How to Tell Impact Stories: A Simple Formula
Need to tell an impact story for your project or program? Here’s a simple 4-part formula along with examples of when to use it.
if you want to tell a compelling impact story, Tell a story of change or transformation.
Stories of change and transformation take your audience on the journey from before to after. These stories grip your audience’s attention, inspire them and can even compel them to take action.
Any change or transformation story can be broken down into the following 4 parts:
Part 1 - Start
Part 2 - Decide
Part 3 - Learn
Part 4 - Transform
Using these 4 parts, you can quickly and consistently structure a story of change about yourself, your team, your customer or your organization.
One universal example I like to use to illustrate the use of this method - a method that I refer as the 4-Point Story Model - is the movie, The Lion King. In the move, the main character, Simba, goes through a transformation that can be mapped using the 4-Point Story Model.
Part 1 - The START
At the start – the main character exists in an unchanged state (zone of comfort or lack of awareness).
In the Lion King, this is when Simba is a cub protected by his father Mufasa.
02 DECIDE
Then something happens – It forces the main character to make a decision / to move away from the comfort zone / toward greater awareness.
In the Lion King – this is when Mufasa is killed by Scar and Simba runs away to live a carefree life
03 LEARN
But before they can get there – there’s a price to pay or a lesson to learn. Usually as a result of failure or setback.
Back home, Simba’s family suffers drought & starvation at the hands of the cruel leader Scar. The wise Rafiki reminds Simba of his responsibilities.
04 TRANSFORM
Finally the main character returns – a different & more expanded, mature or aware version of who they were at the start.
With his new friends by his side, Simba returns, defeats Scar. He becomes the new king and a father to his own lion cub.
When to use the 4-Point story MOdel
The 4-Point Story Model has been useful in a number of situations where I’ve needed to relay a story of how someone or something went through a process that resulted in significant or measurable change, aka, impact stories.
I often use the story model to help me bring more interest to storytelling scenarios where there’s a lot of context to be conveyed, and data alone won’t do. Below are a few examples of when I’ve used the model:
Team retrospectives, lessons learned
Leadership bio / team summary
Project start / update / closeout
Team member intro / exit
Performance assessments, 1:1 sessions
Product or service launch / new feature release
Strategic decision-making
Customer interviews
Download My Free Storytelling Ebook
Don’t know what story to tell or how to tell it? Learn a simple method for telling compelling impact stories. Create a draft of your own signature story. Download Now.
Story As Strategy: Set Your Rhythm
Make planning and measurement more regular occurrences.
Part 3 of the Strategic Story Masterplan is the Journey- aka, Set Your Rhythm.
In a story, the journey is the path that the Main Character takes to go from the start of the story to happily ever after. The journey involves the decisions the Main Character makes and the resulting outcomes. The Main Character learns and grows by completing the journey.
For strategy, rhythm refers to operating rhythm, i.e., the methods, habits, routines and protocols that the Main Character (the project, team, or organization) employs to go from where it is today to where it envisions itself at the completion of the strategy. The rhythm encompasses how objectives & goals are set, how how decisions are made and how progress, learning and growth are measured and communicated.
The Journey - Set Your Rhythm
What
Set annual, quarterly and monthly planning and measurement routines. Stay focused on the end goal while responding and adapting to what’s happening now.
Why
Make planning and measurement more regular occurrences. Respond to changes in priority. Reflect the most current reality of the progress you’ve made.
When
Annual and quarterly strategic planning. Monthly and weekly task planning and measurement.
The Strategic Story Masterplan Framework
The Strategic Story Masterplan is my own story-based framework for defining or refining strategy or a strategic initiative for a team, product or organization.
As a framework, it is meant to serve as a guide. A collection of parts that can be used individually or in any combination that make sense for your situation.
Subscribe to my Youtube Channel to learn how to
Tell Your Story, Set Your Operating Rhythm and Establish Your Systems.
Story As Strategy: Establish Your Systems
If you’re going to grow, you’ll need the right systems.
Part 4 of the Strategic Story Masterplan is Support - aka, Establish Your Systems.
Systems are the tools, applications and platforms that help automate your operating rhythm so that they are more efficient, more accurate and less costly. Systems are what allow for scaling vs. growth.
Systems are also the relationships and networks you belong to that allow you to multiply your results without multiplying your efforts.
