Reflection Assignment - Storytelling 

 Challenge 

 As an HR Catalyst managing the OD activities broadly , I recently joined a well - reputed firm and 

 upon employee engagement surveys and organizational health diagnoses , I figured out that we 

 need to make a holistic change in the organization culture to regain the firm ’s competitive 

 advantage and sustain the operational effectiveness , Hence I requested a meeting with the 

 Leadership Team to propose transforming the work process/ workflows and implementing the 

 state - of - the - art technologies such as Oracle or SAP to increase the efficiency and effectiveness 

 of the SLAs within the allocated budget for better future and innovation . 

 I have met the stakeholders ( IT ) and discussed the process of changing the organization 

 successfully in light of different contexts and considered taking practical steps by asking what 

 are we doing , how can we do better , and how can we effectively implement the change . I 

 started using the Intervention Strategy Model by evaluating the current systems and scenarios 

 of planning which requires a balance between thinking and doing . 

 The Leadership team gave us the green signal to start immediately within a specific timeframe 

 and particular budget which was a big challenge that we have to beat it . I have assigned the 

 OD team ( Change Agents ) to commence the culture change process by first know the basics of 

 design thinking as an effective approach to obtain the best outcomes out of the change 

 process , thus we asked “ What is ” the current situation , and “ What if ” we tried the possible 

 solutions to approach and fix the problem . 

 Selection 

 The OD Team has gone through the effective Design Thinking tools which could be storytelling , 

 learning launching , mind mapping or visualization and preferred to start with storytelling since 

 it ’s the most suitable tool for changing organizational cultures . Storytelling or what so - called 

 Narratives must be credible , novel and compelling .   This Design Thinking tool will help us shape 

 the organizational culture and have deep - understanding of the organization ’s specific need and 

 contexts . Storytelling is an important Design Thinking tool that would help the OD Team to 

 convey the change messages/ narratives with a logic and emotional connection to achieve the 

 large purpose , it creates the cause of changing the culture which will have great positive impact 

 on the most important asset of the organization ; the human capital . 

 Application 

 As an HR Professional , I believe that changing organizational will never take place unless and 

 until you empower , inspire and engage people , all people , they are the stakeholders in change 

 process .   Thus , I had to assess my mindset and to what extent it ’s open to understand the 

 problem holistically , understanding people ’s needs since the entire process is human - centered 

 and learning from the entire experience by balancing between thinking and doing , which 

 ultimately require taking immediate action for change . We , OD , have decided to select and 

 assign Change Champions from each and every department across the firm to support our 

 storytelling approach in changing the cultures in addition to the admired managers who have 

 referent power and whom are liked and respected by all employees to reinforce the changing 

 process and help people adopt and embrace the change as a necessity to advance our culture . I 

 consider this phase is the “ What wows ” ! 

 We designed clear sequence of events and used stories about personal and professional 

 experiences , we shared knowledge and opened up to brainstorm that best possible solutions to 

 our firm , we asked all people to be involved and share their opinions through the internal 

 communication under the slogan of “ Your Voice Really Matters to Us ” , allowing all people to 

 generate thoughts and ideas by sharing them into formed groups .   We started to listen 

 attentively to all people and we made also circled groupthink to empower the self - directed 

 teams and promised to provide team - based rewards to increase team - based activities , we used 

 the employee ’s feedback by analyzing it carefully to get closer to their interests and real needs . 

 We encouraged all participants to use mind mapping techniques after brainstorming sessions to 

 organize their thoughts in the way the brain can digest , we asked questions and answered 

 questions using multiple lenses to analyze problems to reframe them to produce novel and 

 compelling situations and vision that others can buy into to come up with well - work - out 

 strategy . 

 This is what I was personally learnt to be a wise manager to act by making a stand , so that the 

 situation is changed into an event of focus , which allows those whom we manage or influence 

 to read into the situation a novel , credible and compelling story . Storytelling was really an 

 immersive tool when it ’s compelling and creating energy , passion and excitement that 

 supported the strategy and made it accessible and will support also in different HR strategies 

 since it ’s all about people . 

 Insight 

 The OD team members , Change Champions , as well as the departmental heads have 

 successfully adopted and embraced the storytelling approach of design thinking and mastered 

 its complementary and necessary skills such as listening skills , communication skills to inspire 

 the employees in different departments across the firm to adapt with the organizational culture 

 change process , this helped all of us to identify the gaps and define the assumptions . All 

 employees have been really empowered and inspired when we heard them and engage them 

 from the early commencement of the entire process to the extent that they have a compelling , 

 novel and credible story about the workplace and covey this story to the potential and new 

 employees . This has also great impact on the employee well - being ! 

 The Employer Value Proposition ( EVP ) has been significantly developed as well as the Employer 

 Branding Strategy resulted in excellent employee identification to the firm and increased the 

 psychological contract and organizational commitment and citizenship during the changing 

 practice and even after the project , which has facilitated implementing the new technologies to 

 automate the process workflows and take the entire firm to the next advanced level . 

 Approach 

 The Storytelling approach of Design Thinking was very successful and yield the best possible 

 results . Indeed , it was the “ What works ” since such projects require collaboration , teamwork , 

 strong vision , credibility and transparency .   All stakeholders were one spirit working towards 

 one objective , this has been happened because we gave them a sufficient room to enable them 

 to express themselves and speak up , in return , we have listened to them to accommodate their 

 needs and link between their objectives and the organizational strategic objectives .   Working in 

 groups has improved the relationship between managers and subordinates , get closer to them 

 to understand their pains and problems .   Design Thinking approach has supported the 

 managers to find possible solutions to the employees and the business . 


