CraigWortmann.com - Blog

Nuggets

2007-02-20T20:18:24Z

In a very interesting Op-Ed piece in the New York Times this morning, law professor Ann Althouse said of teaching to law students; "law is not abstract unless one makes the mistake of turning it into an abstraction." She went on to say; "Law should connect to the real world." What struck me is that this is too often exactly what we do with our "training" inside corporations. In an attempt to push as much learning and training out to the masses as we can, we make everything an abstraction. We take a set of real life experiences that have occurred where we want people to behave differently, and we convert the situations to bullet points or "nuggets." We then take the nuggets, place them in a pretty wrapper and load them on to our Learning Management Systems where we hope that someone will see them. Too often, this just doesn't happen. We started with the rich stories...the real world. So why make it abstract when you can keep it real? Hold the nuggets, I'll pass.

Visible Applause

2007-02-09T19:07:46Z

One of the best things about using a book to add to the "conversation" about stories is that I get to hear from some very interesting people. Like Tom Ferguson, for instance. Tom reached out to me recently after he read "What's Your Story?" and we ended up having a conversation about how the "Win Book" concept can be taken even farther. He and his company Visible Applause (www.visibleapplause.com) use artists to design awards and gifts that tell a story. Talk about the ultimate Win Book! This is not an advertisement, but I was definitely struck by how Tom is using a person or company's story to tell of success in physical way...that is, in an artifact. I shared with Tom that some of my clients have started creating Win Books for each of their direct reports, as a way to motivate and inspire them. This is just another way to create what Tom calls "visible applause." I love that term..

The Workforce Engagement StoryCast!

2007-01-16T15:21:02Z

Storycast Podcast: #1

2006-10-21T13:50:25Z

Please check out my first enhanced podcast.

Book Launch Party

2006-10-11T12:57:59Z

Thank you to everyone who made it to my Book Launch Party. We have a bunch of great photos up and online for you to look at so please check out the gallery!

Europeans...better behavior??

2006-10-10T17:23:53Z

I’ve been in Europe this week for the Book Expo, and in my meetings I’ve noticed a key difference in how Europeans use, or rather, don’t use their technology. First though, let me say that I don’t see any differences in the technology and devices themselves… Yup, it’s safe to say that the Europeans have the same heads-down addiction to their Blackberries and iPods as we do (I’m including myself here..). But I did notice that in all of my meetings, not one European looked at his or her email, or answered the phone while we were in the middle of talking. Love that! Maybe I just have a lot more experience in the good old USA and thus I notice bad behavior more, but I would say that in every third or fourth meeting in the States, our devices interrupt us and we too often stop the conversation to check. Are we that hungry for attention or am I just that boring?!?

What, no stories?

2006-09-20T22:42:13Z

Here's a crazy thought: What would happen if not one person in an organization told a story for a month? No stories, no anecdotes, no jokes, no nothin'. What would happen?

Well, other than being the driest, most boring place on earth, it would likely be a place where many mistakes get made and where morale is low. It would be impossible for new employees to understand the culture of the company and for the rest of the employees to understand how to get their jobs done. It would be impossible to build a strong team based on shared experiences. Successes and failures would only be shown as numbers on a page. All of the trust, color and humor would drain out of the organization, leaving lists, bullets and bits of information.

Yuck! This is bleak. And it's a good thing that this never happens. We humans would not be able to sustain a "no-story" space for long. It's a reminder that we shouldn't take our stories for granted, as they are the tools that infuse color, light, context and fun into our work and lives!