Support - Establish Your Systems
What
Select the tools and templates that help you standardize and automate your annual, quarterly and monthly routines and daily operations
Define and prioritize the relationships and activities that will expand your reach or multiply your efforts.
Why
If you’re going to grow, you’ll need ‘just right’ systems that will allow you to do more, better, faster and for less cost.
If you’re going to grow, you’ll need the support of ‘just right’ people to amplify your message and efforts.
When
Annually. Once selected, your systems should be assessed or upgraded at least once a year.
The Strategic Story Masterplan Framework
The Strategic Story Masterplan is my own story-based framework for defining or refining strategy or a strategic initiative for a team, product or organization.
As a framework, it is meant to serve as a guide. A collection of parts that can be used individually or in any combination that make sense for your situation.
Subscribe to my Youtube Channel to learn how to
Tell Your Story, Set Your Operating Rhythm and Establish Your Systems.
Why Traditional Strategic Planning Doesn’t Work
You and your team have just finished setting your strategic plan. A few months into the year… everything changes.
Why Traditional Strategic Planning Doesn’t Work
You and your team have just finished setting your strategic plan. After several days of workshops and breakout sessions, you’ve come up with the goals and initiatives that you want to focus on for the next year or more. You feel good about the direction you’ve chosen to take and the clarity you and your team have after coming up with a strategy together.
A few months into the year… everything changes.
The operating budget you thought you would get was significantly less than expected. You also found out that you’ll need to upgrade all of your laptops and office applications to comply with a new federal policy before the end of the year. You have a surge of new clients that you didn’t anticipate, but you’re also spending a lot on adding new resources to meet the extra demand.
The strategic plans and projects that you just decided on just a few weeks earlier suddenly seem unimportant. There are more pressing issues to deal with. The projects are put on hold or completely abandoned. They may or may not be reconsidered at the next strategic planning session - the following year.
why Story makes an ideal framework for defining (and redefining) strategy
4 Reasons Story Makes Sense for Defining Strategy
It’s engaging, emotionally evocative, and flexible enough to keep up with the changing conditions that often require continual adjustments to strategy.
A story lends itself to being edited and revised while still progressing toward a pre-determined outcome. As external and internal circumstances change, a story-based strategy allows the ‘what’ of the strategy to remain constant and the ‘how’ of the strategy to unfold one chapter at a time.
Organizations and teams who adopt a story-based planning framework create an environment that encourages rapid learning, adaptation and resilience.
Storytelling invites more input and participation from all levels into strategic planning and decision-making.
The Strategic Story Masterplan Framework
The Strategic Story Masterplan is my own story-based framework for defining or refining strategy or a strategic initiative for a team, product or organization.
As a framework, it is meant to serve as a guide. A collection of parts that can be used individually or in any combination that make sense for your situation.
define your main character
map your motivation
set your rhythm
establish your systems
Subscribe to my Youtube Channel to learn how to
Tell Your Story, Set Your Operating Rhythm and Establish Your Systems.
Story As Strategy: Map Your Motivation
Get to know your audience better, so you can better deliver what they need.
Part 2 of the Strategic Story Masterplan is Map Your Motivation.
In a story, the Motivation is what drives the Main Character to action. It is the reason that compels the Main Character to go on a Journey of change and growth.
For a strategy, the Motivation is what drives the Main Character of the strategy (i.e., the team, the project or program, the organization) to pursue its goals, objectives and plans. It is what inspires the Main Character to accomplish its happily ever after, or strategic vision.
Map Your Motivation
What
Identify your 3 motivations by getting to know your audience, your purpose and your role models.
Why
Get to know your audience better, so you can better deliver what they need. Get more clarity about your purpose, so your your strategic decisions and projects are more aligned. Identify your role models, so you’ll know the standards and best practices you should adopt.
When
Quarterly. Create once. Then review and refine at least 3 times a year.
Subscribe to my Youtube Channel to learn how to
Tell Your Story, Set Your Operating Rhythm and Establish Your Systems.
Story As Strategy: Define Your Main Character
Before you can figure out where you’re going, you have to understand who you are and where you’ve come from.
Part 1 of the Strategic Story Masterplan is Define Your Main Character.
