bock, citing an article in Forbes, talks about the value of storytelling to get your point across. And it’s true. I frequently use stories to help clients understand a concept more easily or wrap their heads around something that’s very new to them.
Yes, storytelling is an extremely powerful tool, but I see two problems inherent in these discussions.
The first is that the political, religious and business leaders used to illustrate storytelling’s influence are always positive examples and, obviously, plenty of those on the dark side have used it too.
Secondly, there is rarely any information on how listeners can shield themselves from the enthralling effect of the story in order to evaluate the actual ideas being presented.
I remember a friend telling me that he was mesmerized after hearing Bobby Kennedy, who he opposed, use stories to describe a situation and what he would do to change it. The effect wore off, but he found it a frightening experience.
Combine these two and you have a recipe for disaster—Hitler was an expert storyteller from the dark side, which is why he still has adherents.
Business leaders tell stories, called visions, constantly.
But as adults, involved in adult pursuits, we have a responsibility not to suspend our common and critical senses and swallow the story whole.
Here is how you stay balanced.
Enjoy the story, but remind yourself that it is a story and that once the telling is done then the content needs to be dissected and evaluated by the left side of your brain as opposed to embraced in toto by the right.
I have only one item for you today, but it’s a real goody.
Meet Robert L. Joss, Business School Dean at Stanford University.
On his first day he saw his position as Dean was in the bottom position of the unofficial org chart and a legend underneath that said, “And everything runs downhill.”
Over nearly an hour, Joss discusses Leadership Is Responsibility, Not Power.
It’s well worth your time. And if you want great take-away quotes, click here.
Every time I hear a pundit ask a (positional) leader about her vision or Wall Street condemns someone for not having a vision that they consider viable I find myself wanting to bop the questioner.
I’m not into visions.
Visions are what Sherlock Holmes had when he was smoking opium; they’re what dance in kids heads before Christmas; they’re what the religious see on slices of bread and potato chips.
There’s an old saying that the difference between a dream and a goal is a plan.
I equate visions to dreams until there’s an executable plan and management with the moxie to implement it. (That’s why I don’t believe we’ll see universal healthcare any time soon—lots of visions, lots of rhetoric, little management and less moxie.)
Of course, you have to use the lingua franca of the day when communicating and that means calling your goal a vision, which is fine—as long as you really understand what’s required to make it a reality.
As a boss (whether CEO, team leader or any level in-between) you need to accomplish many things within your organization (whether company or team) to be successful, especially in the current economic situation.
Near the top of the list is the need to
motivate your people (without breaking the bank);
strengthen and diversify your workforce (often without adding headcount); and
innovate (products and processes; internally and externally; large and small)
Big order, but here’s how to make it happen.
Start by looking inwards to be sure your MAP supports the program.
Next, keep this mantra playing in your head
Read it.
Hear it.
Do it.
Teach it.
Then implement it by
building a useful library, both hard copy (used books are very inexpensive) and online, that includes classic and current information and runs the gamut from traditional to controversial to off-the-wall. Encourage your people to read up on subjects that interest them, whether or not it directly applies to their expertise;
choosing “topics of the month” based on both need and interest, then encourage free-wheeling discussions on a regular basis;
modify assignments as much as possible, so people can start to use, and become proficient in, the new skills about which they are reading, learning and talking; and
supporting brown-bag classes (buy lunch if possible) in which they may teach both their new and original skills to others. Add cross-working assignments to ensure cross-training.
Remember, it’s a long-term fix, because there are no short-term fixes and the only thing you have that’s even close to a silver bullet is your MAP!
Today is for all of you top dogs (TD) who tweet, all of you who think twitter should be called fritter and those who wonder when (or whether) Twitter is going to make money.
Finally, in spite of all the passionate people sending out millions of tweets, where’s the money? An interesting discussion from the faculty at Wharton focuses on the possibilities of a profitable Twitter; but one reader’s comment says a lot about people’s attitude, “SNS are all about sharing, creating, connecting and learning in a digital environment – it’s not about making cash.”
A common attitude, but one that begs the question, if it’s not about the cash why should anyone invest? Companies such as Twitter and Facebook don’t start and scale for nothing and users certainly are unlikely to step up to pay.
Few companies would consider doing a major project using individual contributors instead of teams.
Hiring is a major project, one that has substantial long-term impact on the group, department, and company.
So, why are teams used in every part of business today—except staffing? Why is it assumed that the various parts of staffing are a function only of managers and HR?
