As an effective leader and communicator, it is imperative we ensure our team comprehends the intent of our message and its significance to the organization. While we may harbor the best of intentions in aiming to enhance a team, department, or entire organization, the desired impact is often diminished if the message is misunderstood or poorly received.
During my 33-year career with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), I was able to learn a great deal about the art of getting your message across to your people and the entire organization. This skill was invaluable during my 12-year assignment as a Training Bureau Sergeant where I implemented and administered the department’s alternative discipline program, Education-Based Discipline. Essentially, this program directed sworn and civilian employees of all ranks to engage in decision-making and ethics classes, which I facilitated, as an alternative to receiving unpaid suspension.
When students arrived for class, a common quip was, “Is this the detention class?” Envision the disciplined employee at your agency who is indifferent, angry, and/or cynical because of the discipline process; those were the students in my classes. You can imagine how difficult the class could be to teach given the events that led to students being required to attend the classes. How does an instructor connect to a group of law enforcement personnel who are attending a class to avoid an unpaid suspension? Storytelling with solid communication techniques.
Motivational conversation
The concepts and techniques used in teaching those courses are very similar to those used in executive communication. The alternative discipline classes involve motivational conversation, which uses skillfully created questions to get your intended audience to voice the very change, mission, or goal you want them to embrace. This is achieved through the following process of question formulation:
- Intent: Where do you want the audience directed?
- Dialogue: How does the question create a conversation that moves the audience in an intended path?
- Relationships: How do the questions build relationships?
- Results: How do we know that this process is working?
This process of question creation does take some effort, but if used during your daily conversations with your people, it will become the normal way in which you communicate with others. It is a good skill set to master. Consider that strong relationships build influence. Influence is the foundation of leadership.
When creating questions for the “Intent – Dialog – Relationships – Results” process used with motivational conversation, consider the following:
- Open-ended: These questions cannot be answered with one word or a simple phrase. These questions challenge the listener to think about the topic being discussed/presented.
- Avoid the word “you” in the question: The use of the word “you” in a question can be perceived as accusatory in nature. This is of particular concern when asked in a group setting.
- Avoid the word “why” in question: The use of this word is accusatory. It does not allow for a thoughtful and informative assessment.
Once you’ve been able to apply these communication concepts and techniques in the workplace, storytelling will take your messaging to a higher level of impact. It is a skill set that is acquired with practice and repetition. Trust and challenge yourself to use these skills in your daily conversations. It is worth the effort and will bring positive results.
Developing the art of storytelling
One of the alternative discipline classes I taught was decision-making for disciplined employees. The intent was that learning critical thinking skills helps the disciplined employee make the correct decisions in the future while avoiding discipline in the process. This is a noble goal, but how do we make it resonate with the disciplined employee? Storytelling.
Here is a template on how to set up and deliver a story to reinforce your intent, goal, or mission:
- Identify a story that will resonate with your audience and support content.
- Keep it simple and easy to understand.
- Don’t memorize the story. Be very flexible in how you tell it.
- Set the stage of the story using descriptions of the setting, identifying key persons, and relating content to what is being taught.
- Immerse your audience in the story.
- Tell the story from a personal point of view (even if it’s not your story).
- Create suspense or tension in the story.
- Bring characters to life, with physical descriptions of body language and gestures.
- Show story through movement and use of environment when possible.
- Build up to the “buy-in” or “purpose” moment.
- End with a positive takeaway or key learning moment.
You may not hit every bullet point on the template, but the more points you address, the more successful your story is.
Motivational conversation and storytelling in action
In a class full of disciplined employees, motivational conversation and storytelling are key. This is how I applied both to have an impact on my students while providing them with learning moments, which is the goal of the course.
I told a story about hitting home runs in baseball. I used this story since many of the people in my classes had made poor decisions influenced by peer pressure. My purpose was for each of my students to understand the strong influences of unwritten rules on a team and the perceived social consequences for failing to act upon them. The final discussion was about peer pressure and not blindly following the group.
The home run story involved professional baseball players, catcher Brian McCann and at-bat Carlos Gomez. I would begin the story by asking the ways a batter can hit a home run and be disrespectful to the opposing team. Typically I would get several responses where I then challenged the participants with the nuances of what is considered appropriate and inappropriate. I would physically demonstrate some actions taken by the batter that could create an angry response. We would then discuss the unwritten rules of baseball etiquette.
As for Gomez and McCann, the story develops quickly. Gomez launches a home run to deep centerfield while flipping his bat, yelling at the pitcher, first baseman and any other opposing player who would listen. Gomez has violated many unwritten rules, and we would discuss those violations. However, the catcher, McCann stands and blocks Gomez from touching home plate, preventing him from scoring. A fight begins with both benches emptying including both bullpens.
As a class, we discussed why McCann took the course of action of blocking home plate while clearly understanding that a fight would be a natural consequence. I reminded participants that no formal rules were violated by Gomez. As we discussed the actions of the players involved, I would ask the following questions:
- How does this apply to us?
- What are the unwritten rules that we are expected to follow?
- When do unwritten rules become a liability for us and the department?
Our final discussion in class is about baseball, but it is also about us as individuals and as members of the larger organization. The story, questions and final discussion helped students apply the concepts of critical thinking, norms and social influences. The beauty of the discussions was that the impactful information about peer pressure, expectations to act and individual responsibility came from the students themselves. They voiced the concepts. I consider that success.
