Leadership ConneXions - Issue 17
Welcome to Leadership ConneXions Issue 17 and welcome to all our new subscribers. Leadership ConneXions currently reaches out to over 7000 subscribers.
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“The ultimate guide to anecdote circles”.
I have long been a fan of stories and metaphors as a means of facilitating learning. I have marvelled at how a series of embedded story and metaphor loops can keep an audiences enthralled while communicating directly to the listener’s subconscious. Add to that some persuasive or hypnotic language patterns and you have the makings of artistry in communication.
So coming from this perspective, I was quite eager to learn more about Anecdote Circles – a process of story telling/narrative process that seems to be popping up in my email inbox with regularity.
These emails were telling me that anecdote circles are a narrative technique, like focus groups, except they're facilitated to elicit stories rather than judgement and opinion. The collected stories reveal what is really happening in your organisation and what people value. Anecdote circles are a powerful tool to gain insight and new perspectives.
I wanted to know more - then along came an email that said “With our love for story, we thought we’d pull together our learnings and techniques from running Anecdote Circles into an e-book and then, best of all, give it away. Our aim for this e-book was to bring together the combined practical experiences of Anecdote in running anecdotes circles and present the information in a fun, easy to use format.”
So here it is - “The ultimate guide to anecdote circles”.
http://www.anecdote.com.au/files/Ultimate_Guide_to_ACs_v1.0.pdf
Barry Lawson
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Everything Speaks
In my work place, indeed on many floors I have visited in my building, there is a large wheelie bin used for collecting recycled paper conveniently placed in the lift well area. Later each day several other bins belonging to cleaning contractors also magically appear in this lift well area. I say “convenient” because they must be convenient for someone. I certainly do not find them convenient, especially when one has to reach around or over them to summon a lift.
I acknowledge their need but I do not like them being so publicly on display in the lift well area – the only area that everyone who visits our floor must pass through. Some people, with whom I have shared my thoughts on these bins probably think I have a few loose screws – after all they are only rubbish bins, they’re clean and they don’t smell and they serve a functional purpose. They are probably saying to themselves “What’s he going on about?” (and because it is me they are probably adding “again” for good measure).
But to me, every time I see these bins, I think about the image that these bins create about our work place.
What messages do these bins purvey to visitors to the floor?
What do they “say” about us to our customers?
And how do they influence workers and our attitude to our work environment and the job we do?
Now, good operators in the private sector have always known about the advantages of creating the right environment within their business. It looks professional, enhances sales, creates good perceptions and encourages referrals. It just makes good business sense. But this good sense does not just apply to the private sector; these things equally apply to the public sector.
One memorable experience that has influenced my thinking in this regard was when I was being shown around a Government mine safety and scientific research centre by the director of the facility. While walking between buildings, we came across the gardener. The Director stopped and said, “Let me introduce you to the most important man in this operation”.
The gardener looked puzzled as we shook hands and asked how he might be the most important man here when the place was full of very bright and talented scientists doing world class research. The Director replied that the facility depended on funding received from mining companies and mining industry bodies and said “First impressions about an organisation are the most critical in deciding whether to fund research activities and John, your excellent efforts create good first impressions.” I swear the gardener grew six inches taller on the spot and undoubtedly he continued his gardening with renewed enthusiasm.
This Director was a truly inspirational leader. Not only did he know how to get the best out of his people, he really knew the value of creating a good working environment and showing that he valued his staff in doing so. That day I learnt several lessons that have stuck with me ever since, but for now, let’s stick to the key points of this article and these are: perception is everything and creating a good environment creates benefits for a business.
Recently, I came across an article that brought many of my thoughts on this together. It was “A Mickey Mouse Approach to Customer Service” by Paige Booth and was published in MarketingProfs Today (http://www.marketingprofs.com/).
In this article, the author spoke about the Disney Model of customer service and the “everything speaks” approach. It is called the “everything speaks” approach because everything from the tidiness of the office, to the receptionist's smile, to the spring in the step of individual staff members, to the ease of business processes, to the quality of the work – everything says something about your organisation.
In Neuro Linguistic Programming circles, “everything speaks” is reworded in a presupposition - “we cannot not communicate”. Either way, this means in whatever we do, however we do it, and wherever we do it, we are communicating a message whether we mean to or not. How we look or not look, what we say or not say, how we act or not act – it all communicates a message. And it is the messages sent by our people, our setting, our processes and the quality of our work that form people's perceptions.
At Disneyland, when you line up to go on a ride, there are certain time checks at different points on the line e.g. “30 minutes to (attraction)” and then a bit further on “15 minutes to (attraction)” and so on. In fact, it will only take 20 minutes and 5 minutes respectively to reach the ride. Disney realise that “everything speaks” and in this case, the signs makes you feel (perceive) that things are moving quite fast and this puts you in a better frame of mind during the wait.
In the private sector, “everything speaks” is often encapsulated into building a brand image and better organisations know better than to leave customer perceptions to chance. They take deliberate steps to ensure the details convey their central message. I suggest that those of us in the public sector can do the same.
For starters, we can weave the "everything speaks" philosophy into our ongoing routine by establishing regular taskforces to conduct an analysis by walking around our offices and noting things that staff and customers see or contact – in a sense, pretending to be an external or internal customer by stepping into their shoes.
Do they get greeted by wheelie bins in the foyer or a professional display of what your organisation stands for and how they do their business?
Do counter staff greet people with a warm smile?
Are applicants informed about the progress of their application?
Do people know where they are in the queue and how long before they will be served?
After such analyses of the working environment, we need to entrench the changes by involving staff in implementing the required improvements and we then need to recognise and reward the desired behaviours.
Now I wonder if anyone will notice if I shift those rubbish bins?
Barry Lawson