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“Friends…they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.”
— Henry David Thoreau

Certainly life has been intense for a while (for lots of us), and my default response is often to cocoon. But deep down, I knew I needed to get back to living fully.

So I leaned into my other habit: reaching out to friends.

More often than not, they said, “Yes!” 

Here’s how that turned out …

Starting Quickly

Need eye surgery on a few days notice – in San Antonio during a snowstorm? Call Mom. She’ll be there.

March Madness

We’ve waited 25 years for this one. Head to LA to watch the Islander Women in their first ever NCAA tournament appearance against #1 ranked USC? Without a doubt.

May at DCMex

My passport had been in hibernation since before the pandemic, and a DC conference in Playa Del Carmen felt ideal for dusting it off. The hotel was perfect for a health reset, and I connected with so many amazing folks.

The conversations during those three days literally changed the trajectory of my year.

Meeting Yamile, Courtney, and Yan on the first day. Being in a Mastermind with Victoria Horley‘s marketing brilliance. Hearing Cathryn Lavery speak, and then having lunch with her. (Best Self Journals are literally the best!) Poolside wisdom from Yota Trom right when I needed it. Meeting Natisha in real life!

Back on the Bike in NOLA

Life and eye issues had kept me sidelined in the pits since early 2022, but I thought I might be ready to get back out there. The track at NOLA is wide, friendly, and easy to remember. I just needed to get there – and I hadn’t taken the van out in almost as long.

Thankfully, Kristen agreed to join me for the adventure as we navigated hundreds of miles of highway construction. And my team was full of encouragement and support when I did throw a leg over.

Birthday Roadtrip

Knowing the TBW annual conference typically falls on my birthday, Pat decided that a roadtrip would be the best way to celebrate. Plus, we rallied all the D/FW family for a birthday lunch at the original El Fenix. (So good!)

Japan in July

We’d talked about it for nearly two years, and finally decided to make it happen. With her son stationed in Okinawa and unable to take leave, Maxine was determined to visit. So we did.

Fellow DC’er Andy Fossett took us on an amazing (and speedy!) tour of Shinjuku and taught us how to buy train tickets.

Vegas Bound

We were overdue for a cousin reunion, so we all headed to Vegas for the Labor Day weekend. My grand-daughters proved they got the traveler gene too as they navigated multiple flights without a hitch. Our weekend was full with M&M World traditions and lots of soccer and swimming.

Three Days In Thailand

 I’ve loved the annual DCBKK Conference since it’s inception, but hadn’t been back since Hurricane Harvey upended my life in 2017. Given the chance to reconnect with all the awesome ladies from DCMex and lead a workshop, I couldn’t resist. But it had to be a speedy trip – arriving Friday morning and leaving late Sunday night. It was absolutely worth it. (Though the pictures aren’t nearly sufficient.)

Conference in Kauai

Combine an interesting economic conference in beautiful Kauai and the opportunity to spend an extra week with my sister, and I’m all in. I don’t think I’ll go this far west in the future, though the scenery on our hiking and biking adventures was unbelievable. 

Fancy-ness

My closest friends know that what takes the most courage from me isn’t the motorcycle races or around-the-world flights. It’s the fancy events – though I always have fun once I’m there. So thankful for the folks that help me choose outfits and walk through the doors.

Health Stuff

My other big focus this year has been my health. I’ve worn a continuous glucose monitor, and walked hundreds of miles. I completed 75 Hard on my third attempt (yay!) and discovered that I really enjoy sound meditation. Special thanks to the dear friends that always step in to keep me on track and in a positive mindset.

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt

So very grateful for all the friendly footprints left this year…

The post The Year of Friendship: Celebrating Life, One Adventure at a Time appeared first on Kendra Kinnison.

The good news is that it’s not a secret. MIT researchers have discovered a simple neurological loop at the core of every habit. The loop consists of three parts: A cue, a routine and a reward. (In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg calls this the Habit Cycle.)

The other good news is that you’ll likely need to update your mindset to apply it.

Change Your Mindset

If you’re like me, you’ve been programmed to approach habits in a certain way. We’ll call it “Habits 1.0.” You’ve been trained to think of habits as something that requires a lot of willpower to change. It’s been ingrained in you to expect it to be very difficult, and that you’ll simply need to force yourself to be different. You probably learned it in elementary school or from your parents.

