to behave differently, you have
first to see and feel differently
This tool helps your people see your vision differently and feel differently about it. Not as leaders or executives but as human beings. It works through one of the most potent and irresistible of human activities:
stories.
They then take what they have learnt as people back into the workplace as leaders and executives.
Just as people in IBM, Nike, BP and 3M have done.
The Story File exists to stimulate, provoke, reveal and bring to life the 'person behind the position'. We use story throughout our Pathway process as a means of enabling people to see, feel and behave differently. Importantly,
it helps people to be rather than simply to do.
Our belief in and commitment to 'bringing the whole person to work' is at the core of our competitive differentiation and ability to generate leaps in productivity for our clients.
Most notably, Rolf Jensen in his book 'The Dream Society' published by McGraw Hill has written on the subject of the value of story and story telling within organisations.
(Rolf and tcp have worked together with P&G and the BBC). Equally, global organisations such as IBM, Nike, BP and 3M are leaders in this field.
And story telling throughout history has been mankind's most effective tool in aiding learning as it appeals simultaneously to the head and the heart, reaching the whole human with lasting impact.
It is inherently disarming and will immediately cut through the superficial exteriors of people in their work roles, to reach them at their inner core as human beings. Storytelling is particularly valuable in simplifying complex issues and helping people to reach new levels of understanding. It both illustrates and inspires by its power to captivate the human imagination, universally.
By using the basic story structure of 'situation, complication and resolution' (better known as 'beginning, middle and end'), storytelling is highly appropriate for problem solving of both a practical and abstract nature.
Storytelling is a gift that can be carried back into the organisation by all who come into contact with it.
It ignites the imagination in a way that no plaque conveying the vision or mission ever has.
tcp has put together a compendium of story-based exercises and practices that help to humanise the process and to get the most out of the key management participants throughout the journey. The participants often create the 'stories' in question to a specific brief or to an assigned topic drawn from conversations with tcp.
On several occasions however, tcp will utilise published stories by authors as stimulation or provocation for the process. The Story File includes:
The Story So Far & The Story to Come
The Story of a Relationship
The Story of Where I'm From
The Dream Story
The What Keeps You Awake at Night Story
The Legacy Story
The Story of Overcoming Personal Challenge
These 'story' titles can be used individually or in a mix, or in conjunction with other tcp tools and products.
The following are examples of how and when the Story File has been used:
To help in the formation of a new Year Plan for a global organisation
To assist in the development of a new operating structure for two worldwide Client Management Groups
To develop unity around a new campaign idea for a global brand
To rally a new management team around a new CEO and to provide the foundations for a new operating plan
To create an interdependent group of strategists within a global organisation charged with the implementation
of new intellectual capital
To improve communication, relationships and decision making within a global HR function
To align forty independent managers to a new vision for a worldwide company
To redefine the Roles, Responsibilities and Accountability of the leadership group of a worldwide company
To reposition an internal 'learning management' function as central to the delivery of the company's global strategy