The Main Character of your strategic story is the individual or group that will define, prioritize and accomplish the objectives and outcomes to achieve your happily ever after, or, strategic vision.
Understanding your Main Character’s backstory and identity is an essential first step to defining a strategy that aligns with your values, strengths and capabilities.
Define Your Main Character
What
Assess yourself, your team, organization or product to define what makes you unique and why you do what you do.
Why
Before you can figure out where you’re going, you have to understand who you are and where you’ve come from. When you know your strengths and have a clear sense of your identity and values, you’re in a better position to define a future vision that is aligned with them & communicate it clearly to your team, customers and stakeholders.
When
Annually. Create once. Then review and refine at least once a year.
The Strategic Story Masterplan Framework
The Strategic Story Masterplan is my own story-based framework for defining or refining strategy or a strategic initiative for a team, product or organization.
As a framework, it is meant to serve as a guide. A collection of parts that can be used individually or in any combination that is relevant for your planning scenario.
Subscribe to my Youtube Channel to learn how to
Tell Your Story, Set Your Operating Rhythm and Establish Your Systems.
How To Tell Your Leadership Story
I enter the room filled with energy and excitement. I’m here to celebrate my friend Michelle’s achievement of having been nominated for the 40 under 40 award from her alma mater.
I spot Michelle instantly. She is dressed in a pristine all-white suit, her makeup impeccable and her short-cropped hair adding an air of chic professionalism to her look. She is commanding the table that she’s sitting at. As I approach, I can see that the other nominees and guests are buzzing around her like fireflies to a light bulb.
Without a doubt, she is owning the room.
I grab a drink, then settle in to the seat next to Michelle so I can offer my congratulations and we can catch up before the evening’s official festivities begin.
We chat about things - life, work, our families - for a little bit, while enjoying our hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. After a few moments, Michelle confides in me…
“I still have to write a statement about myself to be officially considered for the award. It’s due in a few weeks and I’ve just been putting it off.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” I ask.
“I just don’t know what to say about myself. I mean, I feel like I haven’t really done anything. Especially compared to these other people,” she says, motioning to the other nominees in the room.
“They’re all so much younger than me. And I’m a nontraditional student. I’m not on campus. I’m a mom. I’m working. Like. what’s so special about that?”
I try not to choke on my hors d’oeuvre.
“Girl!?” I exclaim. “Are you serious?”
***
Why High-Achieving Black Women Have A Hard Time telling their stories
By any standard, Michelle is a high-achieving black woman. She immigrated to the US from Zimbabwe on her own in her early 20s and has since made a successful career for herself in accounting. She was recently promoted to a senior executive position in her firm and she’s recently earned her MBA. All of this while also holding the titles of wife and mom.
Like many black women I know, Michelle has not just one, but many amazing and inspiring stories to tell about her life experiences and accomplishments. So why would she (and other high-achieving black women) have such a hard time putting something down on paper? A few contributing factors could be:
Humility as more feminine or culturally appropriate
Women of all cultures are often conditioned to downplay their achievements and not take up too much ‘air time’ with their stories or anecdotes.
Normalization of struggle, hustle, grind culture
Balancing work, parenting, school and marriage may seem like nothing special when everyone else around you is balancing at least that much if not more and making it look easy.
Thinking of achievements as story
A list of awards and achievements does not a story make. Rattling off a series of accomplishments is more suitable for a resume not a leadership story or personal bio. And chances are we’re more used to writing our resume than writing our story.
Because everybody else has a hard time with it too
I don’t think high-achieving black women have any more of a difficult time telling compelling leadership stories than anyone else, The fact is, most of us haven’t learned or practiced the storytelling skills needed to tell great leadership stories. So when we’re asked to do it, we freeze, panic or procrastinate until the last minute.
How to Tell Your Leadership Story
Focus on Your Vision
Decide what aspect of your leadership story you want to focus on. Is it your philosophy as a leader? Is it a specific obstacle or challenge you’ve overcome? Is it a biographical account of your leadership history? Once you’ve narrowed your focus, you’re ready to start constructing your story.
Understand Your Audience
Who are you telling your story to and what will they get out of it? The most important thing to remember when telling your leadership story is that you’re telling it for someone else’s benefit. The more you know about them, the better you’ll understand what they care about and how to bring that out in your story.
