You only get one chance to make a first impression. The old cliché could not be more true, or more important, in a world where we compete constantly for customer’s attention and connection. Dr Graeme Codrington looks at some first impressions you may not be considering, and suggests that this is so important that it should be a top strategic priority.
Archive for the 'Organisational Narrative' Category
Older supermarket workers, at Britain’s Tesco, are being given a guide to youth slang to help them understand younger colleagues and customers, in the form of a pamphlet handed out to staff. The pamphlet is being tried out in some of Tesco’s 1 500 stores with a high proportion of employees over retirement age.
Key phrases in the guide include:
- Bad: Good (but this can also mean bad. When in doubt, just nod).
- How’s it hanging?: How are you today?
- Laters: Cheerio, goodbye.
- Minging: Ugly, unattractive.
- Phat: Wicked (in the good sense), cool.
- Slammin’: Pleasing to the eye.
- Talk to the hand: I’m not listening.
- Wack: Weak, boring.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “It aims to help bridge the generation gap and offer a guide for older members of staff looking to chat with younger colleagues and customers.”
Continue reading ‘Tesco trains their staff in generational talk’
I was recently sent the outline of a book, “The Ten Faces of Innovation”, by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman (Profile, 2005) - buy it online at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net. In our work on “Invitational Innovation“, we have been telling clients for a long time that just like there are different types of personality, there are different styles of innovative thinking. Not a big thought, really, but an important one, nevertheless.
This book appears to put some nice labels on different innovation types.
Aiden Choles, an expert in the use of narrative techniques in the corporate world, argues that the rise of the corporate autobiography as bestseller is proof that we need stories, rather than benchmarks, and human connection rather than policy and procedure manuals. In his usual insightful way, Aiden highlights the leadership implications faced by corporates today.
Continue reading ‘The airport bestseller - the role and emergence of corporate autobiographies’
I enjoy keeping tabs on the narrative pulse of South Africa. By listening out for the narrative take on events I believe we get glimpses into our consciousness as a nation. The same applies to organisations and understanding their own narratives. One really gets to grips with this narrative pulse when listening to comments made by listeners who call in to radio talk shows.
The latest check on the South African pulse takes the form of the wake of events following criticisms pitched against our president, Thabo Mbeki, by a former advisor and the ensuing debate between the ANC, YCL and SACP.
Today, while driving, I was listening to SAfm where the topic was around the “malicious attack and hurling of insults” by the Young Communist League (YCL) towards Mbeki after he criticized SACP leader Blade Nzimande in a speech. By and large the thread to the listeners comments was one of defense towards the Presidency and outrage at how disrespectful the allegations were being towards Mbeki (”dictator” is one specific allegation). Interesting that in a functioning democracy where freedom of speech is enshrined in a broad constitution people were defending the institution of the presidency with a fervour one might expect citizens of a dictatorship to do so. Not only this, they were defending Mbeki passionately as well: highlighting the good work he has done and how undeserved he is of such criticisms.
Mbeki seems to be one of those public figures who has a polished public narrative. This is evident in how people defend him. Another such character is that of our famed Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel. Manuel has a way of delivering bad news with chocolate coating. One wonders what would happen if news had to break that counters such a narrative … will his narrative tarnish or will it prove resilient? In my opinion, such leaders will need to do a helluva lot to break the dominance their positive narratives have in our society. You see, when we have a dominant narrative on an event or someone and new information come sot light that presents an alternative view is most often rejected for being so contrary to the dominant narrative. It also explains how leader fall from fame so tragically - we cannot really believe that the person we thought was so good is actually so bad!
The public narrative is much more than just reputation. Traditional professionals in this space work hard on reputation management where the standard response to a public saga is to get them holding HIV/Aids babies in front of photogrpahers. Leaders and their associated PR, PA, Media Liaison and spokespersons need to catch a wake up on the public narrative.
A well developed public narrative is almost bullet proof. You want to breed loyalty? Start thinking about who you and how that informs your public narrative as an organisation and as an individual.
In this article, Aiden deals with the complex issue of change management, convincingly showing why many of today’s interventions fail. He provides a new starting point, using Organisational Narrative Mapping as a mechanism for profound change.
Continue reading ‘Facing up to problems and their solutions’
I’m a firm believer that your story is your story. As it is rooted in your experience and by virtue, your story is a simple retelling of your experience. It is not then a ventured opinion that is open for debate and scrutiny. When this understanding is in place, it opens room for everyone to learn from the stories they hear and to be touched by the significance of the story. We affirm this point in all the work we do with companies when mapping their Organisational Narratives. But in recent days there has been a news story that has made me question whether such reverence of experience is valid. It is the furore stirred up by Pope Benedict quoting a Byzantine leader who slated the impact Mohammed had on the world in spreading Islam.