Sadly, some managers are not comfortable involving their people. The reasons range from control issues (involvement in staffing is very empowering) to fear (the manager feels insecure) to disinterest (staffing has a low priority).
But in today’s fast-paced work environment, it’s hard for managers to block out several consecutive minutes, let alone the hours, needed to read resumes, let alone source any candidates, screen, etc.
Speaking as an ex-headhunter, I’m here to say that the mechanics of recruiting aren’t rocket science; they may not be intuitive, but anybody can learn them, especially in these days of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
More importantly, when it comes to recruiting, there is no manager, no HR person, certainly no headhunter who is as impressive to an outsider as employees excited about their company.
Candidates really respond positively to being recruited by a peer! A peer who likes her company so much she is willing to put time into the staffing process? A manager to whom hiring is not about control but rather about empowerment? Who sees hiring as a chance to shine, not a necessary evil? Who not only understands the desire to make a difference but actually gives people extra opportunities to do so?
Wow! That’s the kind of manager most good candidates want to work for! Nobody can sell the company or the group or the project or the manager with the same intensity and passion as the company’s own people!
More bodies ease the work load, as well as supplying creative ideas and fresh energy to the staffing effort. Further, teams
empower and give people a feeling of ownership;
engage people in the present and future of their group and the company;
teach critical managerial skills;
spreads the workload; and
helps minimize new employee friction.
With the exception of technical interviewing anybody in your company can be on the team, whether they are from that department or not. Sure, it takes a well written job req, but almost everybody in your company knows as much technically as most headhunters—and they certainly know more about the company. Best of all, they really care!
None of what I’ve written hinges on the economy; the time to teach people new skills is not, not when you have multiple openings and are under pressure to fill them.
Think of it as an investment—one with an amazing ROI.
Shortly after I started writing Leadership Turn I did a post about diversity, ending with this—
“Another way to look at it is that any increased spending on diversity development is an investment and will be more than offset by the increases in innovation, productivity and revenues. If spending $100 results in a bottom line increase of $1000, did you really spend the $100, or did you gain $900? $900 that wouldn’t be there if you hadn’t invested the initial $100.”
How do you define diversity?
True diversity isn’t just diversity of race, gender, creed and country, but what I call the new diversity—all those plus diversity of thought.
Think about it, if a manager really works at it she can create a rainbow-colored group who all think the same way—George W. Bush’s initial Cabinet was ethnically diverse, but their MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) was homogeneous.
It’s far more difficult to put together a group of totally diverse thinkers. Managers tend to hire in their comfort zone, but more and more that refers to how people think, rather than how they look.
So what should you do to ensure that you’re building a truly diversified team?
Here are five key points to keep in mind when you’re both hiring people and managing/leading them.
Avoid assumptions. People aren’t better because they graduated from your (or your people’s) alma mater, come from your hometown/state or worked for a hot company.
Know your visual prejudices. Everybody has them (one of mine is dirty-looking, stringy hair), because you can’t hear past them if you’re not aware of them.
Listen. Not to what the words mean to you, but what the words mean to the person speaking.
Be open to the radical. Don’t shut down because an idea is off the wall at even the third look and never dismiss the whole if some part can be used.
Be open to alternative paths. If your people achieve what they should it doesn’t matter that they did it in a way that never would have crossed your mind.
Finally, remember that if you’re totally comfortable, with nary a twinge to ripple your mental lake, your group is probably lacking in diversity.
Great insights for you today—all as true now as when they were originally written.
You’ll have to forgive Galileo; he wasn’t a chauvinist, just a product of his times. Feel free to add ‘hu’ to ‘man’ if it bothers you too much.
“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.” –Galileo (Early exploration of MAP.)
“I never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.” –Galileo (Often more than from the educated ones.)
“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths.” — Lois Wyse (Does that make out-of-control ego and excessive greed a strength?)
“The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants them to do, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” –Theodore Roosevelt (True for managers at any level. Does the shoe fit?)
“I love mankind, it’s people I can’t stand.” -–Linus (I’ve always felt this way, but lately I’m starting to wonder about mankind.)
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Yes, storytelling is an extremely powerful tool, but I see two problems inherent in these discussions.
Meet Robert L. Joss, Business School Dean at Stanford University.
I’m not into visions.
Next, keep this mantra playing in your head
Let’s start with 
So, why are teams used in every part of business today—except staffing? Why is it assumed that the various parts of staffing are a function only of managers and HR?
Shortly after I started writing Leadership Turn I did a 
Great insights for you today—all as true now as when they were originally written.
