Issue 4 - August 19th 2024
This week I invite you to consider storytelling when...
You want to build confidence
You heard it before: Confidence is key driver for performance. With a confident team, you can literally move mountains.
Unfortunately, our life is highly ambiguous. It is human nature to seek a release from ambiguity ("shall I run or shall I fight?"). Therefore, a quick release by simply giving up is often quite tempting ("there is nothing you can do", "let us wait and see",...). On the other hand, a healthy dose of confidence will provide our teams with the ability to take charge and ultimately to achieve the best outcome (instead of the quickest).
But how can you build such confidence in your team or - even more difficult - reestablish confidence once it got lost? The Troubadour says: By storytelling
Think of a best-seller in literature which has been essential for building confidence for almost 2,000 years: The Bible
Here are some biblical examples for confidence-building in the shape of stories:
The Quran, The Jataka tales and many other sacred texts also leverage storytelling to build confidence. I chose the Bible for my example, because it is the sacred text I am most familiar with. Without a doubt, you will find helpful stories in any of them which mirrors your current challenge and resonates with you.
Business teaching strongly advises to stay away from talking about religion in a professional setting. But it also tells us that in order to build confidence in a team, the leader first needs to feel such confidence herself/himself. Now you have an idea where to start.
What other sources for encouraging stories do you leverage? Please share, comment, amend.
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About The Troubadour
Storytelling can be a powerful tool - even for those of us who are not professional writers. There are numerous books, videos and classes on the subject. Typically, they provide insights on HOW to draft and present a story.
The Troubadour is about WHEN to leverage storytelling.
The use cases and examples presented in the newsletters are all based on my personal experience as someone (a manager) who has the responsibility to archive a business outcome by leveraging a team of humans. Although telling stories usually was not something I was compensated for, I found the techniques superior to many other means of communication.
The Troubadour is about storytelling as a MANAGEMENT TOOL.
Storytelling is often taught by journalists, actors or others who were professionally trained to excel in this art. What I am sharing are my own observations, lessons learned and numerous sources reviewed on the subject.
The Troubadour is based on my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AS A MANAGER.
Do you like The Troubadour? Please forward to anyone who could be interested.
About Me
Storytelling has been part of my professional life for more than 20 years. Although I was never trained to become a professional writer (or narrator), relying on stories to communicate better has always felt natural to me.
Besides of blogs and articles, I published a novel (The Lion of Ishtar) which is available in book stores with the ISBN?9783757809959 and 9783757881603 (Book 1 and 2).
Outside of my day job, I am also coaching with special focus on storytelling.
About the Logo: For centuries, troubadours were the dominant tool of mass communication. Their ability to (select &) present content ultimately determined their income (and survival). Troubadours were masters of storytelling.