Here’s the best part. There’s an exponentially more effective way to change your behavior. If you apply the Habit Cycle, or as I like to call it “Habits 2.0,” you’ll find it much easier to make adjustments in your daily life.

Instead of using motivation to prompt behavior, you can use outside forces to cue you. Instead of trying to motivate yourself to do something, you can use a trigger to do it automatically. That way, the action doesn’t depend on how you’re feeling or your current level of  discipline. The habit becomes a simple reaction to stimuli. It becomes your new default.

Let’s get ready to practice.

First, pick one thing to focus on. We probably have several of areas where we want to improve. You can get to them all – one at a time. For now, pick the one that seems the most important (or that seems the easiest).

Next, think tiny. We want to narrow it down to a tiny action that seems so trivial, that it’s almost too easy. For example, when I started my flossing habit years ago, I started with flossing just one tooth. (Yes, one tooth! Wired even wrote a story about it.) This is a big deal because it reduces the resistance significantly. You don’t have to dig deep down to find the strength or willpower. There’s no excuse why we can’t do it.

Do you have your daily goal in mind? (If you’re not sure, let’s choose walking every day for 10 minutes as an example.)

Now, for the habit changing formula. The key is to focus first on building momentum. It much easier to grow the habit once we have it rolling.

Step 1: Find your trigger.

The technique here is to use something you already to naturally as a prompt to start your new behavior. For our walking example, how about picking the trigger of getting home from work. We do that everyday without any motivation needed. To reinforce the trigger, you can even place your walking shoes right where you’ll see them when you set your keys down. Seeing the shoes is your trigger. It’s the right time, the right place. You’re ready to go.

Step 2: Practice the routine.

Consistency and repetition are key. As you get home and walk each day, it will become easier and easier.  Even if you’re in a hurry and take a very short walk, you’ll reinforce the habit. Every day, practice the routine. Get home, see the shoes, go for a walk – even if it’s around your house because the weather is terrible.

Step 3: Enjoy the reward.

Reconnect with why you wanted to do the habit. Notice your body enjoying the fresh air and the time to decompress from a busy day. Savor the pride that grows with each successful day. Mark an X on the calendar (or check-in on coach.me) to see your streak growing.

Step 4: Keep moving forward.

As you daily walk feels more natural, think about how we can continue making positive changes. Perhaps you want to walk longer distances, or perhaps you want to return home and cook a healthy dinner. Most habits take at least a week to set in, so plan to make changes at that pace.

Think of it like a snowball. Once we get our good habits rolling, they’ll automatically grow from there and carry us wherever we want to go. We just pack in a little snow every day, and with each rotation we get stronger and more powerful.

The post Forget Motivation: Change Your Habits with Momentum appeared first on Kendra Kinnison.

On key milestones in life, we often find ourselves asking the big questions: “Do I actually make a difference? Where are my relationships going? What do I want to accomplish? Am I leaving a legacy that matters?”

What separates good leaders from the rest of the pack is that leaders don’t wait for milestones. Leaders ask themselves these questions daily. Leaders take time to consistently evaluate their progress and make adjustments as they go.

One key to great leadership is establishing a feedback system. Determine your goals for each day, evaluate your performance, and then reflect on the overall progress from week to week. Having goals won’t yield results if you’re not frequently analyzing your progress toward them. Practicing self-reflection often helps you understand what’s working and what’s not.

Ask Active Questions

There’s a particular type reflection that’s most effective: Asking Active Questions. President John F. Kennedy best teaches us the difference, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” While passive questions focus on what external factors are influencing us, active questions direct attention to what we can impact.

For example, let’s say your goal is to spend more time with your friends and family. You often find yourself drowning in work and miss out on being there for your loved ones. Instead of asking “Why does my boss give me so much work to do?” or “Why does traffic have to make me so angry?” ask, “What can I do to work more efficiently?” or “What type of music or podcast can I listen to during my commute that would cheer me up before I get home?”

Asking active questions will help you take responsibility for your actions. Shifting your perspective to focus on your own abilities will empower you to take control of your life.

Establish Intervals

It’s particularly helpful to pause and reflect at pre-determined intervals. This purposeful repetition develops mindfulness, proactive focus, and continued growth.

Integrating the habit into your existing routines will make it easier to be consistent. You can find triggers at the beginning of the day, the end, weekly, monthly and annually. Sometimes, the best triggers stem from our weaknesses.

