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Cultivating Authentic Presence thru Storytelling
- 1. CATHERINE BALLANTYNE Cultivating Authentic Presence thru Storytelling INTEGRATED LEADERSHIP
- 2. 2 3 Outcomes for Today Understanding authentic Presence Practical strategies for cultivating authentic presence Inspiration to use these skills to contribute as the world emerges from the COVID quagmire A framework to support your storytelling skills
- 4. “Storytelling changes lives, it changes the world and we need it; It teaches and shifts peoples’ perspectives. It is the totality of all the things I am that gives the value” - America Ferrera
- 5. Mike Anderson Amanda Fleming Simon Sinek S W O tealium.com amandafleming.co.nz simonsinek.com #INFLUENCERTRIADE
- 6. 6 Identify your own Influencer Triade TAKE ACTION
- 7. THE ABILITY TO CONNECT AND INSPIRE OTHERS
- 8. Introvert Extrovert Senior Leader Emerging Leader Don’t see yourself as a leader
- 10. 10 Approach with Composure Execute with Calm Confidence Leave with Satisfaction
- 11. “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” Nelson Mandela
- 12. Three Focus Areas Be in the moment STATE Connect INDIVIDUALS Find the fun PLACES TO PLAY
- 13. Conscious Intentionality How do you want to show up? What kind of leader do you want to be? How do you want your audience to feel? How do you make sure your actions align with that intention? State
- 14. 14 Commit your State to Paper TAKE ACTION
- 15. 15
- 17. The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come …” - Steve Jobs, 1994
- 18. Origin/Why 1 Vision/Just Cause 2 Technical Heritage Story 3 Case for Technological Change 4 What I believe as a technologist 6 Professional Motivation 7 Customer Story 5 7 stories every technologist should be able to tell
- 19. Origin/Why Story #ORIGINSTORY Reduce your memories to 3-4 of the most significant Discover 1 2 4 3 Draft and refine your Origin Story What are your most significant memories How do these memories connect? What are the recurring themes? Where you come from and how that influences your motivation Draft
- 20. Old World New World Choosing a Framework Point of inflexion Trigger WHAT disrupts? Problem WHAT needs to happen? Resolution HOW it happens? Quest Something happens Purpose WHY it matters?
- 21. #GROWTHZONE Create your own personal story. Keep it to 2-3mins Step One Present to someone you report to or you respect. Get feedback Step Four Deliver it to someone you trust. Get feedback Step Two Record it. Give yourself feedback Step Three Practice, Practice, Practice “ ” “ ” Get comfortable with being uncomfortable
- 22. 22 Develop your own Origin/Why story TAKE ACTION
- 23. 23 “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.“ - Maya Angelou
- 24. 24 Craft a (Technological) Joy story and find playful place to deliver it TAKE ACTION
- 25. 25 ? Actions to Take Away Identify you influence tirade Put your desired state to paper Put another story in your brief case Craft a Joy story and find a playful place to deliver it
Editor's Notes
- 1min In the spirit of reconcilation I begin by acknowledging I am hosting this session from the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, Traditional Custodians of the land on which I stand today, and I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land I also acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people participating in this session. Given the global nature of the conference, I respectful acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the various lands on which you all gather today. Welcome to this session on cultivating authentic presence through Storytelling Shoutout to all the sessions delivered so far. What an exciting and inspirational day Get you pen out or your Evernote ready. Expect to take home some actions from this session
- 1-130 We will start by exploring what authentic presence is and how to develop your use of storytelling to support it You can expect to leave this session with • Motivation for cultivating your authentic presence • Three practical strategies for doing so • A framework to enrich your storytelling • Some inspiration for how to contribute joy to our world recovery by leveraging your newly sharpened skills for the good of community
- 1:3-3mins For me I became aware of the power my own authentic presence in my 20s when I was introduced to it through a course. 30years on I remember the impact of that weekend vividly, it was a revelation that I could have the most influence by simply being present and myself Even with this knowledge, in my early years I orphaned parts of myself from the process. Choosing to deliver the parts I knew were most recognizable to my audience which meant core aspects of who I was, were left unseen. My orphaned selves were quite simply left outside the room. Throughout my life I have continued to explore the application of presence and with it I have integrated my multifaceted self. One of the things I have learnt along the way is the more of myself I bring to the presentation, the stage or the room the more powerful I become. People want to see themselves reflected in a leader so the more I bring my integrate self into the room the more likely this is to happen As I became responsible for teams it has been about passing on these skills but also building an environment where the team feels safe enough to bring their vulnerable and still integrating selves to the table
