Successful Storytelling for Uniting People 

 Challenge 

 I am in a centralised logistics team that mobilises contracted maintenance personnel to various regional   site operations . On average 500 persons from possibly 15 different maintenance labour supply companies   are mobilised to one of the locations about every two weeks . The mobilisation incorporates Work   Schedules , Charter Flight Bookings , Accomodation , Bus Routing , and many other smaller but necessary   tasks . There are 5 main departments involved that must be successful in their process to “ get the right   people , with the right skills , to the right place , at the right time . ” 

 All departments have defined responsibilities to ensure correct maintenance personnel are mobilised to   undertake the work . However , mobilising is stressful , emotions are high , overtime is required and vast   amounts of finger pointing takes place across the departments . It does n’t go smoothly and the contradiction   is , all departments are working hard to improve and applying some procedural improvements , yet it does   not alter the outcome . 

 Selection 

 Not having the answers myself and needing to resolve , I thought the real challenge was to get people to   collaborate around a table and open up to find the unknowns or ugly truths that enabled this chaos . I knew   getting everyone in the room would be easy , but building trust in the room for such honesty was another   matter [ “ know the audience ” , ref Design Tool Storytelling Video ] . I felt if connecting everyone emotionally   first , we could uncover the problems as a team and walk out the door as if we just built an unstoppable new   alliance . I decided I did not want anyone defaulting to a compliance and bureaucratic disposition . So rather   than working through PowerPoint and each department ’s processes and documentation to find gaps , I   would tell a story to inspire them to share their own stories on how the day to day events affects their team   members and perhaps themselves . Further to that solve for the problems in the mobilisation process   together . 

 Application 

 So I have some good attendance as expected and my story on the day goes like this ; 

 I had another great day at work yesterday because we had all these problems and I made it through and   got them fixed , albeit I had to stay back a bit . So I walk out of work on a bit of a high because I feel like I   accomplished something important , but by the time I ’m opening my front door I feel like I have just dragged   very tired kids around a shopping centre all day long . I open the front door and there they are , big smiles   and all charged up because I am finally home . But how do I feel , I want to be there so I can push through   the sheer mental exhaustion . Its ok , but I have been doing this for a year now . I do n’t know why it ’s like this   in mobilisation , but you learn to live with it I guess . Can I ask , do you see this it in your team members   when we mobilising people to sites ? I feel like if we solve for this I can be a lot more energetic and happier   at home and work … .. 

 Insights 

 As my storytelling comes to an end , people then began stories of their team members and how their energy   levels were up and down throughout the week . Slowly grew a level of comfort and trust within the room ,   and then a fundamental shift took place where the stories became their own . Their own frustrations about   the job as if they were on the job there and then . It was commented the highs and lows of their team   members made it difficult for them as leaders just to pick the right time to “ interrupt ” them to have a   conversation . 

 No - one in the room spoke to process or compliance , no finger pointing , just conversation like “ I go to do   this but I have n’t got that , so I ’ll call them up to get it , then I have it so then I can do it ” . Stories continued   around the room and it was almost like they were role playing their day without the conflict and pressure .   The room was at ease . I sensed everyone could relate to similar scenarios . After many stories the room   was united to the fact the emotional impact on their people came from the timing between processes and   that made their team members jobs take longer than necessary and have to do rework . “ It was n’t as if they   could n’t get the information , they just never had when they needed it and had to chase it up ” . 

 Approach 

 There is no doubt in my mind that commencing this day with storytelling removed negative emotions and   conflict and afforded the empathy and understanding in the room to identify a cause - Lets make our team   members more energetic and happier . The day ignited people to rebuild trust , and strengthen relations   valued on empathy . “ Storytelling creates a cause ” and “ a cause is something that ignites people , and unites   people ” [ ref Asad West , Chief Learning Officer at Mars - Design Tool Storytelling Video ” ] . 

 I think knowing or researching your audience can be beneficial to help select the appropriate Design Tool .    Storytelling Tool certainly worked for this audience and also removed the analytical problem solving   conversation that in this case would not have picked up the human impact . 

