storytelling: Recent Episodes
POD FACTORY (9)
pod_factory | https://effective.vision/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/38_marriott-empowerment.mp3 | 1655568360:1 | {{unknown}} | default | audio | 2.13M | 2228737 | https://effective.vision/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/38_marriott-empowerment.mp3 | podcast | /finder/?_sfm_resource_type=podcast | storytelling | https://podfactory.effective.vision/collection_series/podcast-storytelling/ | effective | /?post_type=resources&p=7275 | _self | everyone | everyone | everyone | everyone | (We wish to acknowledge the Marriott chain of hotels for these inspiring tales.)The Marriott Chain of hotels gives each of its staff a $5 a day allowance for customer service – 25 dollars a week. Each staff member has to account for this spend, but can choose to spend it any way he or she sees fit, so long as it adds value to the customer experience.Some examples:A receptionist overheard a couple checking in discussing where to eat that evening, since it was their 25th wedding anniversary. The receptionists pooled their week’s allowance to send a bouquet of flowers to the couple’s room.As a bell hop was taking a couple’s luggage to their room, he overheard the husband moaning to himself that he had left his golfing magazine on the table at home. The bell hop popped out to the local paper store, bought the magazine and delivered it to the husband.A power cut wiped out a major New Zealand city, an hour before a key world cup rugby match, featuring New Zealand, was about to be played. One fan contacted the desk, almost in despair, asking how long the power would be down. The receptionist didn’t know, but had an idea….her brother lived on another part of the island. She phoned him, andthe power was on where he lived. She got him to video the match, and get on his motorbike to bring the tape to the hotel – 50 miles away. Her dollars allowance would pay for the fuel. She told the guest what she had arranged, and asked him not to listen to any radio commentary….!The guest got to watch the whole match, as if live, two hours later…People will often step up to the mark, and provide exceptional service, once they are given their head. The $5 a day may seem a lot, but it is as clear a mark as there could be that the organisation wants to empower its staff, and will trust they will come up with a worthwhile spend. And how much would Marriott have to pay to get this kind of publicity….? | People will often step up to the mark, and provide exceptional service, once they are given their head. | quote | medium | resources | podcast | 38_marriott-empowerment | _validate_email | draft | published | How an international hotel chain financially empowered its staff, without paying more wages or incentives, and with great success... | draft | inherit-font | inherit-font | inherit-font
https://effective.vision/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/30_courageous-love-the-gift-of-blind-spot-feedback.mp3 | pod_factory | podcast | storytelling | /finder/?_sfm_resource_type=podcast | https://podfactory.effective.vision/collection_series/podcast-storytelling/ | effective | /?post_type=resources&p=7299 | _self | 1652168869:1 | {{unknown}} | default | audio | 5.17M | 5418601 | https://effective.vision/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/30_courageous-love-the-gift-of-blind-spot-feedback.mp3 | everyone | everyone | everyone | everyone | I was a college lecturer, about two years into the post. I loved the job, and felt I was pretty good at it….Students had to complete assignments, which I marked. I knew students had usually put a lot of work into these, so in turn I always offered extensive comments in notes at the back of their essays. I also offered ‘surgery times’ – 15 minute slots where they could discuss their essays with me.Almost no one used these slots, which I put down to the fact I’d already given extensive feedback in my notes.Then one day, a student booked to see me. She was a good, conscientious student. I knew her well. She was not only one of my personal tutees, but also a student on three courses I taught. I was also the course leader. I looked up her grade – it was a B: a good mark, and as she was a good and conscientious student, I was keen to gether to the next grade, an A, if I could. So I was quite looking forward to our meeting.As she arrived, she looked a little sombre. I asked if everything was OK, and she nodded. So I began by telling her I was pleased with her assignment…She looked up, and said:“So was I – until I read your comments. Then I thought there must be a mistake with the grade. So I’ve come to check whether you meant to put a ‘D’ rather than a ‘B’”.I was shocked.“Of course not – it was really good. Why do you say that?”“Because, when I read your extensive, four pages of comments, they were all about what was wrong with the essay.There was nothing that was right. I couldn’t see how it had got the mark you’d given it.”That answer changed my life. I had the cold, cold flush of a truth realised, followed by the hot flush of embarrassment. I knew two things in that instant. One, that I had been making an appalling mistake as a teacher, and two, that I would change that, forever.In my desire to ‘help’ students to improve, I’d entirely focused on their gaps – the things they hadn’t done, or had left out, or the mistakes they’d made. I’d said nothing about what was good, what gave it the grade it got. Nothing! I assumed they would know that. No wonder people didn’t book for surgery time…if they’d been given such a hard time on paper, why would they put themselves through 15 minutes of the same?I told the student all of this, and that I was truly grateful for her comments. More than that, I admired her courage in offering a criticism to someone who, from her perspective, had a significant say on her outcomes on this course. I told her this, too. She then said something that also had a profound impact on my life.