Annette Simmons

  • About
    • About Annette
    • Annette in Action
  • Books
    • Territorial Games
    • A Safe Place for Dangerous Truths
    • The Story Factor
    • Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins
  • Services
  • The Six Kinds of Stories
  • Storytelling 101
    • Blog
    • Q & A
    • Metaphor Maps
  • Clients
  • Contact

November 8, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

No Sense of Connection

Virtual teams can work but this particular member of a virtual team didn’t feel like she was part of a team at all.  The meeting was the first time the eight people had met in the same room for a year.  Each of them performed the same role at their individual business units, but no one knew why they were in the room together or what they were supposed to achieve.  There was no sense of connection to each other or the company.  This one drawing set the agenda for the rest of the meeting.  Often one person has an insight that crystallizes general discomfort to a specific actionable issue

Filed Under: Metaphor Maps

November 8, 2010 by Annette Simmons Leave a Comment

What We Say vs. What They Hear

It is frustrating to be the one collecting data.  Quality and Safety managers don’t know what works if they can’t measure results.  Personally I hate people measuring me, and I have a gut resentment against those who think I need measuring.  The person who drew this map drew it for people like me.  I look at it and it helps me remember to chill out.  All of us can do with a reminder that the people that get on our nerves don’t wake up early to plan new ways to make us crazy.  They are usually just as concerned about achieving the vision as we are.

Filed Under: Metaphor Maps

November 8, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Field Management

Guess who drew this map? If you need a tip, the only people who can stop the whole world from exploding is management.  Management has the scissors, the fuse is on their side and instead of cutting it they are spending time fighting.  All the damage of course will be to the “field.”  Headquarter and Field are natural adversaries.  HQ makes rules and policies to keep things fair and quality high (a/k/a consistency) while people in the field need the flexibility to adapt and see fairness as related to work ethic or talent instead of some HQ policy.  Both are right.  This dilemma has to be rediscovered by each new team that has begun to think it is about personality differences, or to accuse the other side of not understanding the real issues.  This map was a message to the boss.  And for reasons I can’t explain, she took it much better than a year of complaints.

Filed Under: Metaphor Maps

November 8, 2010 by Annette Simmons Leave a Comment

Director

“I’m the HR director standing on stilts because I have to talk to the director, but I don’t really have any power.  Labor Relations (L.R.) and Personnel (Pers) are about to make me fall down.”  This was a state government organization.  Notice that “Labor” is in a turret with a fence around it with a window but no door.  The central turret is open at the top with a person clearly “available.”  The stance of this person reminds me of the woman behind the desk when I needed to change a class in college.  She was the one person who could make it happen, but she really was sick of students asking to change classes.  “Administration” the place you go when you are a problem…have a problem…same difference.  THEN..look at IT.  Information Technology was considered invasive at this agency and they talked like “aliens” thus the UFO.  Try to understand with lots of stupid questions and you get “You don’t need to know that.  Just (insert jargon) and you will be fine.”  This one picture created insight for the HR person about balance and boundaries.  The HR guys who kept agreeing they had to stop using jargon, finally “got it” from seeing themselves portrayed here.  Notice also they are portrayed as lazy.  IT guys simply have a different definition of urgent than most employees.  Fixing your laptop does not equal a system-wide failure.

Filed Under: Metaphor Maps

October 11, 2010 by Annette Simmons 4 Comments

Tornado

“The progression of a career in leadership”

I keep threatening to write a book titled “Leadershit.” This drawing is a great representation of why!

image New hires are sucked into the vortex of organizational leadership theories about white water, chaos theory, flexibility, doing more with less, participative decision making, strategic thinking, reliability and clear focus without any regard to the massive internal conflicts these impossible-to-maintain and mutually exclusive values set up.

Eventually being flexible can be interpreted as unreliable and white water is going to mess with people’s expectations for clear direction and focus. Simply reading most organizations’ list of leadership competencies is enough to make the most competent person feel incompetent OR to feel compelled to lie to himself or others (or both) about who she/he really is.

Good intentions created these “reach for the stars” lists of leadership qualities, but they have encouraged systems designed without regard for the fallibility and flawed nature of human beings. This creates a situation where every honest human being (who says, “Oops, I screwed up” every now and then) can easily be rejected in favor of the more image conscious less-competent individual who blames someone else. I taught leadership for years, and yes, I know that we have a “new definition” of leadership.

But the problem remains – even the leading leaders model is unrealistically positive. Facing the shadow side of human nature is scary, but incredibly valuable. The place where our common humanity can be revealed is the birthplace of compassion and tolerance. True cooperation does not occur between people who feel they must hide their flaws from each other.

This hiding separates them so much that ideas don’t flow freely, information is bottlenecked, and hesitation chokes their voices. Creative collaboration require strong connections between people that can only be born from a “warts and all” authenticity.

“We give 100%” is less believable than, “We give 100%, except for when we don’t.” If a group wants to develop trust, a good place to start is for EVERYONE to be honest about who they are and who they aren’t. In the best intentions to pursue high standards we have created a culture that doesn’t tolerate human flaws very well.

No wonder people are burning out and leaving their jobs… and it is the most creative, authentic and courageous ones that we lose as a result. Let’s try to make our workplaces safe for human beings and maybe we’d have more around when we need them.

Filed Under: Metaphor Maps

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Storytelling 101

Ray, Rosa, Ted and me sharing dinner and stories.

Stories with a Moral Blueprint – part 8 of 8

May 14, 2020 8:43 am

  We need a Magic School for Storytellers Thirty years before J. K. Rowling created Harry Potter, Ursula Le Guin’s... Read more →

Posted in: Annette's Blog, Big T Truths
BIg T Truths make stories come alive.

Stories with a Moral Blueprint – part 7 of 8

May 13, 2020 7:37 am

  Truth in Storytelling When I wrote the first edition of The Story Factor twenty years ago, I began with the... Read more →

Posted in: Uncategorized
oz

Stories with a Moral Blueprint – part 6 of 8

May 12, 2020 6:48 am

The Moral Dilemmas of a Lion, a Scarecrow, and a Tin Man Frank Baum’s original introduction to The Wizard of... Read more →

Posted in: Annette's Blog, Big T Truths
We need trust to survive and thrive.

Stories with a Moral Blueprint – part 5 of 8

May 11, 2020 8:38 am

  Blueprints for Building Trust Learning to drive was fun until I hit the mailbox. I burst into tears, blaming... Read more →

Posted in: Annette's Blog, Big T Truths
"Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything."

Stories with a Moral Blueprint – Part 4 of 8

May 8, 2020 8:13 am

  Brand Stories: Trust Based on Trustworthy Behaviors Nike has employed corporate storytellers since the 1990s. Their decision to illustrate... Read more →

Posted in: Annette's Blog, Big T Truths

Subscribe to Annette's Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Like us on Facebook:

Like us on Facebook:

Contact Us

Group Process Consulting, LLC
phone: 318.861.9220
email: annette@annettesimmons.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/thestoryfactor

Group Process Consulting, LLC

Group Process Consulting provides keynotes, workshops and personal coaching to CEOs, senior executives, sales staff, fund-raisers – anyone who wants to use stories to motivate groups and/or individuals, via personal interactions or personally delivered presentations.

DIsclaimer, Safe Harbor & IP Notice

click here for details.
© Copyright 2016, Group Process Consulting, All Rights Reserved.
Based on the ·Executive Pro Theme/Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Built using WordPress · Log in