Define Your Main Character
As the main character of your leadership story, it is essential that you have a deep and accurate understanding of your own values, strengths and your challenges. These are the attributes you want to highlight in your story. They will help you earn your audience’s trust and build a meaningful connection with them.
The 4-Part Change Story
The most inspirational and memorable stories are usually stories that involve a significant transformation or change. To quickly structure an impactful leadership story, use the following 4-part change story format:
Start - “When I started out…”
Key story points: What were you like before the change? What did you not yet have, know or understand?
Decide - “I had to make a change…”
Key story points: What forced you to take action so you could have, know or understand more?
Learn - “That taught me a valuable lesson…”
Key story points: What mistakes did you make, what did you lose or learn?
Transform - “Which made me who I am today.”
Key story points: How were you changed? How does that change still influence you today?
That evening, I shared the tips above with Michelle, and let her know that the non-traditional parts of her story were what made her story so impressive. Her unique story of growth and change ended up being a perfect fit for the 4-part change story structure.
Tell Your Story.
Download My Free Storytelling Ebook
Don’t know what story to tell or how to tell it? Learn a simple method for telling compelling impact stories. Create a draft of your own signature story. Download Now.
Your Story is Your Strategy
For a writer, a story is a constant work-in-progress. As a leader, your organization and its strategic initiatives are continual works-in-progress. There are any number of decisions that can be made for any number of reasons, each of which will lead to a different branch in your strategic story and a different variation of the story’s ending.
Most stories are essentially the same.
They follow a similar pattern that makes it easier for us to relate to them.
A main character has a destiny, a happily ever after they must get to. In getting to that happily ever after, they make plans that often go awry and lead them into adventure and occasional setbacks.
They meet all sorts of interesting characters along the way, some who even join them for the rest of the journey. FInally, the main character arrives at the story’s end. Not exactly in the happily ever after they’d hoped for, but having learned and grown along the way and in a much better place than they were at the start of the story.
Doesn’t that sound a lot like how your last strategic program or major initiative turned out? Does it not describe the constant daily adventures and setbacks of trying to achieve your organization’s mission and goals?
For a writer, a story is a constant work-in-progress. As a leader, your organization and its strategic initiatives are continual works-in-progress. There are any number of decisions that can be made for any number of reasons, each of which will lead to a different branch in your strategic story and a different variation of the story’s ending.
How do you make these decisions quickly and in a way that shows the ever-evolving narrative of your strategy, but still leads to a satisfying (if not expected) ending?
Why Story Makes Sense for communicating Strategy
Unlike traditional communication, story-based communication lends itself to communicating strategy. Traditional communication tends to center more on the sender of the message and what they want to communicate. There is little to no room for interpretation.
This makes it more suitable for directives and instructions.
Storytelling is more audience-centered. It focuses on what the receiver will get out of the story and allows the receiver to participate in interpreting the story’s meaning to them.
As strategy is constantly evolving, there is a need for a communication style or approach that is similarly evolutionary. Like a story, a strategy is meant to inspire those who receive it to own it for themselves, to participate in bringing the strategy to life.
Terrence Gargiulo, former Chief Storyteller at Accenture, highlights the differences between traditional and story-based communication. His findings are illustrated in the following table.
“Like a story, a strategy is meant to inspire those who receive it to own it for themselves, to participate in bringing the strategy to life. ”
Ways to Bring A Story-Based Approach to Communicating Your Strategy Internally
Share behind-the-scenes of strategic planning sessions
Create low- or no-text visualizations of strategy / key initiatives
Publish strategy updates & team stories on internal social platforms
Invite strategy feedback / comments
Hold town halls to share stories / questions about strategy & strategic initiatives
Encourage team storytelling rituals on strategic initiatives
The 4-Point Story Model for Telling Compelling Stories
Any change or transformation story can be broken down into the following 4 parts.
What makes a story compelling? What is it about some stories that make us want to sit up and take notice or even take action?
Often, it’s stories of change or transformation that we find most inspirational or compelling. When we see a main character experience and learn from something it reminds us of our own growth experiences and can even give us a role model for navigating moments of change in our personal stories.
So, if you want to tell a compelling story. Tell a change story.