The Islam community has lashed out at his speech and the inference regarding his belielfs on Islam. Their response, understood as a story, has been characterised by pain and hurt. As a Christian African Westerner (sho, a mouthfull) I have found myself believing that the Muslim world has just misinterpreted the quote and not seen it in the grander picture of what Benedict is trying to achieve: greater tolerance and acceptance. But then, in listening to an interview with a Muslim cleric on TV this morning about the issue, I wonder if I have fallen into the trap of subjugating the “story” the Muslims are telling us? For the Muslims, from what I can understand, the issue here is that Bendict did not distance himself and his personal stance from the content of the quote. By virtue of this not happening, his has covertly stated he is anti-Muslim. But, I do not know if I am right on this.
How do we really open ourselves to the messages and lessons behind stories? How do we open ourselves to another’s story, no matter how different and imcomprehensible it seems to us?
Every marketer says that they do. Companies swear that they know their customers. But, as a fantastic article from Fast Company shows, most organisations are just fooling themselves. Its a long read, but well worth it - from Fast Company, Issue 34, April 2000. Read it here (or below).
Key messages:
- Where You Listen Is as Important as How You Listen
- Whom You Listen to Is as Important as Where You Listen
- To Listen Smarter, Give Customers Something to Talk About
This is one of the cornerstones of the connection economy. This is worth taking seriously!
Continue reading ‘Listen to your customers’
Penguins represent a paradox of innovation and narrative in organisations. Penguins are considered one of the most sociable species on the planet, and often live as a flock on an iceberg or cliff. Both fear and food reside in the same place - in the water. The fish as food and the sharks as fear.So now, how do you get the first of the flock into the water? The answer: the flock pushes the pengiun closest to the edge into the water to see if it is safe. This paradox is ironically labelled as “co-operation in a competitive envirnment”. It is the same paradox we find in organisation when they have to innovate i.e. “great idea Bob, you go ahead and try it!”
When one gets to grip with the organisational narrative of a company, one often finds that they are a company just waiting for someone to be pushed off the edge to change the Story. So, in some cases, when a company has gone through a particularly tough patch the narrative pattern, as an indicator of the culture, is one dominated by a lack of meaning and mistrust in leadership. This organisation is just waiting for a leader to emerge, and will often put one in place, to find out if it is safe to move on and change the Story/culture or not. It is in this space that an organisation is just yearning for a hero to come along and lead them out of the mire. This may sound counterintuitive to my logic above regarding the pengiuns. The truth is however that organisations, as collectives of employees, often do not see their inherent ability to “push” someone off the edge and the leadership, instead of seeing the opportunity, embody the dominant negative narrative without seizing the opportunity to step forward.
Some fo thsi thinking comes from an audio clip of Peter Engstrom’s found here.
More often than not the accussation of “telling tales” reminds us of our childhood when our parents would admonish us for being naughty and use this phrase in a far-from-covert ploy to get us to tell the truth. Well, JetBlue is now actually encourgaing the telling of tales … customer experience style. By establishing a Story Booth customers can, via megaphone, express there feelings about the airline. Or, you can submit a story to their story web page here. The Motley Fool reports that close on 2,000 anecdote have been gathered to date. A nice way for a company to embrace the power of narrative.
John Cusack is one of my favourite movie stars, and he turned 40 on 28 June. OK, so’s he’s not quite A-list, and I don’t think he’s ever got a big payday role ($ 10 million or more). But he’s an amazing presence in the psyche of Generation X. His roles have mirrored our lives and our own development. You can see his bio and entire 51 credit filmography at his IMDB page (that include 5 unreleased movies that he’s working on or in post production now).
Cusack has been a steadfast presence in movies that my generation has used to define itself. He’s probably the defining Generation X actor, and his onscreen development, with passages from teen angst into young adulthood and now looming middle age have just slightly pre-empted our own journeys, and even been somewhat prophetic, or at least echoed our fears and desires.
Think about it. John Cusack has a defining film, or two, for every era of our lives:
For millennia Stories and the telling of stories have been central to human existence. From the Hunter-Gathers who told of the day’s conquests around the fire, to friends who tell of what they were doing in December 2004 the exact minute the Tsunami hit while on holiday in Phuket, humans have woven their existence together with stories. The value of a story lies in its ability to convey complex multi-layered ideas in a simple and memorable form to culturally diverse audiences.
Today stories seem less important to our functioning as they were in ages gone by. We find that our preferred modes of operating are void of metaphor, symbolism and imagery. Often, when looking at management science employed by managers, the ‘softer’ value of viewing issues through the lens of Story is relegated in preference to good practice and sound expertise that over-complicate simple ideas. We are more comfortable in the realm of Story when it is applied to parenting as children thirst for the quenching that stories provide their imaginations.
The caption reads, “It’s about a building with 88 stories and a boy with just one”.
Samsung built one of the tallest buildings in the world in Malaysia … but their marketing is also about communicating a story – that they connect with life. This is how companies are going to have to market to keep alive … they need to create stories.
Am reading an interesting book by this title. In many senses it is nothing we don’t know or do but someone simply beat us to the punch when it comes to writing it up. I would be interested in any stories / experiences you have in exploring this space within companies. The power of the narrative will grow significantly into the future. It will impact leadership, sales, marketing, staff development - including attraction and retention. I would be keen to hear what other think / believe regarding this subject. I think we need a seperate category for ‘Storytelling’ for blogging!
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