The case of the DIAGONAL twins: Does YOUR Story RESONATE?

Once Upon a Time....

When my daughter Maddie was about 4 years old, she came into my office where I was working diligently to tell me about her new friends. As it turns out these two friends were twins.  One of them was 4 years old and one of them was 5 years old.  I listened to her story with great interest and enjoyed the details of this new friendship through the eyes of this little person.  Eventually there was a pause in her telling of the story and I told her "Maddie I think twins have to be the same age as one another".  Without skipping a beat she looked at me and said "I know mom, but these are diagonal twins". Cue laugh track.

She loves that story.  So do I and over the years we have told and retold that story to friends and family and even just between the two of us.  It captures the innocence and joy of being a child and illustrates why shows like "kids say the darndest things" was such a big hit.

The value of a good story told cannot be measured.  It connects us to the teller of the story and creates emotional responses that in turn cause us to consider or reconsider the underlying issue told in the story.  Stop for a minute and think about how many stories you tell in one day and in turn how many stories are told to you.  I can guarantee you that a good deal, perhaps even 50% for some people, of our communication is done through the telling of a story.

Do you tap into the POWER of your story in ways that other people want to participate in whatever it is you are selling: your friendship, your business, your product, your service?  Because yes, stories do sell things. They sell ideas, points of view, they even sell the person telling the story.  In our personal life many of us are far more likely to tell and share stories with our family and friends.  Why not in business?  The business world prefers, even gives preference to facts, figures, statistics, charts, graphs, evidence.  Now, these things are in fact very important but should not be chosen in lieu of a good story. 

The combination of evidence + story is where persuasion happens.  

Knowing that, do you and your organization have control of "the story" of

WHO WE ARE

WHERE WE HAVE BEEN

WHERE WE ARE GOING

HOW WE ARE GOING TO GET THERE

WHY WE ARE GOING THERE

WHO IS GOING WITH US

?

To determine the answer, here are THREE questions you should be asking in your organization to determine the potency of your story:

1. Can everyone tell the story of the organization's beginnings from the top down? (do they know the mission statement for the organization is another potential question to see if your story has internal sticking power).

2. How does our story compare to that of our competition?  The power of a GREAT story is that it is unique.  If your story looks and sounds a whole lot like the story of your competition then you are in trouble buddy.  Better get some heads around the table and have a brainstorming session to find a story that will differentiate you from everyone else.

3. Does your story match up in all contexts: internally, marketing, who customers say you are, on your website?  A consistent story means branding and branding means name recognition. Name recognition means market share.

Never ever underestimate the power of STORY.  The worlds greatest brands--Coke, Nike, Apple--are the best storytellers around.  Become more academic about telling your story for a while until you perfect this all too important art form.

Need help?  That's what Bravo CC is around for--we teach people how to stand out in a CROWDED and COMPETITIVE Marketplace.  You can see our upcoming events including "Death By Presentation", a webinar AND "What's YOUR Plan BE? 2012" the workshop.  Dates and details can be found HERE

Finally, take a look at this Bravo CC Slideshare presentation on STORYTELLING.

The stories we_tell

View more presentations from Libby Spears

You kinda smell like coffee...why I am a small business owner

You kinda smell like coffee..musings from a small business owner

I think there was a point that my kids thought I was a barista at Starbucks.  I would come home and smell of coffee, really excellent and delicious coffee, but coffee none the less.  No Lancome did not come out with a new perfume eau de coffee.  My perfume was compliments of keeping office hours at the local Starbucks, or the Starbucks up the street, or the Starbucks down the road from the client appointment.  If you ask me "where is your office?" I will answer, straight faced and completely serious "whatever Starbucks I happen to land at that day"

God bless you Starbucks (note to self: ask accountant if I can tax deduct all those blessed cups of Joe).

There are many, many, many reasons I am a small business owner and it isn't just for my office hours at Starbucks.  They include (in no particular order)

1. I don't like to be told what to do.

2. I am bad with rules and the whole follow the rules expectation that comes when working for others.

3. If I want to go on my kid's field trip to the Dallas Acquarium I will and I don't have to ask (beg) for permission.

4. I don't believe in the 40 hour work week or the 50 hour work week or the 60 hour work week.  I believe in about a 30 hour work week--one where I work smarter not harder.

5. I want to be able to have big ideas and not have to get them blessed by the Pope, Tom, Dick, Harry and fourteen committees to run with it.

6. I like to bask in the glory from my success and take 100% responsibility for failures.

7. I like to take a long lunch sometimes. Or get a pedicure in the middle of a work day.  I can open my lap top and situate in my lap while my toes get purty.

