Say It Quick: Helping People Fit In

By Brian Remer

99-Word Stories are powerful essays written briefly and to the point. Each contains a meaningful message with enough wiggle room for your own interpretation. Use them for personal enrichment or to educate and inspire others in your organization and see how you can say less to achieve a lot more.

To give you an example, here is a story written in exactly 99 words – including the title. After you read it, consider the analysis that follows and decide how you might apply what you learn in your personal or professional life.

Built to Last

The Incan ruins of Machu Pichu are famous for their massive stone walls fitted together without mortar. Even after hundreds of years, the blocks are so tight there is not the slightest gap between them. What’s more, each block has a unique, irregular shape. Some are larger than an SUV!

Why build with such irregular stones when clearly any shape could have been fashioned? Because these walls have withstood earthquakes when walls of standardized block have crumbled.

Helping people fit into the place that’s best for them builds a stronger organization than forcing people to conform.

You can build upon the theme of this 99-word story by using some of the following questions for your own reflection or to spark a discussion within your team or organization:

• What are some instances when conformity and consistency are important?
• What are some ways in which conformity actually can weaken an organization?
• What opportunities do you have in your role to enable people to make their best contribution?
• Incan walls have an internal locking system that keeps the stone blocks from shifting. What internal structure is in place to keep your organization stable while allowing for individuality?

One Interpretation

There are many ways to understand this story as the discussion questions suggest. If you or your group would like to compare or contrast your interpretation with an outside viewpoint, consider this analysis:

Managers have the job of making sure an organization runs as efficiently and predictably as possible. Leaders, however, have the responsibility to set a course and inspire people to contribute their best toward a shared goal. Both roles are necessary in an organization and both can be focused and highly directed. But neither managers nor leaders need to work in ways that stifle creativity. When people are forced to squeeze themselves into a way of doing things that they didn’t choose, some of their vitality trickles out, too.

Coaches and mentors are in a position to recognize and encourage the unique talents and gifts that “shape” the contribution each member of an organization can make. Managers are in a position to remove the barriers that might prevent someone from making their best contribution. They help make the right “fit” between talent and task. Leaders provide the “internal reinforcement” necessary to withstand the violent turbulence in markets, the economy, or funding sources that is bound to occur. By championing the vision of the organization, leaders constantly remind everyone of why their collective work matters and how it will change the big picture over the long term.

The challenge for leaders, managers, mentors, and coaches is to create an environment where singular talents can be focused toward a common purpose. When that happens, people and the organizations they work in thrive. Face it, without the specialized input of each person, your whole enterprise might be sitting on a fault line waiting for disaster. Capitalize on those talents, and you’ll be ready to withstand the inevitable tectonic shifts and shakes.

For more lessons from 99-Word Stories, read The Firefly News Flashby The Firefly Group's Brian Remer at www.thefirefly.org.