I wrote about How Stories Link to Brand Building and it reminded me of this....
I took over a department which was not just low on confidence, it was shot for...pride was a real issue. They didn't feel valued and indeed they were not valued by the business. We had a team meeting - about 40 people. We had been talking about our vision, and people kept saying that as much as they wanted to think they could achieve it, they just couldn't...
I told them about bringing my Dad to our workplace. He was in a bad, bad way with dementia just a few weeks from death. He hadn't seen my workplace and I wanted to let him see what his daughter had achieved through his coaching. I told them that this guy, in his late 70's, started to cry when we parked up. He held my hand and said that he was so proud of me, he couldn't believe his little girl was an Executive Director of this size company.
Tears welled in my eyes as I relived the moment. I said that I had not really looked at the place before, I just drove up on a morning wondering what problems were about to hit. From that day, I drove up and looked and felt the pride...this really was a majestic company and that I had a dream of anyone who worked for me, feeling that same pride. I knew that they didn't believe but I asked them if they believed in me....the answer was a very heartfelt "Yes!" It didn't matter if their belief was shaky, I had enough pride to share with them all...
From that day, our focus changed. We were in it together....the story stayed live. Just a year later, that department had turned its reputation around, had the highest employee engagement score, surpassed their objectives - delivering an extra £1m to the bottom line.
I often wonder, if I had presented a wonderful powerpoint would that have worked??...I doubt it, the story made our vision personal, the story gave us a picture of what pride felt like....
