This global bank hosts an annual virtual learning day that brings people together to strengthen collaboration and advance strategy. Last year, more than 2500 people from cross-departmental teams participated in a day of workshops. The chief goal was to help people with strong technical skills bolster their capabilities and get better at centering their work on customer insights. Leaders wanted teams to be able to tell compelling, fact-based stories that highlighted the customer’s perspective.
Using two Spark by ExperiencePoint™ episodes that focus on storytelling and crafting messages that stick, we introduced cross-functional teams to the role that language and narrative can play in presenting vital information. Teams participated in Faster than a speeding bullet, learning storytelling techniques to make their messages vivid and memorable, and The Big Picture, learning to craft compelling messages using the simplest language.
Hundreds of energized people collaborated and shared ideas throughout both episodes. Leaders gained perspective by observing how participants interacted with the content and gleaning how it could apply to their daily work. Teams determined how they could use new learnings in their roles and made a plan for achieving these goals. Leaders felt that by helping people develop skills in analysis, consultation and persuasion, they’d taken a step forward in enhancing and maintaining their talent pool.