“You’ve taught and tutored me for three years,Arnie, and I think you are a good teacher.You’re always on our side, and you care.That’s why I couldn’t believe you would intentionally be so one sided, so critical.You mustn’tbe able to see the effect these comments had. So I thought I should say something – because, if you don’t know, how will you get to find out?”This was the single, most important piece of feedback I’ve ever had in my life. I don’t use the word ‘grateful’ a lot, but I was truly grateful for her courage and time that day. Lessons learned: Don’t assume, don’t take it for granted that people know what they do well – tell them Acknowledge, praise, confirm what’s good – about what they do, and how they are Start with that – so people are more receptive to listening to how they might do better Recognise that constructive, caring and careful feedback is the greatest gift that can be given Recognise that we depend on the courage of others to help us see what we cannot see in ourselves Understand that what distinguishes loving feedback from nasty feedback is its intent That, by definition, any blind spot cannot be self-rectifyingI immediately changed. I started all feedback with what had got people to that mark. Only then did I suggest how it might be improved.And guess what – students started to come to the surgeries….I’m pretty sure I would not be doing what I’m doing today, had it not been for that special student, with the gift of courageous love. I was grateful then, and I’m grateful now, 30 years later… | If you don't know, how will you get to find out...? | quote | medium | resources | podcast | 30_courageous-love-the-gift-of-blind-spot-feedback | _validate_email | draft | published | How a life changed, for the better, as a result of direct, honest and courageous feedback - and accepted as a gift, rather than as criticism... | draft | inherit-font | inherit-font | inherit-font
published | 1670271330:1 | {{unknown}} | default | audio | 1.92M | 2017250 | podcast | /finder/?_sfm_resource_type=podcast | storytelling | https://podfactory.effective.vision/collection_series/podcast-storytelling/ | effective | _self | everyone | everyone | everyone | everyone | There is no point in setting several performance criteria… if you don’t clarify their priority order. | medium | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1yKB4LpwJs | published | default | resources | podcast | published | _validate_email | Clear priorities are one thing - but what if they conflict? A great example of the need to connect top level strategy with ground level decision making. | youtube | aspect_16-9 | 1666002420 | publish | videotop/tailed audio | publish | inherit-font | inherit-font | inherit-font | There are a number of take-ways from this story:Setting success criteriaStandardsCommunicationDecision makingTrust v controlPrioritising Values into action | Setting success criteria | Success needs to be defined, so that everyone is clear what is needed to produce that success. For example, it’s not enough to have an objective such as ‘to keep customers happy’. What are the key factors that are necessary to make a customer happy? This requires success criteria to be set. In this case, 3 such criteria have been identified by Carlzon – the Chief Executive – punctuality, in flight customer care, and safety. These criteria give clarity: they help everyone focus on what really matters. | Standards | It’s not enough for the Chief Executive to have identified these criteria. Carlzon realized he needed to communicate these criteria fully, so that everyone responsible for ‘customer satisfaction’ knew these three criteria. Ideally, of course, there would be standards applied to each criterion, in effect to define each of the criteria. So ‘punctuality’ might be set at ‘leaving the stand at no later than 10 minutes from the published time’; ‘in flight customer care’ might be defined as ‘full in-flight service of food and drink available as published’; and ‘safety’ might be defined as ‘100% completion of safety checklist’. | Communication | Having decided these criteria, and how they should be defined, Carlzon then needed to consider how best to get this information out to everyone who would have a role in delivering them – such as the three on the tarmac. Possibilities could include a briefing system, where each level of the hierarchy briefs their team, and answers any questions; this could then possibly be reinforced by something more permanent – an email, a leaflet, or a handbook, including key checklists. There could be a poster or in-house video campaign, and the criteria and standards could be emphasised or reviewed at any appraisal or PDR meeting. There could also be incentives or rewards such as bonuses for the standards being met. | Decision making | The central part of Carlzon’s nightmare was decision making. Given thqt all three of the criteria could not be met at the same time, the