To use corporate storytelling to bring an organisation’s goal to life is a good practice.However, if the goal is not concrete, it is highly unlikely you will be able to move people in to action. You will leave a group of motivated employees not knowing what to do next.
*In 1960’s when Boeing prepared to launch the design of the 727 passenger plane, its manager set a goal that was deliberately concrete.
- It is expected to accommodate 131 passengers
- It must fly non-stop from Miami to New York
- He’s due to land on runway 4–22 at La Guardia
The runway 4–22 at La Guardia was chosen because it was less than a mile long. It was much too short for the jet aircraft of the time. With a goal this concrete Boeing was able to coordinate engineering and manufacturing expertise and achieve the goal.
It is the concrete nature of the goal that provided clarity for next steps. It would have been much harder if Boeing had set its goal to be ” the best passenger plane in the world.”
A good corporate story is concrete, simply because the goal of the corporate story is to move people in to action. And if people don’t know what action to take, they will not take that action.
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*Source: Chip & Dan Heath; 2007; Made to Stick
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