Bookclub 190223 - Tales for Change by Margaret Parkin Chapter 3-5

1. TALES FOR
CHANGE
Ch 3 – Leader and Teams
Ch 4 – Dealing with Stress
Ch 5 – Emotional Intelligence
By MARGARET PARKIN
BOOKCLUB
190223

2. CHAPTER 3
LEADER AND
TEAM
Leader protect the identity of the organization, ensure cultural value
preserved and passed down subsequent generation

3. All I Really Need to Know
I Learned in Kindergarten
Share, playing fair, don't hit people,
put things back where you found
them, clean your own mess, don’t
take things that don’t belong to
you, apologize when you hurt
someone.
When you go into the world, be
aware of traffic, hold hands, and stay
united. Be aware of miracles.
The Greatest Wisdom is in Simplicity

4. It’s safer to do nothing, rather
than make a mistake
Staff can learn as much about
leadership through watching
others’ behavior.
Leadership
Games

5. United we stand Divided we fall
The Father and His Sons

6. Gregory’s Story
There’s a leader in all of us

7. Some are black, some are white,
some are brown and some are
pink, even though they all live
side by side in harmony.
Harmony
We can be an individual and
still part of a bigger whole.

8. Some are black, some are white, some are brown and
some are pink, even though they all live side by side in
harmony. Some are really blunt and one or two are a
little on the sharp side, but they all know the role they
must fulfill.
Some are beautiful, and some have strange names, but
each one is truly unique.
Alone, they can be very boring and unimportant, but
together they can make great works.
There is much we can learn from crayons in the box.
Some are black, some are white, some are brown and
some are pink, even though they all live side by side in
harmony. Some are really blunt and one or two are a
little on the sharp side, but they all know the role they
must fulfill.
Some are beautiful, and some have strange names, but
each one is truly unique.
Alone, they can be very boring and unimportant, but
together they can make great works.
There is much we can learn from crayons in the box.
The Bremen
Town Musicians
All people have some worth,
If they can find their place.

10. Heaven or Hell?
This tale is about Jonny the CEO who passed and
went to heaven. St Peter gave him a choice to spend
one day in Hell and Heaven to decide which place
he’d like to stay forever….
Hell was beautiful, filled with all things good. Joy,
friendship.
Heaven too was lovely, fluffy clouds and flying around.
But the experience he had while down in Hell wasn’t
nearly as exciting.
Moral:
Beware of the image you create in your organization.
Take away:
Too much hype can hurt a company when people
realize that their expectations haven't been met.
Considerations:
In what way do you or your
organization create an image?
Is this image realistic?
What kind of consequence of painting
too rosy a picture?
Can you show realistic and optimistic
at the same time?
How are you / organization perceived
by others?
How can you find out?

12. Flying the Flag
A small manufacturing company was awarded the
prestigious 'Investors in People' award in recognition of
the development of innovative & sustainable employees.
Proudly they displayed a placard on their wall, order new
letterheads - and, most importantly raised the IIP flag from
a new flagpole, which was placed in a parking lot with the
Union Jack and the flag of the company's own logo.
Days later due to high winds the precious flag was torn
and flew away, lost.
Peoples reaction:
‘I knew we were going downhill... now look, we’ve lost our
IIP award, and the directors haven’t got the courage to tell
us.’
Moral:
Beware the ripple power of stories!
Take Away:
Symbols are important. So long as they are real.
Considerations:
What stories are being told in
your organization? Are they
symbolic in some way?
Are they positive or negative?
Where are they being told -
And by whom?
How might this resource be used more
effectively?
How can you become a better
organizational storyteller?

14. Creative Learning
Socrates, described himself as ‘a midwife to learning’.
A midwife assists someone giving birth. But its up to
you to deliver the baby… not me.
This tale is of David, a newly promoted Client Services
Manager was citing all the heinous crimes that had
been perpetrated against him during his time with the
company (none of which was his fault, obviously, but
all down to the mysterious and unnamed ‘they’ and
criticizing the total lack of support and coaching that
he had received.
Meanwhile, all the info and more was on the table.
Though all he was concerned with was looking up the
football results.
Moral:
Learning is all around you – if you’re prepared to look
for it! But nobody is going to do it for you.
Considerations:
What does the story teach you about
learning?
Who, in your organization, is or could
be a ‘midwife to learning’, particularly
during periods of change?
What learning opportunities are people
missing in your organization?
How could you encourage more
awareness of learning?
What was your last experiential
learning situation. Where were
you? What did you learn ? How
did you learn it?

