Storytelling
While technology may be developing ever more sophisticated data management systems, our own brains, being slower to evolve, still favour stories as one of the most effective retention tools. Indeed, there is ample evidence to support the notion that well-told stories, or their key elements, are not only retained more readily than listed phrases or bulleted documents, but that such narratives are regarded as being more realistic, more pertinent to real life (Swap et al., 2001) and therefore more likely to be retained by listeners as ‘guidance’ for future decision making. Functional magnetic resonance imaging demonstrates that greater and more varied brain areas and neural pathways are utilised in the processing of stories over all other inputs, likely explaining the greater retention seen. We have introduced many Executive Teams to the power of storytelling as a leadership tool over the years. What follows is just one account of the difference it can make.
We had introduced the CEO and the Senior Leadership Team of a mining company to the art of storytelling a while ago. The skill came naturally to some, less so to others, but most recognised its potential impact and over the coming months the broader workforce began to hear more of the CEO and Senior Leadership Team’s stories and to develop their own.
Then in April 2010, at the client’s annual Global Leadership Meeting for the top 120 executives worldwide, Tom, Senior Vice President for North America, kicked off the first morning’s session with a story of his own. It was one about the actions of a Pit Supervisor named John at one of the company’s most successful mines in the American mid-West. Tom introduced John who had also been asked to attend this leadership meeting to share his own perspective on what happened that day, to receive the thanks of the broader executive group, and to celebrate his demonstration of one of the organisation’s cultural values - ‘leadership in safety’. With John standing next to him, Tom took up the story.
“On December 24th 2009, John came to work expecting a day just like any other. John’s been with our company for several years, and like many employees in our Region several of his own family members have worked for us at one time or another. This is the pit as it looked that morning.” With that a photograph of the mine site came up on several television monitors around the room. Tom continued, “For some reason, and John still can’t quite explain why, when he arrived at work that day he went straight to the edge of the pit instead of first going to his desk as he usually does. Although inspection of the geo-stat data was in line with expectations, John sensed that something wasn’t right. But he didn’t go off to find his manager, he didn’t call a meeting, in fact he didn’t hesitate at all… he took responsibility. He decided to evacuate the pit, which at the time had five of our people working in it.”
Tom now had the hushed attention of everyone in the room as on the screens a second photograph was shown, “Just a few minutes later the pit wall failed and the picture you’re looking at now shows the several tons of alluvium displaced.” The second photograph showed a massive mudslide covering the haul truck, other vehicles and the area where those five men had been working. Pointing at executives sitting at five separate tables, Tom continued, “Can I ask you to stand up? Everyone, please take a look at the five people standing. John saved the lives of five people through his actions that day, five people just like them.“
Can I ask the other people at those five tables to also stand up? These people now standing represent some of the direct family members - wives, sisters, brothers, parents, children - who would have received a life-changing telephone call that day. Fortunately, because of John’s actions, those people didn’t get that call. What started out as just another day like any other actually turned out to be a great day for those family members… because of John’s actions.“
Now I’d like to ask the rest of you to stand up. You represent, in fact you are, just part of the wider family of this company that had a great day that day because of John’s actions. I’d like to ask you to join me in thanking John for the actions he took.” The room exploded with applause, and as a number of executives shook John’s hand others quietly wiped a tear away.
As everyone settled in their seats again, the company’s Chief Operating Officer took up the story, “John didn’t wait for someone else to take the responsibility. He stepped up. We can recover production, we can reclaim a mine, but we can’t reclaim lives. Wouldn’t it be great if every day we knew every member of our business was asking themselves, ‘What would John do?’ and acting accordingly? Wouldn’t it be great to share more stories like this, one in which the positive actions of people like John result in... precisely nothing untoward happening?”
One executive member of the audience, the General Manager of the company’s operations in South America, had listened with what even he would accept was a characteristically sceptical ear. He nevertheless decided to share the story with his own team once he got back to site. One or two of them were also sceptical, even casting aspersions on the pit wall maintenance efforts of their colleagues in North America.
But several months later in November 2010 that same team found themselves looking at the North Wall of one of their own pits. Monitoring equipment had indicated possible geological instability. Ceasing mining to undertake still further investigations would be time consuming and put nearly 400,000 ounces of gold production at risk. However John’s story had stuck and they knew what they had to do. Mining in the area was ceased. Reparations were eventually made and a new geological plan devised, with the pit finally re-opening in July 2011. Over 100,000 ounces of production had been lost to the structural redesign of the pit wall. But as the Chief Operating Officer had reminded everyone, you can recover production, you can reclaim a mine, but you can’t reclaim lives. We’ll never know what might have happened in a parallel but different world, but because that General Manager had heard that story, a cultural expectation had been reinforced, and so action was taken and many lives were probably saved.
This client company has always maintained a very strong safety record, one of the best in the industry - which is why we’re so very proud to work with them - but it’s always known that complacency is a danger. At the start of the 2012 Global Leadership Meeting, that self-confessed sceptic of a General Manager spoke to everyone assembled. He thanked Tom and John for telling the story they had told two years earlier, described the impact it had had on his own leadership and team, and potentially the lives of many. As he said, “I get it, storytelling really works.”