Power of Stories

As leaders we search for measurements of success. We produce metrics to connect with the goals of the team and organization in order to measure and celebrate that success. These are valuable leadership tools to help shape the organization and focus individuals / teams on success. Often lost in organizations is the sharing and celebrating of stories as a measure of success. These shared stories help shape the organizations and create an environment that sustains success for longer periods of time.

As leaders who practice continuous improvement using the lean model of changes often ignore the stories of success as we focus on "why" to discover a root cause problem to be improved. The stories told are often seen as traditions that are spoken to limit or place up barriers to change. The leaders in these organizations are not interested in being derailed by what has been successful in the past. The change model Appreciative Inquiry (AI) discovers an affirmative topic and then builds on strength to effect positive change. Stories are a foundation to that sustainable change process. The best elements of lean and AI comes together in the measurements of success - the metrics and the stories.

Stories can have a tremendous influence on people's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors within an organization. Storytelling goes hand in hand with good active listening skills in a leader. Leaders listen to stories from their supervisors, employees, customers, and vendors to construct what is strong and good about the organization. Stories connect people with the processes of the organization and allow long lasting positive changes to be implemented.

Stories can make sense of complex situations, connecting them together for a common purpose and goal, inspire action, and invoke powerful images of success that improves organizations. The five step model AI helps create an organizational environment that is curious about others and how they fit into the organization. Think about asking powerful open ended powerful questions and actively listening to the story.

Howard Gardner, in his book Leading Minds, says: "Stories are the most powerful weapon in a leader's arsenal." Create a positive organizational culture, one of inquiry and positive stories.