In this post Martin Carter, currently head of Eon’s Engineering Academy at Eon and previously their head of Engineering Governance talks about the impact that comes when a leader tells the right story at the right time.

Martin Carter

Anni’s email at the beginning of August asked if anyone had a good story to tell got me thinking…….

You see, I’ve got loads of good stories, although hardly any of them are mine. I have been shamelessly and deliberately collecting stories for some time now, having seen how powerful they can be in helping engage others in what I’m up to. A good story simultaneously engages all four energies – physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual – and hence connects with people in a way that a PowerPoint slide or Excel graph never can.

Of course there is nothing new in this. Storytelling is as old as language itself, and the storytellers of old were the Hollywood A-listers of their day, revered for their wisdom and the insights they brought. The fables, parables and legends we loved as children can be traced back to these earliest stories.

But whilst I love traditional wisdom stories, the most profound and powerful stories I have heard are personal ones. The best leaders I have met use stories from their own lives to engage and motivate others and build big relationships. And when it comes to our own lives, we are all great storytellers.

And here’s the rub. The fact that stories do spark our emotional and spiritual energies means that it can feel uncomfortable to share more of ourselves in the intellectual furnace of the office. Risking telling your story means risking making yourself vulnerable and willingly making yourself vulnerable is counter cultural – especially in some business cultures. Yet we can all recall a moment when a simple story instantly changed the energy in a room, stirred emotions and prompted people to decisive action.

My first experience of this in the workplace was as a fresh graduate, when a leader in our business told us the following story about a project kick-off conference he had recently attended. Over the course of the day presenter after presenter spoke of how the project was going to achieve best in class performance. At the end of the day the project director took to the stage. Behind him were projected faces of various, apparently random, members of staff from the companies represented. In the failing light of an Edinburgh afternoon he looked around the room and said “We will burn well over 1 million man hours on this project. That means, that if we succeed in delivering best in class performance, we will kill one person”. Turning to the slide of faces behind him he asked “Can we just agree amongst ourselves now who it’s going to be?”. The energy in the room changed in an instant as the emptiness of much of what had been said that day hit everyone.

Turning back the project director, visibly moved went on to share his story – of how 10 years previously three workers had been killed on one of his projects and it was he who went to tell their families. “It is not an experience I intend to repeat” he went on “Best in class performance is simply not good enough. Tell me instead about what you are going to do – each and every one of you – to make sure we deliver a successful project and send everyone home safe at the end of it”. Even for us, hearing the story second hand, the impact on the energy in the room was palpable.

The project went on to be a great success and there were, indeed, no fatalities. Luck or inspirational leadership? Who knows? But in the room on that day, the project director’s willingness to risk vulnerability in order to challenge the comfortable, intellectual energy in the room transformed the atmosphere and perhaps the whole project. But more importantly, the story of him doing so still was repeated and repeated, and still lives on, and still has an impact, long after the project has ended.

Leadership nudge: How can you bring more of you and your story to your leadership? Are you willing to risk apparent vulnerability and challenge conventional wisdom in order to build bigger relationships, drive deeper engagement and deliver even greater results?

By Martin Carter, Head of Engineering Academy, E.ON UK
E : martin.carter@eon-uk.com