Simple, extraordinary storytelling is generating right now.
Well, here we all are. Together. Dealing with an unprecedented health scenario which impacts absolutely every aspect of our lives. These, indeed, are extraordinary times. In fact, these times will permeate the stories we tell for the rest of our lives.
What are the stories you currently, perhaps inadvertently, are part of? How are you called on to lead your colleagues, teams and organizations forward? Will you choose to move one millimeter beyond what is professionally, and perhaps even technically, comfortable? And take that path you’ve been avoiding up until now, because you are comfortable doing things “a certain way?”
Extraordinary times require simple and extraordinary storytelling.
The key to extraordinary storytelling is to tell your story clearly and simply. No matter what you are dealing with – and I suspect there are multiple factors you are wrestling with. Isolate the single, simple area which impacts you and your colleagues the most. Then, move that one millimeter forward and reach out to your partners and clients. Speak with them about how that one factor, impacting you, is affecting their own businesses.
Chances are you will discover you have much more in common with one another than you think. Also, the simple act of reaching out to them, even if there is nothing to sell, creates the extraordinary opportunity of expanding your relationship. Simply because you are being human, rather than all-business or all-science or all-administrative.
These are the simple stories, about simple acts of humanity, which define Who We Are. Far more than our job titles, pay grades, levels of education, generations or professional disciplines ever will.
Instead of dismissing your simple stories as unimportant or insignificant, pay attention. Just because you are not crushing your sales quota or fulfilling your KPIs, do not do yourself, or everyone else, a disservice. There is far more to you than just performance metrics. In fact, there always has been far more to you.
Because the reason employees and clients are successful and retained is a result of the simple, yet extraordinary storytelling we co-create together. Especially during times of crisis.
After 9/11, I was paying for gas inside the neighborhood gas station, instead of at the pump. The huge man standing behind the counter serving me stopped what he was doing. He leaned across the counter and looked me square in the face. Right in the eyes.
“How are you doing? Tell me. How are you doing?”
He saw his job as involving far more than being an hourly worker order-taker. He was, and remains, a catalyst for connection and customer experience. Why does it take extraordinary times to bring out the very best in all of us?
How will you continue the human legacy you create today and tomorrow; in the simple and extraordinary storytelling you create? As you continue to be a catalyst for connection? Because, actually, each day is an extraordinary day in an extraordinary time that we continuously create. Together.
I appreciate your being here, reading this blog post. I leverage design-driven storytelling to translate across communication disconnects between people and professional disciplines. My in-person and virtual programs focus on these professional outcomes: Innovative Professional Success, a Human Capital Value-focused Workforce, and Client Retention.
How can I serve you, so you better serve your employees and clients? To get to where you need to go. Together. One millimeter at a time. My playbook of communication tools and methods, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Contact me here. Let’s create simple extraordinary storytelling together.
Image source: Adobe Stock.
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