Common Sense Ideas for Becoming the Career Star You Are Meant to Be

Today is Thursday, so the topic is Communication Skills.  

In this post, I’d like to discuss the power of stories as a communication tool.  Stories are a powerful way to communicate.  We all learn through stories.    

Read on to learn how to construct stories that will help you get your message across…

I’m a natural born story teller.  I have always been able to use stories to get my points across.  A few years ago, I sat down and thought about how I go about constructing stories.  I came up with a simple three step formula that anyone can use to create powerful stories that will help you make your point.

1. Identify something that in your heart of hearts you know to be “true”.
2. Think about the experiences you’ve had that have led you to this “truth”
3. Shape those experiences into a story that you can tell at the drop of a hat.

Here’s a story to show you how I use this formula.

One of the things that I know to be true is that if I am going to be a good communicator, I must meet other people where they are, not where I would like them to be.  Let me tell you how I know this.

Several years ago, I had an assignment to conduct a team building session for a manufacturing plant manager and his staff.  The client was a friend of mine.  I knew him well.    

I arrived at his office abut 5:00 the afternoon of the day before our session.  We chatted for a few minutes.  We were just about to leave to have dinner with his wife when he said, “do you have an agenda for tomorrow’s meeting?”  

I said, “well, first we’ll do A, then B, followed by C.  We’ll finish up with D.”  

He said, “do you have an agenda?”

 At first I thought he hadn’t been listening to what I just said, so I repeated myself; “first we’ll do A, then B, followed by C.  We’ll finish up with D.”

He said, “yes I know, that’s what you just said.  Do you have an agenda?”

At that point, it dawned on me that he was looking for a printed agenda with times.  I said “no, but we really don’t need one.  I’ve done a lot of meetings like this.  It will go fine.”  

He said, “I’m not comfortable winging it”.  

At that point, I’m thinking “winging it?  I’m not winging it, I know exactly how to run a meeting like this.”  

He went to his computer, turned it on (remember, we were just about to leave for the day when this conversation started), fired up PowerPoint and said, “OK, tell me again what we’re going to do”.  He created a PowerPoint slide, and we printed one copy for everyone who would be attendance the next day.  

We left his office, went to dinner and had a very enjoyable evening.  

The next day, the meeting went off without a hitch.  We followed the agenda that I had in my head, and he had on the PowerPoint slide.  Everyone agreed that it was one of the best meetings of this type that they had ever attended.  

As we were leaving, I said, “things worked out just like I said, are you happy with the result?”  

He said, “yeah, it was a great meeting, but I still think we were lucky because we were winging it.”  

I didn’t respond, just finished cleaning up and drove to the airport.

That evening on the flight home, I thought about the situation.  He thought we were winging it, and I thought we were following a well thought out plan.  The difference – he needs more structure than me.  The piece of paper with the agenda was very important to him and his sense of order.  To me, the paper wasn’t necessary, because I knew in my head what to do and how to do it.  

Who was wrong here?  Who was right here?  We both were.  He needs and prefers structure.  I don’t.  There is no right and wrong.  As I reflected, it became clear to me that if I want to influence this client (and others who prefer structure), I need to change my communication style.  

From that day on, whenever I am dealing with a highly structured person, I modify my communication style to meet their needs for structure.  If he or she wants a printed agenda, I show up with one.  If he or she wants a detailed explanation of how things will happen, I present it.  I don’t say “trust me”.  

My plant manager friend taught me an important lesson – always modify my style to one that will assist me in making my point with other people.

As you read the story, you can see how I used my 1 – 2 – 3 formula to construct a story that I can use any time I want to help people see and learn the importance of using stories to make a key point.

The common sense point here is simple: if you use stories to make your points, you’ll be more likely to be seen as a great communicator.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Tomorrow, I’ll be doing a post on personal impact.  Log on to my other blog www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a business, and my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.