8. I get to define who I want to work with and what I want to work on.  If I don't like someone I don't work with them.

9.  I don't want to sign a 167 page employee manual written in an 8 point font.

10. I want to drink coffee at Starbucks with my laptop in front of me on a regular basis (doing it right now in fact).

But don't get me wrong. SB is not without it's own limitations and frustrations.  Just as there are people you work with every day that test your resolve to maintain your calm, I too am challenged by people at SB as well.  Here are a few of those people:

1 The couple in their 50's who insist on making out whilst she sits in his lap in the leather chair and I am next to them and cannot command my peripheral vision to tune them out.

2. The idiot who thinks it is perfectly acceptable to SKYPE with someone on their computer in the middle of Starbucks.  Are you freaking kidding me?  No really--you are kidding me right?

3. Akin to #2--the person who has SUPER IMPORTANT WORLD CHANGING phone conversations in SB.  Look--SB is not the place to have these conversations.  And pssstttt....you aren't that important.

4. People who discuss delicate and conflict laden topics at their table not realizing (or perhaps they realize and don't care) that everyone can hear their business.  We don't want to know your business.  We don't care.  We have our own business to attend to.  Go away.

5. Teenagers.  Really no need for explanation on that one.  I just don't like teenagers.

There are trade offs in everything we do.  Being a small business owner can be a lonely journey.  I don't have the comfort of working with a group of people in close proximity on a common and shared purpose. Yes--I have created around me a group of like minded business people who share my same values and mission and we support one another but I don't have the benefit of working in an office with people day in and out.  These people become family--for better or worse--and I get the appeal of that.

So the next time we see one another, please don't sniff me to verify that I smell like coffee, just take my word for it.  And I promise--you will never see me making out with my husband in the leather chair next to you at Starbucks (unless of course you want us to).

Outsourced! THREE reasons outsourcing is not a dirty word when it comes to training and development

These days, OUTSOURCED is a pretty dirty word.  More on that in a moment.  But first, a story.

I had a small group meeting today with a few of the leaders in my Leader on Loan program at Panera to work on some project development issues.  If you are not familiar with the concept of "Leader on Loan", it is a brilliant combination of professional training + volunteering for the United Way.  This group is "on loan" for a seventh month period where they meet monthly (and sometimes twice a month) to participate in group workshop training on important issues surrounding their professional development + work on United Way Projects as volunteers.

That leads me back to this morning's tete a tete.  In the course of our conversation unfolding, one of the group members took a minute to blow off some steam.  He works in a high pressure, high stress, high burnout industry and on this particular day, the four or so hours he worked before meeting with us had felt like 40 hours due to some unexpected issues that arose.  We listened sympathetically and responded when needed but I knew our responses were neither here nor there--he just needed to unwind a minute.  And we let him.

Why should you outsource your T&D program?  

GREAT Question.

The above scenario starts our list off

REASON #1:
An OUTSIDER is not politically connected to the inner-workings of your organization.  One of the best parts of what I do is developing relationships with people who long for an ear to listen.  Everyone has problems, frustrations and gripes. As I build trust with them, they in turn trust me enough to reveal some of their disappointments and issues in their professional (and sometimes their personal) life.  I do not EVER throw them under the bus, reveal their conversations to others or play the role of problem solver.  I just LISTEN.  As an employer, it is easy to feel threatened by that.  "I don't want my people bitching and moaning to you" but let me assure you--it is a valuable outlet for them AND for you.  That's leads me to reason #2.

REASON #2:
Through these interactions, conversations and reveals I am able to really take the temperature of an organization and it makes what I do BETTER because I see where there is a TRUE need in the organization making your investment that much more worthwhile!  Trust me on this one: my conversations are a far better thermometer than the yearly employee survey.  Why? Because employees don't like surveys.  People in general don't like surveys.  Know what they do like?  Having someone LISTEN to them!

REASON #3:
BEST PRACTICES from beyond your industry.  People like me work with people like you, and Jim, and Sheila, and Mary, and Todd and Max and Marge.  With each new client we add new dimensions to our own set of best practices and if we are really good, we can apply and plug in those practices to your organization.  When a T&D program is driven internally it is easy to get stuck in a rut and think only from an organizational or industry perspective.  An OUTSIDER doesn't run that risk if we are doing our job right.

I am not suggesting you outsource ALL of your T&D but it is worth considering at least using an OUTSIDER to fulfill some of your ongoing T&D efforts.  These THREE reasons are just a start.  There are multiple benefits when you find and hire the right person to do the job.

Yes, outsourcing is a bad word when it comes to moving American Jobs overseas but in the case of T&D using an outside source to help your organization reach it's goals is a fantastic idea.

That deserves a SHAMON!