Story circles are visual structures for change & transformation stories.
www.kishasolomon.com
Story circles are perfectly suited to help structure a change or transformation story. The 2 most popular story circles are Dan Harmon’s story circle and The Hero’s Journey. Each shows how a main character goes through a series of steps to undergo a personal transformation. These story structures are the foundation for many popular books, tv shows and films throughout history.
They are, however, a bit cumbersome and difficult to remember. For that reason, I like to rely on a slimmed-down version of the story circles to help me structure compelling stories. For me, it’s the simplest way to tell a story.
The 4-Point Story Model - The Simplest Way to Tell a Story
Download my free ebook to learn how to use the 4-point story model to tell your signature story.
Download My Free Storytelling Ebook
Don’t know what story to tell or how to tell it? Learn a simple method for telling compelling impact stories. Create a draft of your own signature story. Download Now.
Any change or transformation story can be broken down into the following 4 parts:
Start
Decide
Learn
Transform
Using these 4 parts, you can quickly and consistently structure a story of change about yourself, your team, your customer or your organization.
One universal example I like to use to illustrate the use of the 4-Point Story Model is the movie The Lion King.
In it, the main character goes through a transformation that can be mapped using the 4-Point Story Model.
01 START
At the start – the main character exists in an unchanged state (zone of comfort or lack of awareness).
In the Lion King, this is when Simba is a cub protected by his father Mufasa.
02 DECIDE
Then something happens – It forces the main character to make a decision / to move away from the comfort zone / toward greater awareness.
In the Lion King – this is when Mufasa is killed by Scar and Simba runs away to live a carefree life
03 LEARN
But before they can get there – there’s a price to pay or a lesson to learn. Usually as a result of failure or setback.
Back home, Simba’s family suffers drought & starvation at the hands of the cruel leader Scar. The wise Rafiki reminds Simba of his responsibilities.
04 TRANSFORM
Finally the main character returns – a different & more expanded, mature or aware version of who they were at the start.
With his new friends by his side, Simba returns, defeats Scar. He becomes the new king and a father to his own lion cub.
When to use the 4-Point story MOdel
The 4-Point Story Model has been useful in a number of situations where I needed to relay a story of how someone or something went through a process that resulted in significant or measurable change.
I often use the story model to help me bring more interest to storytelling scenarios where there’s a lot of context to be conveyed, and data alone won’t do. Below are a few examples of when I’ve used the model:
Team retrospectives, lessons learned
Leadership bio / team summary
Project start / update / closeout
Team member intro / exit
Performance assessments, 1:1 sessions
Product (svc) launch / feature release
Strategic decision-making
Customer interviews
Common Growing Pains for Leaders
There will come a point in your leadership journey or in your team’s journey where you recognize that what got you to the current level of success will not get you to the next level of success or growth that you desire.
There will come a point in your leadership journey where you recognize that what got you to the current level of success will not get you to the next level of success or growth that you desire.
In order to ‘level up’, you’ll need to take a long, hard look at the habits, behaviors and mindsets that you have developed, and determine which ones are blocking you from achieving the next level of growth.
The longer you delay or put off that process, the more growing pains you are likely to feel.
Here are some of the most common growing pains I’ve experienced and that I’ve seen my clients experience on their journeys to growth and change.
Common Leadership Growing Pains
Lacking a clear leadership vision that articulates your perspective as a leader
Feeling stalled in your career or business, but not sure how to start the next chapter
Not focused on performance management or unsure of how to help your team members learn and grow
Unable to identify or groom emerging leaders on your team
How many of these growing pains are you experiencing?
IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR FUTURE
CHANGE YOUR STORY.
Create A Strategic Story To Map Your Future In Times of Growth & Change
3 Organizational Responses to Change
When it comes to change and uncertainty, there's usually three responses. And two of those responses are growth limiting responses. While one response is a response that allows for growth in the face of uncertainty and change.
Video Transcript:
When it comes to change and uncertainty, there's usually three responses. And two of those responses are growth limiting responses. While one response is a response that allows for growth in the face of uncertainty and change.
So the first response is the ostrich response. And if you know about ostriches, that basically means when change or uncertainty occurs, you put your head in a hole, you ignore it. You shut it out, you block it, you don't pay any attention to it, and you just pretend like it's not happening. So it's like, put your fingers in your ears and go, la la la, la, la. No change, no change, no change. And that's the ostrich response.