Beginning of Day

This timing of questions is particularly important for establishing priorities for the day. Taking the time to think ahead pays dividends in increased focus all through the day. And in making sure we’re purposeful, not just “busy.”

• What matters most today?
• What do I want to accomplish today?
• What could interrupt me today? How do I prevent that?
• What would I like to learn today?
• What am I thankful for today?

Possible Triggers:

• Brushing your teeth
• Eating breakfast
• Driving to work
• Getting to your desk

End of Day

In Triggers, Marshall Goldsmith calls reflection one of his four “magic moves.” He recommends six specific questions to ask at the end of the day:

• Did I do my best to set clear goals today?
• Did I do my best to make progress towards my goals today?
• Did I do my best to find meaning today?
• Did I do my best to be happy today?
• Did I do my best to build positive relationships today?
• Did I do my best to be fully engaged today?

Golfer Ben Crane recommends these questions at the end of each performance.

• What did I do well today?
• What did I learn today?
• What am I going to adjust based on what I learned today?

Possible Triggers:

• Winding down at the office
• Walking to the car
• Eating dinner
• Brushing your teeth
• Getting in bed

Weekly

For his weekly review, Sebastian Marshall focuses on three key questions:

• What went right?
• What would I do differently?
• What environmental factors influenced me?

In Weekly Essentials, I shared the BAR method that I use:

• Big picture – What main adjustments are needed? Are goals and projects on track?
• Actions – What actions are needed? Who can do them?
• Relationships – Am I making the time for the key people in my life? Is each of my teams set up for success?

Possible Triggers:

• Finishing work on Friday
• First thing Saturday morning
• Sunday after Dinner

Monthly

If you struggle with finding time for weekly reviews, perhaps dedicating a day each month is an alternative that could work. It’s a particularly helpful interval for assessing trends. (Or, I like doing this even when I am consistent with my weekly reviews. Back when I was a practicing CPA, I carved out time for this in the week after finishing our monthly financials.)

• Which goals did I accomplish?
• Which goals did I not accomplish?
• Were there certain patterns from week to week?
• How far have I progressed toward my annual goals?
• How should I adjust for the next month?

Possible Triggers

• Planning the first or last day of the month
• Paying monthly bills
• After a recurring monthly meeting or project
• Stocking up on supplies at the store

Annually

Chris Guillebeau famously creates a comprehensive checklist to conduct an annual review.

• What went well this year?
• What did not go well this year?
• Did I achieve the goals I set last year or not?
• What are my new goals for health, travel, finances, relationships, etc?
• What are the required actions I need to take to accomplish each of those goals?”
• What is the theme for this year?

Possible Triggers

• Your Birthday
• New Years
• An Anniversary

Is it worth the time?

Looking through the list, that’s a lot of questions. It’s fair to question whether this extra effort matters.

The studies prove it does. In Return on Character, Fred Kiel illustrates that character-based leadership achieves nearly 5 times the return on assets. His “virtuoso CEO’s” invested significant time in their keystone habits.

And I don’t think you’ll need a study to be convinced. Try out the morning questions for a week, or pick just one to get started. Write it on your bathroom mirror, in your car, or on your desk, and think through your priorities for each day. Pick three and write them down. I’m betting you’ll feel a difference almost immediately.

——

photo credit: flickr/phild41

The post How to Harness the Power of Reflection: Ask More Questions appeared first on Kendra Kinnison.

Let that strategy sink in for a moment.

Reading books in advance doesn’t take much time or effort. However, it does make a significant impact. Preparation is powerful.

The secret to reaching next level leadership is to start on your own terms. Don’t let someone else’s timeline dictate your journey. If you a get a head start, you’re already ahead of the pack.

Make Pre-Work a Habit

Think about what it takes to make a gourmet dinner. Before going to the kitchen, the chef decides what dish to prepare (the goal). Then the chef has to create a list of ingredients, buy them, and prepare the meal (the path).

Even though those steps may seem trivial, they are essential to the success of the meal. What if the chef just walked into the kitchen and just decided to make a dish without checking if the ingredients were stocked? Gourmet might become gour-mess.

Now think about a runner. Before a race, the runner puts on her running shoes, stretches, and makes sure she has the proper nourishment in hand. That’s all before she even sets foot on the track. The goal is to win the race, but the path is taking care of the body so it can keep running.