 References 

 Storytelling : The New Strategic Imperative Of Business   https://www.forbes.com/sites/billeehoward/2016/04/04/storytelling-the-new-strategic-imperative-of- business/#701fa2714d79     The Science of Storytelling : Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains 

 http://lifehacker.com/5965703/the-science-of-storytelling-why-telling-a-story-is-the-most-powerful-way-to- activate - our - brains     The power of storytelling | Andrea Gibbs | TEDxPerth 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh1-9xMZIfQ 

 Asad West , Chief Learning Officer at Mars - Design Tool Storytelling Video 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Successful Storytelling for Uniting People 

 Challenge 

 I am in a centralised logistics team that mobilises contracted maintenance personnel to various regional   site operations . On average 500 persons from possibly 15 different maintenance labour supply companies   are mobilised to one of the locations about every two weeks . The mobilisation incorporates Work   Schedules , Charter Flight Bookings , Accomodation , Bus Routing , and many other smaller but necessary   tasks . There are 5 main departments involved that must be successful in their process to “ get the right   people , with the right skills , to the right place , at the right time . ” 

 All departments have defined responsibilities to ensure correct maintenance personnel are mobilised to   undertake the work . However , mobilising is stressful , emotions are high , overtime is required and vast   amounts of finger pointing takes place across the departments . It does n’t go smoothly and the contradiction   is , all departments are working hard to improve and applying some procedural improvements , yet it does   not alter the outcome . 

 Selection 

 Not having the answers myself and needing to resolve , I thought the real challenge was to get people to   collaborate around a table and open up to find the unknowns or ugly truths that enabled this chaos . I knew   getting everyone in the room would be easy , but building trust in the room for such honesty was another   matter [ “ know the audience ” , ref Design Tool Storytelling Video ] . I felt if connecting everyone emotionally   first , we could uncover the problems as a team and walk out the door as if we just built an unstoppable new   alliance . I decided I did not want anyone defaulting to a compliance and bureaucratic disposition . So rather   than working through PowerPoint and each department ’s processes and documentation to find gaps , I   would tell a story to inspire them to share their own stories on how the day to day events affects their team   members and perhaps themselves . Further to that solve for the problems in the mobilisation process   together . 

 Application 

 So I have some good attendance as expected and my story on the day goes like this ; 

 I had another great day at work yesterday because we had all these problems and I made it through and   got them fixed , albeit I had to stay back a bit . So I walk out of work on a bit of a high because I feel like I   accomplished something important , but by the time I ’m opening my front door I feel like I have just dragged   very tired kids around a shopping centre all day long . I open the front door and there they are , big smiles   and all charged up because I am finally home . But how do I feel , I want to be there so I can push through   the sheer mental exhaustion . Its ok , but I have been doing this for a year now . I do n’t know why it ’s like this   in mobilisation , but you learn to live with it I guess . Can I ask , do you see this it in your team members   when we mobilising people to sites ? I feel like if we solve for this I can be a lot more energetic and happier   at home and work … .. 

 Insights 

 As my storytelling comes to an end , people then began stories of their team members and how their energy   levels were up and down throughout the week . Slowly grew a level of comfort and trust within the room ,   and then a fundamental shift took place where the stories became their own . Their own frustrations about   the job as if they were on the job there and then . It was commented the highs and lows of their team   members made it difficult for them as leaders just to pick the right time to “ interrupt ” them to have a   conversation . 

 No - one in the room spoke to process or compliance , no finger pointing , just conversation like “ I go to do   this but I have n’t got that , so I ’ll call them up to get it , then I have it so then I can do it ” . Stories continued   around the room and it was almost like they were role playing their day without the conflict and pressure .   The room was at ease . I sensed everyone could relate to similar scenarios . After many stories the room   was united to the fact the emotional impact on their people came from the timing between processes and   that made their team members jobs take longer than necessary and have to do rework . “ It was n’t as if they   could n’t get the information , they just never had when they needed it and had to chase it up ” . 

 Approach 

 There is no doubt in my mind that commencing this day with storytelling removed negative emotions and   conflict and afforded the empathy and understanding in the room to identify a cause - Lets make our team   members more energetic and happier . The day ignited people to rebuild trust , and strengthen relations   valued on empathy . “ Storytelling creates a cause ” and “ a cause is something that ignites people , and unites   people ” [ ref Asad West , Chief Learning Officer at Mars - Design Tool Storytelling Video ” ] . 

 I think knowing or researching your audience can be beneficial to help select the appropriate Design Tool .    Storytelling Tool certainly worked for this audience and also removed the analytical problem solving   conversation that in this case would not have picked up the human impact . 

 References 

 Storytelling : The New Strategic Imperative Of Business   https://www.forbes.com/sites/billeehoward/2016/04/04/storytelling-the-new-strategic-imperative-of- business/#701fa2714d79     The Science of Storytelling : Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains 

 http://lifehacker.com/5965703/the-science-of-storytelling-why-telling-a-story-is-the-most-powerful-way-to- activate - our - brains     The power of storytelling | Andrea Gibbs | TEDxPerth 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh1-9xMZIfQ 

 Asad West , Chief Learning Officer at Mars - Design Tool Storytelling Video
### Output: 