16. Creative Learning
This is a tale of elves who work for a wizard, a wizard who
is kind and does many things to help his elves.
But when he left, they fell to pieces… Unsure how to
survive on their own they panicked. But were soon to
discover they could manage on their own. So much so
they chanted how they don’t need no wizard no more!
Till of course one day a huge giant appeared. Terrified
they screamed for the wizard to save them.
The wizard had already returned earlier… after a break
from his elves and was working on new spells. Which so
happened to be an giant shrinking spell.
Moral:
Beware of ‘killing your team with kindness’.
Take away:
Don’t spoon feed your employees.
Considerations:
What was the inscription that the elves
wrote as a reminder of their lesson?
Who is the wizard in your
organization?
Who might be the group of dependent
elves?
How might the elves be encouraged to
be more self-sufficient?
What might be the benefits of a change
in leadership style?

17. Chapter 4
Dealing with Stress
If someone has a calm state of mind,
that person's attitude and outlook will be calm.

18. The stories in this section help with these particular
aspects of stress:
• Prioritizing what is important in life.
• Not allowing the problems of the past to carry on into the
future.
• Managing the stress of communication.
• Knowing when it is right to persist – and when to give up.
• Managing positively people and things from the past.
• Being satisfied with what we have, not worried about what
we don’t have.

19. • How too little stress can be as bad as too much.
• How sometimes ‘going with the flow’ can be better than trying
to fight against a certain situation.
• Stress and worry are relative – and happiness is a state of
mind that comes from within, not from external stimuli.
The stories in this section help with these particular
aspects of stress:

20. 1. Prioritizing what is important in life.

21. Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand.
Filling The Jar

22. 2. Not allowing the problems of the
past to carry on into the future.

23. The more heavy baggage you are carrying with you, the harder the journey.
Carrying the Load

24. 3. Managing the stress of communication.
Keep communication simple – and stress free!

25. 4. Knowing when it is right to persist –
and when to give up.

26. The Two Frogs and the Bucket of Cream
If you want to effect change – you have to keep thrashing!

27. 5. Managing positively people and things
from the past.
We can turn past misfortunes to our advantage.

28. 6. Being satisfied with what we have,
not worried about what we don’t have.

29. Be content with your lot – or you might end up back where you started!
The Fisherman and His Wife

30. 7. How too little stress can be as bad as
too much.

31. We can become stronger in the face of adversity.

32. Much of our stress comes from dissatisfaction with our lives as
they currently are, and a constant striving for change and
improvement.

33. Practise contentment with what you have –
don’t worry about what you don’t have.
The King and the Jewel

34. 8. How sometimes ‘going with the flow’ can be
better than trying to fight against a certain
situation.

35. ‘Going with the flow’ is sometimes the wisest course of action.
The Oak Tree and the Reeds

36. Stress and worry are relative – and happiness is a
state of mind that comes from within, not from
external stimuli.
One of the suggested strategies of change management is to
enhance the perceived pain that people are currently suffering in
their present state, in order to increase their motivation for change
to a better state.

37. Happiness is a state of mind.

38. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Chapter 5

39. How stories can help develop
emotional intelligence.

40. What is Emotional Intelligence?
INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
VS
Awareness of our own feelings and their effect
on our own behavior
Aware of the feelings of others
and how we relate to them constructively

41. What is Emotional Intelligence?

42. Storytelling and Emotional Intelligence
The original storytellers had emotional competence in abundance!
+ AWARE of their intention and what outcome they want to achieve.
+ Ensuring the chosen story appropriate and meaningful.
+ They use language skillfully to create colorful imagery that is both thought-
provoking and memorable.
+ They match voice tonalities as closely as they can to the audience and
know instinctively when to alter their voice or body movements, to
bring about the desired reaction.

43. Storytelling and Emotional Intelligence
“By telling and listening to stories, we enrich ourselves
and other people“.
understanding
other’s perspective
evoking
feelings
valuable
insights
RESONATE STORIES

44. The Search for Truth
“Truth is whatever each person thinks it is—beautiful or ugly.”

45. Praise and Complaint
“How much time do we spend thinking of ourselves as opposed to
the time we spend thinking of others?”

46. The Little
Monster that Grew
and Grew
“Don’t let your toothless
little monsters wind
you up!”

47. The Mantra
“Our personal development and learning only come from putting
theory into practice.”

48. The Fox and The Stork
“Our bad deed has a nasty habit of coming back to haunt you!”

49. Divided Communication
“Our ‘emotional competencies’ can help us in reading a situation
and dealing with it creatively.”

50. Nasrudin and The Falcon
“Are we guilty of making others fit into our ‘map of the world’?”

51. First Impressions
“First impressions can be misleading!”

52. The Old Man and His Grandson
“Do as you would be done by.”

53. “Never underestimate the power of storytelling.”
The Power of Storytelling

54. THANK YOU

55. lia s. Associates

56. lia s. Associates