What if the runner didn’t stretch? Or forgot to tie a shoelace? She may never see the finish line.

Starting to see a pattern?

Think Small and Think Ahead

Pre-work is the conscious effort to do a little planning before you dive in. The secret to being a great leader is to think small and think ahead.

In ‘The First 90 Days,’ Michael Watkins says that your transition to a new role “begins the moment you know you are being considered for a new job.” This mindset works for any change or growth area.

• Before you even begin your journey, take a few moments to consider what the first steps will be. “What tools and support system will I need on Day 1? What do I want to accomplish the first week?”
• Consider what obstacles you may encounter. “Who might discourage me? What if I slip up?”

Let’s say that you decide your goal is lose weight.

• Get specific with your goal. How much weight? By what date?
• What obstacles might you encounter? “There’s a big pot-luck dinner this week. How will I navigate it?”
• How do you measure achievement? “What if I eat well, but don’t lose weight very fast? How will I stay focused?”

If you plan your goal in smaller steps, you’ll start creating the proper mindset in advance. By the time you actually start on your path, you’ll already be comfortable with the transition. There won’t be any scrambling to put the pieces together. You’ve already laid out your road map, complete with twists, turns, road blocks, and detours.

Get Started Now

January is the time when most people start on their annual journeys. They make New Year’s Resolutions and jump right in without thinking about the path ahead. The really dedicated ones usually give up by March. (If you’re like me, you’re raising your hand right about now.)

You, however, now know the secret to great leadership; preparation is powerful. You can get a head start and create a smooth path for the future. If you start thinking now about your goals, you’ll already have momentum when January comes around.

Don’t wait. Remember, leaders make their own timeline.

The post The Leader’s Secret: The Start Before the Start appeared first on Kendra Kinnison.

For the first time ever, I think I’m ready to admit that my “phone” is my main support. And with the help of carefully selected apps and screens, I think it does the job well. Here are the nine apps that help me live and lead at my best. I think you’ll enjoy them too.

What’s your faves?

These tools have been helpful in keeping me on track, and I thought you would enjoy them too. I’d also love to hear about your favorite apps and systems. Please share!

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The post Apps to Help You Live and Lead at Your Best appeared first on Kendra Kinnison.

So, if you’re feeling stuck on the hamster wheel, unable to find time to escape the grind cycle, here’s a roadmap you can follow. I know it works. I use it often, and I’ve coached dozens of leaders through it too.

Step One: Track your time for a week.

I’ll pause for the long sigh or eye roll. That’s ok. Just don’t stop reading. Curse if you need to. I get it. If there’s one recommendation that’s universally hated, it’s this one. Most people abhor the idea of tracking their time. You don’t have to like it, but you gotta do it. And you can survive anything for a week, right?

Keep it simple. Print off this pdf and just fill in the half-hour increments as you go through the week. If you miss a few blocks, that’s ok. Just pick back up where you left off.

And if you have a team, ask them to do the same exercise. They may roll their eyes too, but when you explain that you’re doing the same thing, they’ll respect it. You might even share that this is part of a larger effort to get a handle on the overwhelming workload. (Who doesn’t want to enjoy the long Thanksgiving weekend without thinking about how behind we’re getting with work?)

You can start with any day of the week. If you’re reading this on a Tuesday, start tomorrow, and fill in the first few days of next week. The goal of this step is to get a snapshot of a week’s worth of work and commitments. If you feel like your weeks are very different, then track a few more to have a larger sample.

Ready? Here’s that pdf again.

Step Two: Identify all of your key projects.

Once you’ve finished the first step, this is usually pretty easy. You just look back through your timesheet and make note of everything you’ve worked on. Or that you have your team working on.

Now, pause for a few moments and think about the things you want to be working on, but don’t have time for. Look back at your job description, last evaluation, or New Years resolutions if you need some prompts.

Once you have your project list, divide a landscape piece of paper into three sections:
– Project description
– Status
– Next action needed

Fill in at least the first two columns. Or fill in the third column with who you need to ask to find out about the status.

Step Three: Think about each of your team members and their areas of responsibility.

Looking through their timesheets, think about who should “own” each project. By ownership, this doesn’t mean completing each step of the project, this means being responsible for the project management – awareness of project deadlines and next steps, and communicating when those are critical.

I find that most people can manage three simultaneous projects well. Five would be an outer limit. With this in mind, go through your project list and assign each of them to a team member (or yourself) with this limit in mind.

