Show, Not Tell
June 16, 2023

"The world is changed by your example, and not your opinion."

When it comes to mastering compelling communications, this quote by Pablo Coelho resonates completely. There is a power in doing, in showing up and being, and in displaying your true intent, as opposed to just talking about it. 


As a business leader, I believe that it’s our duty to create a collective ambition. To explain, enthuse and empower. And to create a oneness amongst our workforce, by providing them with a clear and compelling understanding of where they are, and where they’re going. And yet communication battles are rife within the corporate world, with messages between business and staff, business and business, and business and consumers often distorted. But, you can deliver deliberate and powerful communications to those most important to your company or organisation, seizing their heart and mind, and creating a response that's a win:win for all involved.


Many business people-focused tasks are ultimately dominated by language, not least attracting and retaining staff, managing redundancies or letting people go, and motivating or rewarding positive behaviours. And yet we train our teams on process but not on language. Many have spent longer learning how to design a Powerpoint presentation than they have in 'reading' the room and learning to adapt their communication accordingly.


It’s vital to empower your existing employees, to allow them to understand their loyalty is respected, and to understand that the team is united and galvanized. Share information about business decisions and the rationale behind these, as well as the overarching vision, and allow a positive culture to grow with a loyal and empowered team. 


My key piece of advice though is to be vulnerable. Without, you will never be able to allow genuine connections to form. Show, don’t tell, your employees that you have a congruence, a synergy, aligned ethics, and you’re all walking the same path. It’s a mutual win for the business and the employee, but will truly display your authenticity and integrity. 


Listen to the full conversation on the Progressing Lives Everywhere podcast, where Felicity discusses this in-depth with Natasha Crump: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/progressing-lives-through-communicating-your-employer/. 


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Mastering the Art of Corporate Storytelling

By Felicity Wingrove • August 13, 2024
Storytelling is certainly a powerful art - both in the creation of intentional stories released into the world to entertain, enthuse, or inspire, and in the internal dialogue which has evolved to keep each of us safe. But it also holds significant weight as an effective corporate communication tool… We recently shared our insights about the importance of determining your truth in amongst the truth when it comes to the tales we tell ourselves as a response to the world around us. But once this has been mastered, storytelling can help you to further connect and engage – whether at Board level or communicating with your entire workforce.

A Tale as Old as Time: Storytelling Myths We Tell Ourselves

By Felicity Wingrove • July 10, 2024
From early childhood we’re taught the ancient art of storytelling. We start with ‘once upon a time’ and end with ‘happily ever after’, and we carry on telling ourselves stories as we grow and step into the world around us. But they don’t always serve us well. And that’s in large part because we’re each so unique and we view the world through our own personal stained-glass window sunglasses. Each pane of glass has been shaped and coloured by our own lived experiences, the culture in which we were raised, and the many ‘truths’ we’ve been taught along the way. And these impact how we interpret, respond and react to the stories we’re told, and that we tell ourselves. We read into a person’s intent, decipher what they ‘really’ mean, or work to sense what’s coming next. It’s all perfectly natural and it’s ultimately how our brain has evolved to keep us safe, but it’s rarely the truth and very much more often our truth. Take a lunch with friends as an example. Imagine walking into the restaurant and seeing them all together over the other side of the room, laughing and having a great time. You walk towards them and as soon as they see you, they fall quiet and look a bit awkward. You could make that behaviour mean that they were talking about you, or that they were planning a surprise birthday party for you. Neither may be the whole truth but just think about how you’d act if you believed either of those stories, how your friends would respond, and how the end of that lunch might look and feel… So few of us realise that our inner narrative doesn’t come from a neutral place, instead, just like our stained-glass sunglasses, it’s moulded by our experiences, self-image, and personal filters. And this is ever-applicable in the corporate world too. Two individuals receiving the exact same email, can have wildly different interpretations, and that comes down to their filters and how they read or process it. When we assume the intent behind a message based on our inner storytelling narrative, it absolutely impacts our response to that message. Our reaction may be defensive, potentially leading to a negative exchange that may have been completely unnecessary in reality. So always pause. And bring conscious awareness to anything that a communication (regardless of its form) brings up for you, and then ask yourself if the messaging you took from it was the truth, or was it your truth?

Download our guide to learn the five secrets to compelling communications.

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