The roadrunner response is to run. So when you see change or uncertainty happening or some sort of difficult change or uncertain state of affairs occurring, you run from it. You move from that place to a place of greater comfort that probably looks more like the old place did before it started changing. So you just run from the change and go back to someplace that represents an unchanged state of being.
And then the final way is Wiley. And Wiley Coyote, if you know from the cartoons, is someone who is constantly innovating, trying new methods, new tools, new techniques, new approaches. But never stops. Like every day, gets up and tries again, tries a new product, tries a new technique, tries a new method. And it seems like there's never going to be a point where Wiley can succeed or will actually be able to grasp what he's going after.
What we see in the cartoon is Wiley is constantly chasing this Roadrunner. But he's always getting outsmarted or evaded in some way. But then we also recognize part of why Wiley keeps getting up and chasing the Roadrunner is not because he wants to catch him, it is because he enjoys the process of the chase. He actually enjoys trying out new tools. He enjoys innovating, he enjoys coming up with different methods. He likes the paces that it puts him through because it keeps him entertained and, and probably quite fit.
So I think those three approaches to change really represent the natural responses that people or teams, or organizations have when change is presented. One is to just ignore it, and those who ignore it run the risk of basically getting bulldozed by that change. If you stand in one place while change is hurtling towards you and you just dig your head in the sand or dig your heels in, then what's gonna happen is you're gonna be knocked over by that change. You're gonna be in some way devastated by it because you're never prepared for it.
The people who run from change in the short term, they find that it feels good. They find themselves back in a place of comfort. But the challenge with running backwards is that you never get ahead. If you're constantly running to something that is pre change or represents an unchanged state, then basically you're starting from scratch or you're always behind the curve. You're always behind the state of progress that is happening in the environment. So that looks like you either standing still or regressing.
And then the final one is really evident of, well, when you're responsive to change by being innovative and iterating your approaches and trying different things, what may happen is you find that once you've actually adopted the change, you're like, okay, well what do I do next?
Now I actually have to think of something else to do because after all of this trying and learning and experimenting, I actually got through the change. And throughout that process, I've actually learned and grown a lot. I've learned a thousand ways that didn't work just to get to the one way that did work. And so the next time I'm going through change, I can actually probably get to that change a lot faster than I did before.
So these are three approaches, and I think the first two are approaches that very clearly limit growth. And the Wiley approach is actually the one that is going to help you succeed even before you're actually fully able to master the change.
How does your team or organization respond to change?
IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR FUTURE
CHANGE YOUR STORY.
Create A Strategic Story To Map Your Future In Times of Growth & Change
A Masterplan Is Better Than Goals
Goals are pretty good as a to-do list of of things you want to accomplish or achieve. But when you're in a leadership position and you have all of these moving parts to orchestrate, goals alone aren't enough.
Video Transcript:
When you start to reach a certain level of self-development or evolution or even when you're in a position of leadership, whether that just be self-leadership or leadership of others, I think you start to recognize that goals are not enough to drive how you're going to move from the current level to the next level.
Goals are pretty good as a to-do list of of things you wanna accomplish or achieve. But when you're in a leadership position and you have all of these moving parts to orchestrate, goals alone aren't enough to encapsulate all that needs to be considered as the person who is sitting in the middle of all these moving parts and having to be the orchestrator of all those moving parts, or having to be the one who maintains the constant vision.
For that, you need a masterplan. And the master plan it's a term that I borrowed from civic design in that a master plan is basically a strategy for a physical place. For a physical location. So it's a community or a neighborhood or a block and the civic designer develops a master plan for that physical geography to say that this is how it exists now, but over a period of time, this is how it's going to evolve, and this is what the future vision of this physical or geographic location is gonna be.
If they just were like, here are the goals for this plot of land, or Here's the goal for this community, that's a little too simple because when you're transforming physical geographic space and it's a huge amount of space with a lot of moving parts, there's infrastructure, there's neighborhoods, there's homes, there's commercial areas. A lot of things have to work in concert to make this vision a reality within this physical space. And that takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of negotiation, takes a lot of conversation, it takes a lot of campaigning, it takes a lot of re-explaining the vision over and over again. Sometimes you may have a priority for the current year that maybe the budget isn't there, or you ran into an infrastructure roadblock and you've gotta deprioritize and come up with something else that still pushes towards that full master plan vision.