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 Assignment - Storytelling 

 Challenge 

 As an HR Catalyst managing the OD activities broadly , I recently joined a well - reputed firm and 

 upon employee engagement surveys and organizational health diagnoses , I figured out that we 

 need to make a holistic change in the organization culture to regain the firm ’s competitive 

 advantage and sustain the operational effectiveness , Hence I requested a meeting with the 

 Leadership Team to propose transforming the work process/ workflows and implementing the 

 state - of - the - art technologies such as Oracle or SAP to increase the efficiency and effectiveness 

 of the SLAs within the allocated budget for better future and innovation . 

 I have met the stakeholders ( IT ) and discussed the process of changing the organization 

 successfully in light of different contexts and considered taking practical steps by asking what 

 are we doing , how can we do better , and how can we effectively implement the change . I 

 started using the Intervention Strategy Model by evaluating the current systems and scenarios 

 of planning which requires a balance between thinking and doing . 

 The Leadership team gave us the green signal to start immediately within a specific timeframe 

 and particular budget which was a big challenge that we have to beat it . I have assigned the 

 OD team ( Change Agents ) to commence the culture change process by first know the basics of 

 design thinking as an effective approach to obtain the best outcomes out of the change 

 process , thus we asked “ What is ” the current situation , and “ What if ” we tried the possible 

 solutions to approach and fix the problem . 

 Selection 

 The OD Team has gone through the effective Design Thinking tools which could be storytelling , 

 learning launching , mind mapping or visualization and preferred to start with storytelling since 

 it ’s the most suitable tool for changing organizational cultures . Storytelling or what so - called 

 Narratives must be credible , novel and compelling .   This Design Thinking tool will help us shape 

 the organizational culture and have deep - understanding of the organization ’s specific need and 

 contexts . Storytelling is an important Design Thinking tool that would help the OD Team to 

 convey the change messages/ narratives with a logic and emotional connection to achieve the 

 large purpose , it creates the cause of changing the culture which will have great positive impact 

 on the most important asset of the organization ; the human capital . 

 Application 

 As an HR Professional , I believe that changing organizational will never take place unless and 

 until you empower , inspire and engage people , all people , they are the stakeholders in change 

 process .   Thus , I had to assess my mindset and to what extent it ’s open to understand the 

 problem holistically , understanding people ’s needs since the entire process is human - centered 

 and learning from the entire experience by balancing between thinking and doing , which 

 ultimately require taking immediate action for change . We , OD , have decided to select and 

 assign Change Champions from each and every department across the firm to support our 

 storytelling approach in changing the cultures in addition to the admired managers who have 

 referent power and whom are liked and respected by all employees to reinforce the changing 

 process and help people adopt and embrace the change as a necessity to advance our culture . I 

 consider this phase is the “ What wows ” ! 

 We designed clear sequence of events and used stories about personal and professional 

 experiences , we shared knowledge and opened up to brainstorm that best possible solutions to 

 our firm , we asked all people to be involved and share their opinions through the internal 

 communication under the slogan of “ Your Voice Really Matters to Us ” , allowing all people to 

 generate thoughts and ideas by sharing them into formed groups .   We started to listen 

 attentively to all people and we made also circled groupthink to empower the self - directed 

 teams and promised to provide team - based rewards to increase team - based activities , we used 

 the employee ’s feedback by analyzing it carefully to get closer to their interests and real needs . 

 We encouraged all participants to use mind mapping techniques after brainstorming sessions to 

 organize their thoughts in the way the brain can digest , we asked questions and answered 

 questions using multiple lenses to analyze problems to reframe them to produce novel and 

 compelling situations and vision that others can buy into to come up with well - work - out 

 strategy . 

 This is what I was personally learnt to be a wise manager to act by making a stand , so that the 

 situation is changed into an event of focus , which allows those whom we manage or influence 

 to read into the situation a novel , credible and compelling story . Storytelling was really an 

 immersive tool when it ’s compelling and creating energy , passion and excitement that 

 supported the strategy and made it accessible and will support also in different HR strategies 

 since it ’s all about people . 

 Insight 

 The OD team members , Change Champions , as well as the departmental heads have 

 successfully adopted and embraced the storytelling approach of design thinking and mastered 

 its complementary and necessary skills such as listening skills , communication skills to inspire 

 the employees in different departments across the firm to adapt with the organizational culture 

 change process , this helped all of us to identify the gaps and define the assumptions . All 

 employees have been really empowered and inspired when we heard them and engage them 

 from the early commencement of the entire process to the extent that they have a compelling , 

 novel and credible story about the workplace and covey this story to the potential and new 

 employees . This has also great impact on the employee well - being ! 

 The Employer Value Proposition ( EVP ) has been significantly developed as well as the Employer 

 Branding Strategy resulted in excellent employee identification to the firm and increased the 

 psychological contract and organizational commitment and citizenship during the changing 

 practice and even after the project , which has facilitated implementing the new technologies to 

 automate the process workflows and take the entire firm to the next advanced level . 

 Approach 

 The Storytelling approach of Design Thinking was very successful and yield the best possible 

 results . Indeed , it was the “ What works ” since such projects require collaboration , teamwork , 

 strong vision , credibility and transparency .   All stakeholders were one spirit working towards 

 one objective , this has been happened because we gave them a sufficient room to enable them 

 to express themselves and speak up , in return , we have listened to them to accommodate their 

 needs and link between their objectives and the organizational strategic objectives .   Working in 

 groups has improved the relationship between managers and subordinates , get closer to them 

 to understand their pains and problems .   Design Thinking approach has supported the 

 managers to find possible solutions to the employees and the business .
### Output: 