If you find that there’s too many projects, it’s likely time to clarify priorities. This is often another sticking point. At first glance, it doesn’t feel like anything can wait, but let’s explore that a bit. Do you want to do 10 things poorly or 3 things well? If you focus on 3 things each quarter, you’ll accomplish 12 things each year. And thinking back to how long these projects have been ongoing, could you have already completed them if you were able to focus?

Step Four: Revisit your schedule to carve out blocks of project time.

Eventually, I recommend creating a schedule template for yourself – and for each of your team members. This article explains step-by-step how to do that.

For now, let’s focus on identifying four, two-hour blocks of time. That’s the equivalent of one focused day a week. Or, four early mornings.

One of those blocks is for thinking and planning, and the other three are for your key projects. Go ahead and put those on your calendar now for next week. Label them with the focus for that block. Treat them like a meeting. The commitment is firm. It’s simply a meeting with yourself. (To get started with your planning block, you could use this agenda for a weekly review.)

Now, work with each of your team members to go through the same exercise to find four, two-hour blocks. One common way to achieve this is to make one day a week “No Meeting Day.” If everyone on the team understands that Tuesdays (or whatever day) are for planning and projects, there’s no pressure and everyone has time to focus. (Since you’re the leader, you can make that happen and make everyone’s life better. Trust me. They’ll cheer!)

At the end of this step, you should have focus time for next week carved out on the calendar, and an understanding with your team on each person’s priorities and the need for uninterrupted time.

Step Five: Protect your focus blocks.

Getting them on the calendar is a good offense. Now it’s time to play a bit of defense.

First, let’s make a list of all the potential interruptions that could invade our focus time. Email, colleagues stopping by our phone, notifications from our phone, etc. The key is to address each one. Close your email. Turn off your cell phone, and direct the office line right to voicemail. And put a sign on the door that you’ll be available again in two hours. (Unless you perform life saving surgery, I’m betting anything can wait two hours.)

Next, let’s try to prevent some of those interruptions proactively. How about a 15-minute Stand Up meeting (or conference call) twice daily where folks can ask questions of each other and coordinate? As the team thinks of questions between Stand Ups, write them down. Then, they’ll be answered in batches twice a day. I’ll bet that two things will happen. One, your team-related email will slow to a trickle. And, two, people will learn to think ahead to get their questions answered in advance.

Why does this matter?

At first glance, this may seem like a lot of work for just 8 hours a week. In fairness, it probably is. But if those eight hours allow you to shift from living reactively to leading proactively, it’s absolutely worth it. Now you can look ahead to take advantage of opportunities or identify threats before they’re knocking at the doorstep.

And I believe that we, as leaders, have a duty to do just that. If we’re not looking out for our team and organizations, who will?

—

photo credit: flickr/Dan Derrett

The post What to Do When You Don’t Have Time to Plan appeared first on Kendra Kinnison.

For many of us, we’re so ready to get to work that we often forget the important step of clarifying our goals. We roll up our sleeves and jump right in. And perhaps that’s okay.

If there’s enough low-hanging fruit, leaders can likely escape this essential for a time. But eventually the symptoms will emerge – conflicting priorities and special projects, discontent or burned out team members, stalled progress.

If our teams reach that stage (or ideally, before), it’s time to regroup. It’s time to rethink our purpose and vision.
– Who do we serve?
– Why does our work matter?
– What values or qualities are essential to our work?
– What would happen if we didn’t show up and deliver?

Without clarity in the answers to those questions, it’s impossible to know what a “good job” is. Customers can’t have clarity in what to expect. And our teams can’t have clarity in how to deliver.

[Side note: I use mission and purpose mostly interchangeably. I think those are a succinct statement to describe the goal of the organization. For me, vision is more comprehensive. It includes elements of story and imagery to create a more detailed visualization of the goal.]

Perspective Helps

Few of us experience work environments free of pressure or stress. Today’s world is intense! One of the best ways to manage stress is to keep perspective as we encounter challenges. Clarity in our purpose and values helps guide our decision-making, particularly when a sacrifice is required.

Pretend we have a hotel with four options for guests to enjoy their meals, and it usually requires 20 team members for a successful shift. But today, there’s a terrible accident and only 15 team members can get to work. How do we navigate that? There’s no easy answer.