employees were in effect disagreeing over which criterion was a priority. To Carlzon, the answer was obvious: safety, punctuality, then inflight customer service. In that order. But what if the decision makers on the ground, on the front line, did not have that clarity, the same understanding? Not only would there be potential inconsistency, each time a similar situation occurred, but the wrong decision could be catastrophic. (As an aside, the Chernobyl nuclear plan disaster occurred because of similar circumstances. Those on the front line, and in particular an autocratic supervisor, prioritised the wrong criteria – meeting a test deadline, rather than prioritising safety). So Carlzon would have to make sure that in all communications, the stacking order of the criteria were clear, should such a conflict between criteria arise. | Trust v Control | This situation also raises another important organisational issue: the tension, or dilemma, between empowering front line staff, by giving them more autonomy, and yet ensuring consistency, and effectiveness of decision making. It is no use empowering those on the tarmac to make their own decisions, if, in doing so, they put the business at risk. The answer, probably, is to be clear what part of front-line decision making is negotiable, and what is not. In this instance, safety is non-negotiable, and needs to be made absolutely clear. And if that just seems obvious, then remember Chernobyl. And in a separate incident, the captain of The Titanic had such trust in the reputation of the ship as ‘unsinkable’ that appropriate control measures were not taken until far, far too late… | Prioritising | Quite simply, it’s the responsibility of the senior leadership, setting the criteria for success, to spot where potential conflict between the criteria might occur, and make it crystal clear to everyone that, in such an eventuality, what the priorities are. And although in this instance the priority is safety, and would probably be seen as such by most, the priority between punctuality and in-flight care is less obvious, and potentially open to debate. There is also the issue that different contexts could produce different priorities. When I was a lecturer, I had students in the same class who had a different attitude to ‘success’ according to their different contexts: those that saw each session as a social time out, to be enjoyed, were not concerned with academic success; those that saw the course as a major stepping stone to their career, had a high regard for academic success. | Values into action | Roy Disney has said: “once you are clear about your values, every decision is easy”. In other words, clear values are a useful filter through which decisions need to be tested. So in this example, if everyone in the organisation had a non-negotiable value of ‘safety first’, then Carlzon could perhaps have relaxed. In such a situation, the values of the organisation, rather than rules or supervision, become the key mechanism for control. | R1yKB4LpwJs | Communication & Setting Success Criteria
Follow this exercise: Fold your arms, naturally. Now fold them the other way round. (For example, if your normal arm folding has one hand on one bicep, and the other tucked underneath, then reverse them). If you need more specific coaching, here are the steps to take:1) Fold your arms as normal2) Put the hand that’s underneath your arm on top, on the bicep3) Take the hand that’s on your other arm down and away from your body4) Bring it over the top of the other arm and tuck it under the arm.Note how this feels. Uncomfortable? Strange? Awkward?... Now fold your arms naturally again. Have you gone back to normal? How does that feel?... How long would it take you to fold your arms naturally, automatically the other way round? What would it take for that to happen?This exercise is an excellent metaphor for change, and in particular, for the difference between making a change and embedding the change.In the this example, the chances are you made the change– that is, by following the instructions, you were able to alter the way you folded your arms. But you also probably felt very uncomfortable like this, and given the choice, would revert to your ‘normal’ way of folding your arms.This is what happens with a lot of changes – people find it uncomfortable, and though they may have been trained for the change, given the opportunity, they will slip back to old, comfortable habits.How long did you estimate it would take to embed the arm folding change? Typically it takes 30 times longer or more to embed a change, than to make a change... | .... with a lot of changes – people find it uncomfortable, and though they may have been trained for the change, given the opportunity, they will slip back to old, comfortable habits. | medium | {{unknown}} | published | default | resources | podcast | published | 1665962110 | 05-arm-folding | _validate_email | A brilliant yet simple way of emphasising how the key element in effective change is not about making the change, but embedding it... | aspect_16-9 | publish | /wp-content/uploads/elms/5_Arm-Folding_page.png | /wp-content/uploads/elms/5_Arm-Folding_page.webp | Habits & Embedding the Change | publish | inherit-font | inherit-font | inherit-font | Habits, persistence and time | Making any change to an existing habit requires the three Ps: persistence, perseverance and practice. And of course, the hidden element in all of these three is