- 3-330 Telling stories that matter with your wholeself has the power to shift perspectives and make a difference in the world You have permission to be yourself. It doesn’t need to be presented in a prescribed style to be meaningful, to be impactful As technologists, being able to bring technology to life for all is a valuable skill and responsibility that we should all cultivate
- 330-5min Much of what I talk about today is not original thought What we are discussing should be attributed to three people who greatly influenced my understanding and application of authentic presence and spinning a yarn. I am simply passing on what they generous taught me. Amanda Fleming first introduced me to valuing and cultivating an authentic presence in my 20s. It was her course I first attended and her insight forms the basis for all that I know today Mike Anderson is the technical founder of the last organisation I worked for, Tealium, his ability to translate complex technological advances into easy to consume stories is amazing Then finally, Simon Sinek probably a much more recognisable character to everybody here, Simon's work on Start from Why and the Infinite Game has highly influenced my philosophy since I was introduced to his golden circle video 8years ago Each of us has fundamental influencers in our history. They help form how we show up today and remembering what they taught us can be highly valuable especially in times of stress such as presentations
- 5-530 So first action of the day, identify your own Influencer Triade I urge you to contemplate who you would call out as the people who have most significantly impacted your ability to be present and bring stories to life and why Hold this, it can be a useful reference point when you have the state wobbles and are unsure of how to proceed
- Presence – we know when we see it, when we feel it but its something that is hard to define. It is often described as charisma, confidence, being compelling. Sometimes people with presence also have these characteristics but not always. <CLICK> Presence is about the ability to connect with people and have influence For a leader to have impact, presence is essential It is both a quality and a skill and as such can be developed and cultivated.
- So if it about connection there are a lot of ways we can have presence. We can be an introvert, extrovert, we can be a senior leader, an emerging leader, we can not class ourselves as a leader at all and still project a strong and powerful presence. You will find I use the word leader throughout this presentation because by cultivating presence you will be one by default This is not about fake it till you make it. This is about knowing who you are and bring this to surface, authentically.
- When the things you say and the things you do align with what you believe you are congruent and as humans we innately sense congruence or authenticity I don’t know about you, but I am drawn to it. When you hold a position of alignment of belief with what you say and how you act trust emerges and trust is the ultimate lubricant in teams and across partnerships. You will find plenty of tools, tips and trick about how to model authenticity, I believe you exhibit the most authenticity when you are in integrity with yourself
- But when we are under stress that is where we struggle most to be present – presenting to a group, job interview, talking to someone you admire, dealing with someone who is in a position of power How do we find a way to be present in our most challenging situations? I want you to think about a situation where you are most challenged to be present Did You approach it with dread, while in it were you distracted ? worried about what people were thinking of you. What you should have just said or what you should say next did you leave with a sense of regret where you felt as though you had been unseen. What you want is to <CLICK> approach with composure <CLICK> Execute with confidence <CLIVK> And leave with satisfaction
- When you are present you are inviting others to be present with you. You can create and hold space for all As you find your presence and with it your voice, you display integrated leadership. The more we can integrate and display our wholeselves the more we enable others to do the same
- So once you have decided presence is important and you have established it is something you can cultivate there are three areas to focus on: Being aware of your state and how you want to control it Connection with individuals within the audience Finding places to play – places you can play with presenting and storytelling
- Your state is your way of being in the moment. If you are conscious of it, it is something you can intentionally guide. To be in control of your state you need to be clear on What kind of leader do you want to be? How do you want to show up? How do you want your audience to feel? Once Make sure your actions align with that intention
- So your next action to complete is committing to paper What kind of leader do you want to be? Me I would say authentic, brave, How do you want to show up? Here I think about energy, movement, it is why I stand to present Then And finally, but most importantly how do you want your audience to feel. For me I want my audience to feel seen, to find belonging I then use my physicality to then bring action into alignment with intent