Let’s check our mission: to present an excellent performance so that guests create memories to last a lifetime. What’s our key value? Excellence. Okay, so that tells us to reduce the number of outlets open to ensure that each guest receives quality service.

Without the clear mission, it’s tough to know whether to close an option or just limp through the service period with poor service. Now the department leader wrestles with both the original problem and the fear of making the wrong decision. That’s compounded stress.

With clarity, the decision is made, and the team can move forward with serving guests.

If the CEO doesn’t have perspective and clarity, it’s likely none of the team does either. Their vision is inherently limited. No one can see farther than the leader.

At All Levels

There’s also a perception that this is only the work of the CEO or most senior leader. Certainly it is. And it’s equally important at every level.

Who does the accounting department serve? The maintenance department? What does success look like for each of those departments?

Particularly if those teams don’t serve our customers directly, it’s important to understand how their service enables other teams to carry out the mission. There’s two components to that understanding – initial clarity in the department’s purpose, and ensuring ongoing alignment over time.

My favorite resource for the initial exercise is Tom Peters’ ‘Reinventing Work: the Professional Service Firm 50.’ (And it’s finally available in Kindle – Yay!) The subtitle says it all: 50 ways to transform your department into a professional service firm whose trademarks are passion and innovation.

Once the purpose is clear, it’s just as key to keep alignment. The best tool we’ve found for that is Khorus.

By using quarterly goals that cascade throughout the organization, we can quickly see that supporting initiatives are critical. Or, we can see that multiple departments are focused on the same challenge from different perspectives – and that they’ll need to coordinate together.

For a hotel, one of the biggest challenges is keeping rooms at their best. Housekeeping certainly plays a role. As does facilities. And in our case, renovations are approved by each individual owner. Those multiple perspectives are easy to forget, especially when we’re focused. By always keeping goals linked, we have a built-in visual reminder.

(If you want more examples of how we used this, here’s our case study.)

Repeat and Tattoo

Maybe getting a tattoo is a bit extreme, but that’s how close we need to be to our visions. We must also find opportunities to repeat and reinforce the message. And we must recognize all of the noise that can get in the way.

For us, that’s twice daily Stand-Up meetings, weekly Leadership team meetings, and weekly All Hands meetings. To close the All Hands, we read our mission together. At first, it felt a bit corny, but now there’s multiple volunteers to lead each week.

(And as I’m writing this, I’m realizing we can do better on this one. If you have a great example, please share. I’d love new ideas!)

Decision Time

Once we’ve clarified the vision and are committed to reinforcing it with our actions and our words, we enable our team to make a key decision – whether they want to adopt the goal as well..

Certainly this is particularly helpful during the interview process, and it’s also relevant for existing team members. When the vision is this clear, team members understand that they must find a way to link their personal purposes to the company’s, or likely move on.

And that’s a good thing. They’re freed to find somewhere that would be a better fit. The company is freed from dealing with continuous discontent or frustration. If there’s an inherent conflict, it’s best to resolve it as soon as possible.

For example, one of our core values is “Keep getting better.” That usually requires extra training meetings and regular updates to our processes. For a person that isn’t comfortable with frequent change, we’re likely not a good fit. There’s no right or wrong, just conflicting values.

Clarity helps us both move forward.

—

photo credit: flickr/Rodrigo Martins

The post Leadership Essentials: Clarity of Vision appeared first on Kendra Kinnison.

It began with a question. A small boy begging in the streets of India. “What do you want most in the world?”

It all started back in 2003. Back then we were a web design firm. Companies hired us to re-design and simplify their web site.

Business was great and we were busy. But we were disorganized. With so many concurrent projects, things began to slip through the cracks.

Projects dragged on too long. We dropped the ball on key deliverables. We had some major miscommunication (“Wait, who said that? We did? When? Where?”).

Back then, we relied on email for everything. Email’s great for many things. But it’s not great for long-running projects. Things get lost, people get left out of conversations, there’s nowhere to go to see what’s left to do. Know what I mean?

So we started looking for a project management tool. We needed something to help us communicate ideas, organize the work to be done, and present work to stakeholders. Simple as that.

We tried a few tools, but they were complicated and too hard to use. So we slowly slipped back to using our old standby – email. Our problems continued.

Frustrated, we decided to build our own simple project management app. A few months later we had something ready. We started using this tool with our existing clients.

Immediately projects ran better! We regained the sense of order and calmness we’d been craving. And clients noticed – they really appreciated the improved communication and organization.

