What story brings to life your program goals?

After listening to and watching a morning of presentations on a leadership course, we were asked to sit in a circle facing outwards, to lean back and to close our eyes.......it was a welcome break.......then each one of us were asked to tell a story about something that had had a meaningful impact in our lives.

It was only in the final Q&A / wrap up session, when we were asked to play back what we had learnt, that we found out why we were given that welcome break.

Our memories were not bad and we remembered select key details from the presentations and the many bullet pointed messages.  But when we were then asked about the meaningful stories told in the morning, the real lesson was learnt.   Every detail and core purpose of each story was remembered.

It has stayed with me ever since, that storytelling made us think about and feel the message.  The stories influenced our behaviour rather than just informed us of a message.  It has the ability to stick with us and this is where the article below resonates in today's world - where change is needed across organisations and supply chains.  

How can we use storytelling to further drive the change we strive in our social and sustainability programs?  How do we convert program messaging to be an opportunity to tell the stories - bringing to life why it's important and where it is having an impact.  And why we as individuals should care and do something about it.

It's also a great reminder that we need to keep evolving our programs, irrespective of the program goal , so that they do not just rely on audits, or self assessments but include a blend of information gathering and verification along with the most important element which is the ability to change the way our supply chains think and feel - and help them be as motivated about the program goals as we are ourselves.....

With Inlight, Intertek Academy and Assurance in Action we have tools to influence supply chains and I hope that we continue to leverage the technology and tools available to scale our, and our customers, storytelling even further to influence and shape supply chains and their achievement of any program goals.