Jesse James Garrett

It’s end-of-year performance review time in a lot of organizations and for many of the leaders in my coaching practice, storytelling is front and center. Here’s some perspective on the story you tell at end of year from the leaders I work with:

📈 It’s not just a story about how you’ve made your team successful, it’s a story about how you’ve made the entire business successful. Look for shared measures of success where you can credibly claim a contribution—even if you couldn’t have done it without a partner or two. After all, they probably couldn’t have done it without you either.

⏰ It’s not just a story about the past, it’s a story about the future. Yes, it’s important to recap the victories of the last year. But it’s also vital for a leader to frame the new opportunities that this year’s success suggests for the team and for the larger organization. What new sources of value might be possible for this team in the coming year?

🌈 It’s not just a story about delivering against expectations, it’s a story about inspiring new ones. Yes, I’m sure you can manage your team towards exactly the same, consistent level of results next year. But what vision can you put forward about where this team can go—and grow? What’s your point of view on the right way to leverage the momentum you’ve created?

📣 It’s not just a story about your team, it’s a story about yourself as a leader. Yes, ensuring quality results from your team is core to your value as a leader. But it’s only the core: the baseline. Where do you go above helping your team deliver the baseline, and contribute something towards the leadership of the entire collective endeavor?

♟️ If you don’t write the story, you’ll become a character in someone else’s. Asserting a narrative of your own is essential to avoid being cast in a narrative that serves someone else’s aims—even if they are aims you agree with! Leaders are the shapers of organizational narrative, and taking leadership entails demonstrating a proactive approach to the narratives around you.

If you’re a design leader struggling to define your own place, voice, and direction in your organization, now is the ideal time to work with a coach to define your story in the new year. Click right here to book your free 60-minute consultation!