F2F Class Notes (Li)

Day 1, Session 3: Value and the digital world
Purpose: To practice a communication method which works effectively in an environment where speed and clarity is critical.

Welcome back!
Communicating the link between one thing and another is a skill, of storytelling.
As Finance managers and leaders, we need to make these connections many times a day. How we tell stories will impact what others do with the data insights we want to share.
In this session, we’ll explore how to sharpen our skills in this.
Let’s move back to Mural.
—- 28 Share Recommendations
Remember the ‘CFO love letter’ and the Clear-Balance-Actionable communication model from “The 21st Century CFO model?
Dashboards have shifted how we communicate with our Colleagues.
The impact of clear, crisp communication has not shifted.
Even with modern technologies, we still need to find ways of sharing recommendations that stick.
In history, humans have used storytelling to convey meaning – stories hook into neural pathways that help people retain and connect with information – increasing comprehension and helping you go fast.
This is how storytelling helps us with the “Share Recommendations (S)” of GUIDES. Let’s go right into practice.
—- 29 Story Topic
People often do not think about the point of their communication. Business is complicated, so we find it hard to work out ‘why am I sharing this?’
Think of a challenge you had to communicate to someone else over the past two weeks at work. Share the topic on a sticky note.
Tell the group you will pick one of their topics and use the First Choice approach of asking ‘5 times why’ to explore the story topic.
Pick one story topic and ask the participant who shared it to rephrase their topic so it begins with ‘My story is about…’ then ask why 5 times. You can replace ‘why’, with ‘what’s important about that’ if needed. The purpose of doing ‘5 times why’ is to examine the purpose of the story (i.e., to persuade, to inform, to stimulate action). Once the purpose of the story is clear, it is easier to make it effective.
What happened when I used ‘5 whys’ on the story topic? Look for:
• Made the topic more specific and the point clearer.
• Using ‘5 times why’ forces us to crystallize our message and the reason why we want to convey it.
This is likely a good point for a break!
After the break, check participants energy levels. Consider running a workout.
—- 30 Storytelling practice
We will put you back in pairs. Two tasks:
1 – Spend 2 mins on each of your story topics, dig deeper using 5 times why.
2 – Pick one of your story topics. Take 5 more mins to create a 4-word story by answering the questions listed on screen. You can take notes on page 8 in your Learning Journal. Any questions?
Open breakout rooms for pairs. Total breakout time: 5 mins.
After 4 minutes, post a sticky note on Mural asking participants to move on to creating the 4 word story. Rain confetti to draw attention to the instruction.
Questions can be found both in the Learning Journal on page 7 and the Mural section ‘Storytelling Practice’.
Rain confetti when one minute remains.
Close the breakout rooms.
Let’s all move to Zoom.
Who is willing to share their 4 word story?
Everyone else: Who wants to interpret the 4 word story we just heard?
Back to those who shared their story: How accurate was the interpretation?
You’re going to go back into your pairs.
Take your 4-word story and turn it into a 4-sentence story. To add depth and reduce the assumptions, add information or data. We will also listen to one of our 4-word stories and compare. Be prepared to share. Any questions? You have 5 minutes.
Re-open breakout rooms for pairs. Total breakout time: 5 mins.
Rain confetti when one minute remains.
Close Breakout rooms.
Who is willing to share their 4 sentence story?
Hear 1-2 of the 4 sentence stories.
What difference do you notice? Look for:
Much clearer, fewer assumptions need to be made, crisp message.
In 4 sentences you can communicate a lot of meaning. Telling stories is a powerful skill that can help everyone in Finance maximize value, in a digital world.
What have you learnt about storytelling? Look for:
Be clear on the purpose
Remove what isn’t needed
Add in what builds clarity and credibility (data!)

Let go back to MURAL now.
—- 31 In summary
Storytelling is about creating clarity and understanding. Communication is as much about how messages are received as it is about how they are delivered – so be brain-friendly with your approach and you will go faster with people.
Using 5 whys, 4 words and 4 sentences as a structure is a quick win.
Combine this structure with GUIDES and you will maximize value!
—- 32 Our Learning Journey
Next time, we will look at the mindset and behaviors that will help us Maximize Value, how to cultivate a culture, manage tensions around change, and prepare our teams for the skills needed in the future.
—- 33 Next time
Today we have built knowledge, which is powerful, but action is valuable.
To maximize value before the next session, we would like you to:
Apply GUIDES to a scenario you face, be back with a 4 sentence story on how it went.
Share GUIDES principles with someone in your team and ask how to apply them
Use the storytelling structure one time (or more!)
Share the story of our module so far with your team using the storytelling structure
There are two GUIDES posters which you can download and share in your teams.
Zoom in and over hover over the poster to see the “open” button.
The first poster is editable in A4 and the second one for print in A3.

—- 33 ALL SESSIONS
Optionally, you can end the session with an overview all of today’s sessions.
Copy maximizer points from this Mural board over into the board for Day 3.

Pronunciation

and – an -d (soft d)

clarity – clair-re-tee

our – ow-wer

sticky – stik-key

persuade – per-sue-aye- d

specific – spuh-see-fik

confetti – con-fair-tee

interpretation – in-tuh-pre-tay-shun

credibility – crair-d-b-lee-tee

behaviours – be-hay

hover – haw-ver