{"id":893,"date":"2012-03-09T10:47:25","date_gmt":"2012-03-09T15:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ohe.5c7.myftpupload.com\/?p=893"},"modified":"2012-12-18T15:45:57","modified_gmt":"2012-12-18T20:45:57","slug":"tales-from-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/?p=893","title":{"rendered":"Tales from the heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Our work \u2013 our lives<\/em> \u2013 are built on and steeped in storytelling. It\u2019s how we make sense of things, how we fill in the blanks to create meaning out of moments and commitment in the midst of chaos [remember Tom Hanks\u2019 character in Saving Private Ryan<\/em>?].<\/p>\n

Of course, at work we don\u2019t call<\/em> it storytelling. We dress it up in professional language, like \u2018case study\u2019 or \u2018discussion\u2019 or just plain \u2018conversation.\u2019 But if you listen closely, you\u2019ll hear stories everywhere \u2013 in the hallways and cafeteria, around the nursing stations, over breaks, and under pressure.<\/p>\n

Stories are how we pass on what we know. They\u2019re how we learn, give meaning to events, and share our wisdom. They help us understand how and why things change, and what we might do to make a difference. They are the currency of character: they tell us about others and reveal to others who we are.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for ways to lead, engage, and align people in serving patients and their families, try the ancient craft of storytelling.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of my clients asked for help in creating a presentation for her hospital board. Her goal was to get support for an area-wide organ donor program. Steeped in data and limited to a 15-minute time slot, she was struggling with how to narrow the numbers and gain the board\u2019s approval for the program.<\/p>\n

I asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s the most memorable case you can recall?\u201d She told me about a 42-year-old family man who\u2019d recently died in the hospital following a heart attack. Thanks to the awareness and sensitivity of the hospital staff, his corneas, kidneys, and liver gave three recipients a new lease on life.<\/p>\n

She grasped the story\u2019s power, and opened her presentation with a compelling narrative about the man, his family, and the lives of those he touched. She then linked it to some well-chosen data and examples of other patients awaiting transplants. No PowerPoint, no spreadsheets, no glossy one-pagers from the marketing department. Just stories she delivered in a way that captured everyone\u2019s attention. She got approval for the program before she left the room.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to get lost in the details of work and lose sight of its purpose. Stories convey messages that facts and figures can\u2019t touch. Annette Simmons, author of The Story Factor,<\/em> tells this story-within-a-story. \u201cIf you tell a manager to \u2018stop criticizing employees,\u2019 she may counter with, \u2018\u2019How else do I let them know they are making mistakes?\u2019 \u2026However, if you tell her, \u2018In Washington, D.C., last week, I had a Haitian cab driver who shared his grandfather\u2019s favorite saying with me, \u2018\u201dThe man who beats his horse will soon be walking,\u201d\u2019 you call her attention to a larger, deeper context\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you want to create a culture of caring, fuel employees\u2019 commitment to customers, and convey what you most deeply value, then bring customer stories and stories of service into your meetings and conversations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our work \u2013 our lives \u2013 are built on and steeped in storytelling. It\u2019s how we make sense of things, how we fill in the blanks to create meaning out of moments and commitment in the midst of chaos [remember Tom Hanks\u2019 character in Saving Private Ryan?]. Of course, at work we don\u2019t call it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotion","category-leading","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=893"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}