Then our clients started asking us what software we were using to run these projects. Turns out they wanted to use it for their own in-house projects!

Hey, maybe we’ve got a product here! So we polished it up, priced it fairly, and put it on the market. On February 5th, 2004, Basecamp was born.

We announced it on our blog. Within a month, we had about a hundred paying customers. Hundreds more followed. Within a year, Basecamp was generating more income for us than our web design business.

——

Is Basecamp the only project management tool out there? Not a chance. There are hundreds. But it’s the one with the best story (and perhaps the healthiest profits).

As Nancy Duarte teaches us, “stories are the most powerful delivery tool for information, more powerful and enduring than any other art form.”

When we listen to a story, the chemicals in our body change, and our mind becomes transfixed. Stories link one person’s heart to another. Values, beliefs, and norms become intertwined. When this happens, your idea can more readily manifest as reality in their minds.

It takes discipline to be a great communicator – it’s a skill that will bring a big payoff to you personally and to your organization.

So, when should you use stories in your organization?

Anytime you need to influence someone or illustrate a concept. Here are three examples to get you started.

Recognize a team member.

Every week, we gather the whole team together for about 10 minutes. We celebrate birthdays, review our internal report cards, and share examples of excellence. As we award our Excellence bracelets, we share the story of how they were earned. Not only does it make the recognition more meaningful than a simple “good job,” it gives other team members ideas of how they can choose excellence.

(For another great example, watch this clip from Tony Hsieh of Zappos. Far more powerful than simply saying that they expect great customer service.)

Share the vision and values.

If you’ve flown Southwest Airlines, you’ve experienced this example. Their vision is, “We exist to connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.” But that’s just the beginning.

This Forbes profile explains more: Storytelling is the single most effective way to remind employees of the company’s purpose and to reinforce the purpose in their day-to-day interactions with customers. Every week Gary Kelly gives a “shout out”—public praise—to employees who have gone above and beyond to show great customer service. Each month the Southwest Spirit magazine features the story of an employee who has gone above and beyond. Southwest highlights positive behaviors through a variety of recognition programs and awards.  Finally, internal corporate videos like this one are filled with real examples and stories to help employees visualize what each step of the purpose looks and feels like.

Explain your beliefs and priorities.

Back to Duarte. “If you’re like many professionals, using stories to create emotional appeal feels unnatural because it requires showing at least some degree of vulnerability to people you don’t personally know all that well. Telling a personal story can be especially daunting because great personal stories have a conflict or complication that exposes your humanness or flaws. But these are also the stories that have the most inherent power to change others. People enjoy following a leader who has survived personal challenges and can share her narrative of struggle and victory (or defeat) comfortably.”

I decided to try this at our last company Christmas party. I wanted our teams to understand that our commitment to being an excellent place to work was more than lip service. I was terrified of being so open with my background and struggles, but I felt that they needed to understand why it was something I was passionate about.

I shared my back story, warts and all. I shared what it felt like to get a raise when minimum wage went up from $4.75 to $5.15, and that I never wanted anyone on my team to experience that. I shared the experience of giving birth to my daughter on Medicaid and WIC, of later having thousands of dollars of medical bills when I was ill without coverage, and how I remembered the day that I was able to provide health insurance for myself and my family. I shared that for me, jobs weren’t just a paycheck, they were a ladder to climb out of difficult life situations. And that we were serious about providing those opportunities here.

Ready to get started?

My favorite resource is Nancy Duarte’s book Resonate. It walks us step-by-step through different types of communications, verbal and visual. (Seriously. If you’re a leader, this book should be within arms’ reach.)

One of the templates I reference often is how to “Turn Information into Stories.” The framework is brilliant. Here’s a snapshot of the beginning. You can see how simple it is to use.

Another great reference is Lead With a Story by Paul Smith. In addition to dozens of helpful stories, Smith shares seven elements to make an average story great.

1. Start with the context. (the why)
2. Use metaphors and analogies.
3. Appeal to emotion.
4. Keep it tangible and concrete. (avoid being vague or business-speak)
5. Include a surprise.
6. Be concise and to the point.
7. Create a scene or event for the audience to participate in.

And if you’re ready for some practice, Toastmasters is an excellent place to get some reps in with a supportive audience.

Now, go tell your story. It matters.

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photo credit: flickr/minnellium

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