Once upon a time...

So do you work for a dynamic organization with professional staff that develops quality customized solutions for its customers?  
That is a coincidence ...  So do I. 

And almost everybody else for that matter.   

It is a tale that is often told which has usually little to no impact. 
Because people don't not like facts. They want to hear stories. 
By telling a real story you will make a much bigger impact.   

For example: 

In the Netherlands I worked for Randstad, an international Recruitment & HR Services provider. Every single employee knew the following story: 

Randstad was founded in the sixties by Dutch student Frits Goldschmeding who was studying economics. Frits had written a thesis about the phenomenon of temporary work and was passionate about the benefits of additional but temporary staff during peak periods. His first ever advertising flyers were created in the dorm room in his student house. And when he was in his twenties, he brought his first temporary worker to his first client all by himself. Dutch style: On the back of his old bike. Now, 50 years later, the company has grown to become the second-largest HR service provider in the world.  

Sounds a lot better, right?

So how do you make your own Corporate Story?

Use these 5 golden rules:  

1. A good story sticks with you 
2. A good story inspires 
3. A good story is simple 
4. A good story has impact 
5. A good story is authentic 

Consider where your story can relate to. Is it about the history of the organization? About leadership? Or about the company name? 

Start looking for the stories that are already are being told within the organization. They are great to use.  

Put the stories together and find the one that meets the five golden rules. See if you can catch the story in pictures. (Frits on the bike with the temporary worker on the backseat!) 

Finished? 
Tell the story to friends or family and get their feedback. 

Good luck with creating your corporate story!!! 

Breaking bad news

During a training workshop on Redundancy Interviews one of the participants asked me the following question:

"How can I break bad news to someone without feeling so awful?"

It's a beautiful question because it touches the essence of the problem.
Because giving someone bad news is not supposed to feel good...

It just needs to hurt a little, otherwise there is something wrong.
We all know that empathy is an essential leadership quality.

But no one likes to feel bad either.
And since we are all little creatures of habit, we instinctively try to avoid pain as much as we can.

So when we have to break bad news to someone we start to postpone it.
Or we avoid it by talking about other things first.
We try to bring the news very carefully.
Or we start by saying that we feel so bad about it ourselves...

Or worse: it looks like this:

So what is the best way to do it?

Well, first of all you start by accepting the fact that breaking bad news to someone is hard and feels very, very uncomfortable.

Secondly you want to make sure you use the communication tools that are available to make the interview as effective as possible.

One of them could be practicing the interview a few times with a professional role play actor to get instant feedback on the effect of the chosen strategy. That way your are well prepared for 'the real thing' and there will be no damage to the person it concerns.

Would you like to know more about InterACT WA's Actor-led training workshops?
Contact me here and I'm happy to tell you more about it!

Talent Management

Have a look at this picture:

Did you smile a little because they're so cute? 

But have you ever really looked closely at a penguin? 
Because it is kind of a weird animal. 

He has wings, but he cant fly. 
He has feet but can only make really small steps. 
And on land the penguin is not very agile and is pretty slow. 

But when you see that same penguin in the water, you see where he's made for. Everything makes sense. He swims super fast and is amazingly agile. You would almost think a penguin smiles a little when he's in the water...

It's a beautiful metaphor for a hot topic at the moment: Talent Management.  

And with the word Talent we quickly think about extraordinary talents like musicians, scientists or athletes might have. But talent is present in everybody and a lot closer than you think.

The trick is to focus on it. And that can be pretty hard in a society that is more focused on things that should improve. 

Thinking back off my school time, I remember my fails always got more attention than my satisfactory grades. 
And later on in life most of my performance evaluations focused on competencies that were yet to be developed. 

So why do we behave that way?

Their is a beautiful quote by author Marianne Williamson that I believe is very true:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? 

Actually, who are you not to be? 

So be that penguin. 
Find your talent and give it full attention and then watch it grow!

Would you like to know more about how to achieve this? 
Feel free to contact me via interactwa@outlook.com or 04876933349. 
Or just have a look at my website www.interactwa.com.au