And so when we find ourselves in leadership positions, and that position of a leader is really that same idea of having to transform something that is comprised of a lot of moving parts. Transform that over time from where it is now to what it will be when it's this future vision, then you have to have a master plan, even if that thing that you're evolving over time is you as the leader.
So this is why I promote not only having goals, but also having a master plan that stretches over a period of time, and that is flexible enough to evolve and adapt as the situations change. As you encounter roadblocks, as budget or resources are not available or are available, you can have this overarching master plan that you can refer to over and over again to recenter yourself on the long-term future vision while still having all of the pieces you need to do on a day-to-day, month-to-month, year to year basis, to keep progressing along a timeline that will lead you to that vision.
Do you manage your team or business using goals or do you have a masterplan?
IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR FUTURE
CHANGE YOUR STORY.
Write your next chapter with a story-based strategic framework that evolves as you do.
the sacred bundle: unwrap your team’s backstory
Learn an indigenous storytelling technique to help you and your team reconnect and remember the moments that mattered most in your journey to ‘happily ever after’
While I was doing research for my paper on storytelling & school discipline, I came across a concept called ‘the sacred bundle’.
The sacred bundle is a reference to an indigenous American storytelling practice, where a tribe would place objects that represented key moments in the their history into a bundle.
from, ‘The Sacred Bundle: Unwrap Your Team’s Backstory’ www.kishasolomon.com
The sacred bundle is a reference to an indigenous American storytelling practice, where a tribe would place objects that represented key moments in the their history into a bundle. This bundle was kept safe by 1 or 2 ‘keepers of the bundle’ - usually 1 male and 1 female from the tribe. The keepers of the sacred bundle had the responsibility of remembering a specific song or story that related to each object in the bundle. At certain tribal celebrations or gatherings, the keepers of the bundle would remove the objects and recount the stories to the rest of the tribe. This was done as a way to preserve and pass on the moments that defined the tribe’s culture and their shared histories and futures.
Organizational consultant Peg Neuhauser extended the concept of the sacred bundle into teams and organizations, and posed the idea that, much like a tribe, teams and organizations have key moments that define their history. She posited that there are 6 organizational sacred bundle stories that every organization has:
How We Started
Our People
Why We Do What We Do
What We Learned in Failure
How We Succeeded
How We Will Change the World
I was so inspired by this idea of sacred bundle stories, that I decided to use them for a year-end retrospective with my product team at Ford. I asked each member of the team to share an object or image that represented each sacred bundle story. Later, we gathered as a team and took turns letting each team member share their object or image and explain what it meant to them.
The exercise was so well received, that I also decided to use it for my own year end review for 2022. I shared my own sacred bundle objects and stories on Instagram.
The 6 Sacred Bundle Stories of a Team
1. How We Started
2. Our People
3. Why We Do What We Do
4. What We Learned in Failure
5. How We Succeeded
6. How We Will Change the World
Why Use Sacred Bundle Stories?
The sacred bundle exercise made for a much-needed alternative to the typical year-end review or retrospective. Instead of only focusing on what tasks we completed or what I personally achieved, the sacred bundle stories allowed me and my team to look back at the moments that had the most meaning for us over the past year.
By sharing them with each other, we were all able to get deeper insight and understanding to what those moments meant to the the people we work with every day. We went deeper in our conversations than we had in our other team-building sessions or our quarterly OKR reviews - we shifted the focus to our journey together, how far we’d come and most importantly… how much we had all changed and grown. It was also a great way to honor and say farewell to a couple of members who were transitioning out of the team onto new projects.
The Importance of Backstory
Understanding what brought the main character to this point is really a pre-requisite for writing stories that will engage your audience. Before we can emotionally invest in the main character and her journey, we need to understand where she’s been, why she makes the choices she does, what happened before that has shaped her into the person we see today.
The same is true when you’re preparing to write the next chapter of your personal story or your team’s story. You want to re-engage with and celebrate how far you’ve come, you also want to be sure that you won’t forget the lessons you learned so that you don’t run the risk of repeating them again. There’s also the need to re-center on your values and remind yourself what has the most meaning to you - this is how you will avoid getting distracted or caught up in trivialities as you continue to journey towards ‘happily ever after’.