Moving more people to do great things

I visited a client last week and on discussing outcomes for the meeting, two key questions came up: “how can we motivate our people to do more extraordinary things? How can we get more of our people to believe that what seems impossible today, could just be a conversation or an action plan away?”

Their view was that their company’s legacy (as well as their own as board members) would be defined by the number of good ideas (great and small) that they were able to turn into action in the next few years. As with most companies, pace was a key theme – how quickly could they turn passive understanding into action? Could they inspire people to act now before the opportunities were seized by more agile competitors?

It is a conversation we have had with many boards over the past 15 years. Most have asked similar questions which can be summarised as, “how can we move more of our people to do great things?” It’s a question that lays the foundations for the most remarkable business journeys.

The Storytellers exist to move more people to do great things. It is a purpose that enables us to work with leaders all around the world to inspire change, transform their organisations and accelerate the journey their business is on.

In defining the story of an organisation we often come across ‘moonshot’ goals – now described in the dictionary as ‘an extremely ambitious and innovative project.’

There has been plenty written about moonshots over the last few years – articles harking back to Kennedy’s “landing a man on the moon” speech, ambitious scientific collaborations to cure cancer and tech organisations planning to disrupt long-standing industries. These are the headline-grabbing examples, but the truth is while most organisations have ambitious visions, few are able to spark a movement to realise them.

Many of these organisations fail to create a wider context, a rational and emotional understanding of the journey a business is on, a belief in the ability to change and the inspiration and commitment to contribute. This sense of personal and collective connection to a business journey provides leaders with fertile ground to empower teams to define the goals that will enable them to play their part.

One of our key learnings has been that authentic leaders, equipped with the capability and tools to inspire action, have a huge impact.

We’ve seen organisations rally behind seemingly impossible journeys. We’ve seen teams achieve goals that only months before would have been discounted. Most importantly we’ve seen leaders embrace change and inspire truly remarkable stories.

Of course, these stories are now helping to breed new cultures, reinforce a unique mindset and encourage behaviours that enable these organisations to rally again, to embark on their next journey to the moon…

Robert Tennant

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