Th team at Lighthouse is always looking for new facilitation tools and techniques. This one helps us help our clients talk about their successes!
When given the opportunity to demonstrate the value of their work, team, or organization, many people try to capture for the grandest, most important, or most nuanced impact possible. The issue is that telling that a story of that magnitude is a daunting task. Without the right tools, the pressure and complexity often results stories are wordy, inexact, and unclear. That is if the success is ever communicated at all.
If you find yourself in such a situation — reaching for the most impressive story you can tell and getting nowhere fast — we recommend taking a step back to consider the power of simple discreet successes. Sometimes the best story isn’t the biggest, it is the most easily understood.
NOAA Sea Grant has developed a “value chain” model that is a useful tool for thinking about and communicating those discreet successes (see below). It can be used to ground your thinking when the prospect of communicating your value gets overwhelming. By filling in each of the five bubbles you either create a coherent narrative or identify gaps in your perceived success that can be filled.
