Reflection :   Using Storytelling to Inspire Leadership to Improve Ways of Working 

 Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . 

 I joined a new team within my organization three years ago , and we built it up from scratch with a small ,   but mighty cross - functional team .   We were hugely successful in influencing and adding value to the   organization , which prompted a recent , large investment into our space .   We have expanded the team ,   which has resulted in a complex matrix and web of inefficient decision making , unclear roles and   responsibilities , and too many priorities .   I was asked to lead a sub - committee to improve our ways of   working across the team .   During our upcoming offsite meeting , the expectation was that we would   have a list of ideas for how to solve our team challenges . 

 However , inspired by Design Thinking , I decided to spend the time with my sub - committee staying in the   question and driving deeper understanding of what the root problems were , rather than jumping to   solutions .   My company and team have a tendency of being uncomfortable with ambiguity and wanting   to jump straight to solving .   But we have attempted to solve the inefficient ways of working on our team   before , and the same issues continue to pop up .   I wanted to use this opportunity to test out my new   learnings from this course , show the leadership team the potential Design Thinking has within our space ,   and specifically as an outcome of the offsite , use storytelling to paint a picture of the deep pain points   the team members were feeling , and to inspire and invite the leadership team to contribute to the   solution . 

 Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you   selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . 

 Storytelling is about telling a compelling story , building empathy , and getting people to care .   The   majority of my career was in Sales , and I believe telling a story is key to driving engagement and   alignment with anyone , internal or external .   I chose to apply and reflect on Storytelling because if I can   spark feeling from leadership , they will be more likely to engage and work to implement the eventual   solutions . 

 Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what you did and   how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . 

 First , I created a survey for team members to anonymously submit feedback on their key pinch points   regarding current ways of working .   I asked specific questions regarding if team members : 

    Felt supported by their manager 

    Had role clarity individually and across the team 

    Felt like they were working on value - added work 

    Had clear and reasonable priorities and timelines 

 I then shared the survey results with my sub - committee .   As we reviewed the results , I prompted and   asked the committee questions that dove deeper into the problems , to really understand what people   were feeling and why .   We cut the data in several different ways and discovered some interesting   insights .   For example , we found that depending on a respondent ’s tenure on the team , they might have   different concerns .   Team members < 1 year were more likely to feel like they were lacking the strategic   intent behind their work , or they felt the leadership team was not aligned on priorities .   Team members 

 with longer tenure were more forgiving and acknowledged the progress leadership has made in the last   year on being clearer on priorities . 

 Next , we developed a persona from each unique viewpoint , telling a story from the perspective of the   typical team member , creating a day - in - the - life portrait of team members and how this problem   personally affects each of them .   Here is one example of a persona we created : 

 We are early in our team ’s journey , so part of my job is to help   navigate ambiguity as our team evolves . I believe that the team is   broadly aligned on the vision for our work , but the lack of clarity on   ownership slows down our progress .     I am confused on ownership between me and our business partners ,   and between business partners and the rest of the team . This causes   not only frustration , but also missed opportunities .     Additionally , there is no clear alignment on how my business will be   supported by the other functional teams , so I often feel that I do not   have the resources to enact transformational change . 

 We shared these personas with the broader team and saw huge engagement from leadership , along   with accolades on our unique approach .   We closed our presentation with problem statements for each   persona that would hopefully leave everyone feeling inspired and motivated .   Some examples of the   problem statements were : “ How might we better understand and enhance the value we bring to our   business partners ? ” and “ How might we align and allocate resources within our teams to best pursue our   ambitious vision ? ” 

 The leadership team was moved to action and very interested in how we could take this further .   As a   next step , we will be setting up several “ What If ” ideation sessions , and then hopefully coming up with a   solution that both wows and works . 

 Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. ,   how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . 

 Defining the personas painted such a vivid and disappointing picture of what our team was going   through .   It depicted how just saying “ investing in our people is our # 1 priority ” was n’t enough , and we   needed to push harder to live our values and reduce churn and confusion for our team members .   But it   also painted a story of hope , and how this is something we can fix .   Storytelling ca n’t just be about   complaining , it has to inspire and move people to act . 

 Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected or   a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . 

 The Storytelling technique was a huge success , and I would definitely apply it again .   However , one thing   I might do differently next time is carve out more time for developing the personas .   We only allocated   about an hour and a half to the exercise , and I think at least half a day would have been more   appropriate . 

 But we presented our personas to the whole team , and we actually realized two benefits :   ( 1 ) it   resonated so well with survey respondents – they felt heard and that finally all the stress and pain they   had been feeling could be communicated in a concise and comprehensive way , and ( 2 ) leadership   understood , they felt the pain in that moment too , and you could see light bulbs going off – they were   bought in .   The Storytelling aspect was so crucial to this process .   In the equation from the lesson :    Engagement + Alignment + Curation = Fast , Storytelling is what helps you achieve the first two , and I am   amazed at what great results we saw from investing in it . 


