Since we are in the Raya month as I write this, I am reminded of a story from a two-day training of The Business Storyteller™.
Everyone was tasked to find stories in their days, weeks, months, years. And this group, a fund investment company, just could not find stories. They declared everything was BAU – Business As Usual!
I said, “Alright, since we just celebrated Raya last week, what are some stories from your celebrations?”
The response was “It was BAU!”
I exclaimed “How can Raya be BAU?“
I was incredulous! “Wasn’t there anything different this year from last year?”
BOOM! That question triggered an instantaneous response. “Ya! This year we were better prepared!” they chorused.
“What do you mean?”, asked this unsuspecting trainer.
“Last year Raya was declared one day earlier and we were caught off-guard. It was Raya terkejut (Surprise Raya)”, said Azmi.
“Tell me more, Azmi.”
“You see, my family always prepares rendang to bring back to my in-laws in Jelebu. But because of the sudden announcement, we did not have enough santan. My local supplier could only spare me 1 kilo, and I needed at least 3 kilos! Everybody was ‘merebut’ – rushing and grabbing, the Malaysian way. Whatever they could get their hands on – fresh santan, boxed santan, powdered santan – was flying off the shelves faster than you can say “RENDANG”.
I was desperate and called my wife’s cousin, who has a santan factory in Nilai. He could spare me 2 kilos! I sped off like a bullet train from Shah Alam to Nilai. We cooked the rendang and Raya was as it should be with our signature dish – but with a little more adrenaline pumped into it.” The beaming Azmi finished to cheers, laughter, and applause from his colleagues.
Now that’s a story! “And how could you use this personal story in a business setting?” the unrelenting trainer asked.
This time, she looked around at everyone, inviting them to share what this story showed them. Resilience, never giving up, networking, and thinking out-of-the-box were just some of the words and phrases mentioned, and if we keyed them all into a Mentimeter Word Cloud, they would probably form a very revealing jigsaw of lessons drawn from this story. A story that would resonate with the right audience, bypassing resistance when you have a specific message you want to convey. A story that would shape meaning in a business setting and create ownership instead.
My dream is that Business Storytelling will one day become BAU.
Regina Morris
Senior Business Presentations Specialist