Whether communicating to an internal or external audience, “Lesson Learned” stories are a powerful communication tools.
Bear in mind that certain stories are wonderful teaching tools internally, however they may not be appropriate for external audiences. A “TITANIC” scale disaster story or one that suggests a preventable situation is not a good choice for external audiences. Ideally, you want “SUPERHERO” stories for external audiences that demonstrate heroics in unforeseeable circumstances.
Always test a story by delivering it to someone who can give you honest feedback about it’s effectiveness before adding it to your repertoire. Never deliver a story for the first time to an external audience.
I recommend regularly reflecting on your lessons learned and outlining these stories using the 7 step formula below. Keep them in a file by topic to locate them easily when you want to use one.
I welcome your comments on this post below.