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: Reflection :   Using Storytelling to Inspire Leadership to Improve Ways of Working 

 Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . 

 I joined a new team within my organization three years ago , and we built it up from scratch with a small ,   but mighty cross - functional team .   We were hugely successful in influencing and adding value to the   organization , which prompted a recent , large investment into our space .   We have expanded the team ,   which has resulted in a complex matrix and web of inefficient decision making , unclear roles and   responsibilities , and too many priorities .   I was asked to lead a sub - committee to improve our ways of   working across the team .   During our upcoming offsite meeting , the expectation was that we would   have a list of ideas for how to solve our team challenges . 

 However , inspired by Design Thinking , I decided to spend the time with my sub - committee staying in the   question and driving deeper understanding of what the root problems were , rather than jumping to   solutions .   My company and team have a tendency of being uncomfortable with ambiguity and wanting   to jump straight to solving .   But we have attempted to solve the inefficient ways of working on our team   before , and the same issues continue to pop up .   I wanted to use this opportunity to test out my new   learnings from this course , show the leadership team the potential Design Thinking has within our space ,   and specifically as an outcome of the offsite , use storytelling to paint a picture of the deep pain points   the team members were feeling , and to inspire and invite the leadership team to contribute to the   solution . 

 Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you   selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . 

 Storytelling is about telling a compelling story , building empathy , and getting people to care .   The   majority of my career was in Sales , and I believe telling a story is key to driving engagement and   alignment with anyone , internal or external .   I chose to apply and reflect on Storytelling because if I can   spark feeling from leadership , they will be more likely to engage and work to implement the eventual   solutions . 

 Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what you did and   how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . 

 First , I created a survey for team members to anonymously submit feedback on their key pinch points   regarding current ways of working .   I asked specific questions regarding if team members : 

    Felt supported by their manager 

    Had role clarity individually and across the team 

    Felt like they were working on value - added work 

    Had clear and reasonable priorities and timelines 

 I then shared the survey results with my sub - committee .   As we reviewed the results , I prompted and   asked the committee questions that dove deeper into the problems , to really understand what people   were feeling and why .   We cut the data in several different ways and discovered some interesting   insights .   For example , we found that depending on a respondent ’s tenure on the team , they might have   different concerns .   Team members < 1 year were more likely to feel like they were lacking the strategic   intent behind their work , or they felt the leadership team was not aligned on priorities .   Team members 

 with longer tenure were more forgiving and acknowledged the progress leadership has made in the last   year on being clearer on priorities . 

 Next , we developed a persona from each unique viewpoint , telling a story from the perspective of the   typical team member , creating a day - in - the - life portrait of team members and how this problem   personally affects each of them .   Here is one example of a persona we created : 

 We are early in our team ’s journey , so part of my job is to help   navigate ambiguity as our team evolves . I believe that the team is   broadly aligned on the vision for our work , but the lack of clarity on   ownership slows down our progress .     I am confused on ownership between me and our business partners ,   and between business partners and the rest of the team . This causes   not only frustration , but also missed opportunities .     Additionally , there is no clear alignment on how my business will be   supported by the other functional teams , so I often feel that I do not   have the resources to enact transformational change . 

 We shared these personas with the broader team and saw huge engagement from leadership , along   with accolades on our unique approach .   We closed our presentation with problem statements for each   persona that would hopefully leave everyone feeling inspired and motivated .   Some examples of the   problem statements were : “ How might we better understand and enhance the value we bring to our   business partners ? ” and “ How might we align and allocate resources within our teams to best pursue our   ambitious vision ? ” 

 The leadership team was moved to action and very interested in how we could take this further .   As a   next step , we will be setting up several “ What If ” ideation sessions , and then hopefully coming up with a   solution that both wows and works . 

 Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. ,   how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . 

 Defining the personas painted such a vivid and disappointing picture of what our team was going   through .   It depicted how just saying “ investing in our people is our # 1 priority ” was n’t enough , and we   needed to push harder to live our values and reduce churn and confusion for our team members .   But it   also painted a story of hope , and how this is something we can fix .   Storytelling ca n’t just be about   complaining , it has to inspire and move people to act . 

 Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected or   a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . 

 The Storytelling technique was a huge success , and I would definitely apply it again .   However , one thing   I might do differently next time is carve out more time for developing the personas .   We only allocated   about an hour and a half to the exercise , and I think at least half a day would have been more   appropriate . 

 But we presented our personas to the whole team , and we actually realized two benefits :   ( 1 ) it   resonated so well with survey respondents – they felt heard and that finally all the stress and pain they   had been feeling could be communicated in a concise and comprehensive way , and ( 2 ) leadership   understood , they felt the pain in that moment too , and you could see light bulbs going off – they were   bought in .   The Storytelling aspect was so crucial to this process .   In the equation from the lesson :    Engagement + Alignment + Curation = Fast , Storytelling is what helps you achieve the first two , and I am   amazed at what great results we saw from investing in it .
### Output: 