time. You cannot persist, persevere and practice ‘in an instant’; you have to have sufficient time available to work on those 3Ps. So it is no good introducing a change that involves changing habits, and expect overnight success. So there is a simple relationship to consider: the more the change affects a habit, and the stronger the habit, the more time is needed to succeed with the change. | Replace rather than remove | Changing habits work better when the change involves replacing, rather than stopping, the habit. In the arms folding metaphor, the old way is replaced by a new way – so that has more chance of working than, for instance, simply asking someone to stop folding their arms altogether. So if you wanted to eat more healthily at home, it is no good just emptying the fridge: it needs to be restocked with healthy foods. | Is supervision and external control necessary? | Left to their own devices, most people with a habit will revert to the habit – that’s the nature of habits. And that will not be a wilful act – because most habits are unconscious; so no one is making a conscious decision to revert to the habit – they do so automatically. So one possibility for ensuring the habit is changed is to provide external control and direction through supervision; the supervisor does not have that habit, and has the brief to watch for any such habits recurring, and intervene if that happens. Of course the downside of this is that providing supervision is expensive, and most people do not like being invigilated in this way. The general rule in this area, though, is to provide more supervision the more a return to an old habit increases risk. So having two pilots in the cockpit instead of one is an example of this. | How well would an incentive work? | Another external device to encourage a change is to offer an incentive or reward for a successful change. Whilst this may seem more appealing than invigilation, it is also potentially expensive, and someone would have to decide how the incentive or reward operates in practice. The whole point about habit change is that it takes time – and to be successful, the change has to be as reliable and consistent as the previous behaviour was. And such a change will take time. So to work, the incentive has to be given when the new way is as embedded as the old one (which could be some time away for the potential recipient), and be confident that on receipt of the reward, the individual, having gained their motivational reward, does not actually slip back to the old ways… | The power of teams, norms and socialisation | Another way of encouraging the change is to place the person, or people, who need to make the change into a setting where the majority present already operate such required behaviours. Most humans are social animals, and often adopt group norms in order to fit in. Research shows that an individual with habit A, left to their own environment, will struggle to change, whereas once placed in a group where the norm is habit B will pick up that habit, instead of continuing with habit A. | Triggers and anchors | A change can be encouraged by associating it with an existing behaviour, so that when carrying out behaviour 1, it acts as a reminder to carry out new habit 2. Here’s an example: When arriving home in my car, I used to park it on the drive, take out my work briefcase and laptop, lock the car, then go into the house and into the study, where I would leave my stuff, but also, usually, check emails and messages, and not re-emerge to join the rest of the family for half an hour or more. I didn’t want this habit to continue. So I parked on the drive, then locked the car with my briefcase and laptop still inside it, then entered the house and joined my family. I then returned to the car later, to bring in my case and pc…The trigger was locking the car before taking out my stuff, rather than after.
1670270558:1 | 2022-03-14 | finding-the-lever | audio | https://effective.vision/wp-content/uploads/elms/audios/storytelling__finding-the-lever.mp3 | 2.77M | default | /resources/storytelling/25-finding-the-lever/ | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwoFh15qW4I | effective | published | {{unknown}} | 2901233 | https://effective.vision/wp-content/uploads/elms/audios/storytelling__finding-the-lever.mp3 | Jeanette was a sales supervisor. She had a competent team, and outstanding among them was Julie. Julie was a superb sales person, and always headed the ‘targets achieved’ list, month after month.There was one major problem though: Julie’s timekeeping. Though there was a clear office policy on punctuality, Julie was more often than not late – sometimes by up to half an hour.Jeanette had spoken to Julie about this on several occasions. On each occasion Julie’s timekeeping improved In the short term, but deteriorated over the longer term.Jeanette was stuck. She did not want to support Julie’s lateness, and it set a bad example for the rest of the team, who were also frustrated at Julie’s timekeeping. Equally, though, Jeanette did not want to lose her most successful sales person.When Jeanette discussed this with me, I asked if Julie had other interests, motives or drivers. The company had a Management Development Scheme, and Jeanette mentioned that Julie was keen to progress within the company, and wanted to join the Scheme. But to do so, she needed her supervisor’s nomination.I suggested that this might be a lever, something for Jeanette to trade against the poor timekeeping. Jeanette saw immediately what I was getting at, and decided to try it out.I next saw Jeanette 3 months later, and asked if she had had a conversation with Julie, and what the result had been.