- I come from New Zealand where there is a Maori proverb that many kiwis including myself hold dear to our heart hey aha may nui oh teow He Tangata He Tangata He Tangata Ask me what is important thing? It is people, it is people, it is people The same is true when you are present it is about staying connected to your audience, to the people For me this is about looking out and seeing the people – a little hard to do on Zoom I know I like to get read on how people are responding leaning in? Leaning out? Sound I will acknowledge A lot of these connections are better live but it is probably why most speakers like cameras on
- There are two ways to think of our third focus area: Place to Play The first is the most obvious, always be on the look out for places where you can practice presence and tell stories. Taking it outside of your formal business context is a great way to do this – recently at work they organized storytelling round a virtual campfire, of course I signed up I put my hand up for WT2 because it represented another place to play This means when a big work presentation comes along its less daunting and you have more skills The second way to consider this focus point is you want to be playing with presence, playing with the story to find how it fits you best Never lose the play from the presentation
- Steve was renound for being a great storyteller but he wasn’t always that way, I understand his original pitch on the Lisa computer was a flop Storytelling is a strategic business skill that comes from practise not from birth Great stories build relationships and make people care because our brains actively participate during storytelling. One of the challenges Is knowing where to start and the stories to tell
- Most storytellers carry a virtual briefcase of some standard stories that they need to be able to call up on demand. First there are the personal stories <CLICK> Where you came from Where you are going or your just cause And your technical heritage story Then there are work specific stories <CLICK> Be able to present the case for why change is needed …. Cause ins’t it always about at least one customer, What I believe as a technologist And lastly your professional motivation This isn’t definitive list, your briefcase will grow well past this but these a good selection to start with
- Your Why or Origin story is where you come from and how that influences your motivation. It is your foundation and it doesn’t change though how you tell the story may. To get the best outcome from this process for defining your Origin story, it is good if you can pair up with someone you trust who asks good questions to help you. If you don’t have someone you can still do it on your own. Start by looking into your past and find the standout memories. Be specific. What are the recurring themes or patterns? look for the connections. How did one standout memory influence the next? You will have way more content than you need so the next step is to reduce down to 3-4 of the most significatant stories and use these to draft you origin story
- Once you have the content it is often useful to choose a structure or framework to help you craft it. I have 2 simple ones here, but you will find plenty of frameworks on the internet. It doesn’t need to be complex, it simply needs to provide you with a framework to structure your story There are two keys to delivering great stories Crafting the story Playing with its delivery
- Now you have the content and you have it in a structure get comfortable delivering it when you are uncomfortable and get some feedback. Start by delivering to someone you trust, move on to getting feedback from yourself(which is actually the round I find toughest ) and finish by delivering to someone who you respect – expect this round to make you uncomfortable. It suppose to. If you can do this you should be ready to take your story out into the world. Once you do, expect it to naturally evolve
- Make a commitment now that you will take these steps to capture an Origin story for your self and deliver it three times before the end of the weekend.. If you already have an origin story pick another for your briefcase
- Maya Angelou was a very wise woman All this preparation and what people remember is how you made them feel
- As storytellers we have remarkable privilege to use our skills to bring joy. This is a great exercise to add another story to your briefcase while playing. Craft another story This one, has only one purpose- to bring joy. USe the same process we have just been through and then find somewhere special to deliver it An example of what you could do here is make it a story for children and go tell it in a children’s hospital or deliver your Joy story at an Age Care home
- We started today by exploring what authentic presence is and we are coming away with four actions Identify the people in your history that have modelled presence and storytelling for you. ALso identify why you selected them For your next presence challenge write down how you want to show up. how do you want your state to be How do you want the audience to feel How will your actions align with your intention Add one more story to your storytelling briefcase. If you don’t have any, start by defining your ‘why’/origin Find a place to play where you can use your skills to bring joy to the world
- Thank you for listening. I happy to take any questions