“It was great”, said Jeanette. “I sat down privately with Julie, and raised her timekeeping again, but this time added something. I said I knew she wanted to be recommended for the MD Scheme, and that I was happy to do so, apart from the problem of timekeeping. I could not, in good faith, recommend to the company someone for a management role who was such a poor timekeeper, and would set a poor example to her staff. If of course, the timekeeping issue could be solved, I’d be happy to recommend her. Julie’s timekeeping has been spot on ever since.”People get into habits – good and bad – and habits are difficult to change. To make a change, people often need a motivator, or incentive – a carrot. The key point here, though is that until our conversation, Jeanette had not seen the potential of using Julie’s driver (for career development) as something to trade to gain improvement in time keeping. Jeanette had seen both issues as important, but as separate.Sometimes we are too close to situations, and cannot see the wood for the trees. Talking through the problem with someone who has a fresh, detached perspective, might provide an insight or idea that you’d missed.. | To make a change, people often need a motivator, or incentive – a carrot. | resources | podcast | published | aspect_16-9 | youtube | Understanding someone's key motivation & drivers can convert repetitive failure to instant success...so focus on what they want, not just what you want. | 25-finding-the-lever | storytelling/R5509-STORYTELLING-finding-the-lever-p1.webp | publish | _validate_email | top/tailed audio | storytelling/R5509-STORYTELLING-finding-the-lever.pdf | publish | inherit-font | inherit-font | inherit-font | There are a number of take-aways from this story:HabitsMotivationConsequenceContext | Habit: | One thing that puzzled Jeanette was how often a pattern was repeated. She’d mention it to Julie; Julie would respond in the short term; then seem to disregard the agreement to improve, and return to old ways. The most likely cause of this is habit. It takes a lot of time and effort to change an ingrained habit; Julie’s drift may simply be a return to what she was most used to and comfortable with. Imagine folding your arms. You probably fold them that way every time; it’s now your norm, your default, your habit. And though there is no right or wrong way to fold your arms, your pattern is now embedded, and it would take a lot for you to change this habit, so that you not only folded them the other way, but did so automatically. That’s possibly Julie’s situation. So until Jeanette found a useful lever, she would probably have had to regularly remind Julie, or Julie would have to have created her own reminders. Habits are easy to maintain, and very difficult to break – especially if they work for you! | inherit-font | inherit-font | inherit-font | Motivation | This was one of the key to the solution. Simply, Julie was not motivated by punctuality, but was by her sales role, and being not only successful, but ‘the best’. And of course, she was also motivated by career advancement, and the MDP. So rather than try and motivate Julie towards something she was not motivated by (punctuality) Jeanette focused on what Julie was motivated by – the MDP. | Consequence | To Julie, there was no apparent negative consequence to lack of punctuality; she assessed (probably correctly) that Jeanette would not want to risk losing her star performer – which is why she probably calculated she could get away with poor timekeeping. So to Julie, there was no serious threatening consequence of her poor punctuality. She could probably take the occasional admonishment, believing nothing more serious would happen. However, when Jeanette tied punctuality to being recommended for the MDP, there was now a serious consequence to punctuality which hadn’t been there before. So a key part of finding a lever, is to be able to tie a required action to an important consequence – so it is the consequence, rather than the action, that makes the difference. | Context | Another key factor in the successful result. Julie was operating in the context of leading sales person in the sales team. That was her current role and context. But…;she wanted to change that role and context. She had aspirations to be a manager, to develop a new role and career – which is a different context. So when Jeanette changed the context, the reference point, from sales performer to possible manager, it significantly changed Julie’s perspective. When Jamie Oliver took on his 15 young school leavers, he insisted they look, sound, and behave like chefs, right from the start – so they changed their perspective, from young school leavers to potential chefs. And a friend of mine teaching students law, insisted that, in her class, they acted and spoke as lawyers. Reframing the context was possibly the main lever in bringing about a successful conclusion: Jeanette simply explained, then emphasised, how a manager would have to behave…and that of course, included punctuality. | Sometimes we are too close to situations, and cannot see the wood for the trees. | dwoFh15qW4I | storytelling/R5509-STORYTELLING-finding-the-lever-p1.webp | Habits, Commitment, Motivation & Context