Before and After
Before and After
We love to hear about people who once struggled and now have pushed through and finally succeeded. We love to watch HGTV to see the Before and the After of a room re imagined. We loved it when Oprah did a makeover on someone. We love the Before the Diet photos and the one taken 60 pounds later. We love to watch The Biggest Loser so we can see the makeover in progress. And the ads showing what that wrinkle cream can do in just two weeks shows the before-and-after of losing 20 years.
Tell your stories in the workplace and the marketplace. Your team, your clients, your customers love to hear the before and after of the things you do. Remember that the BEFORE takes place before you got involved. And the AFTER is a result of YOU. So when you’re giving examples of the successes, the ca se studies of the before and after, you’re telling your story in a way that compels your team or your customers to listen.
I had a client who always wanted to please his team. His team knew that about him. They knew that if he gave them a satisfactory performance appraisal, they could simply say that they disagreed. He would go back to the drawing board and revisit the ranking. In order to get them to feel pleased with their report, he increased the ranking just a bit. And he wondered why they never improved. After working with him and his team, we created a ranking that was very specific. When his teammates complained he said the appraisal was accurate and he was standing by it as his perception of their work. And if they were dissatisfied with the ranking, they could focus on the areas they felt has a low rank and work on that to grow and improve. In just one year, nearly the entire team has worked hard to focus on the things that had a low rank and he n ow has a dream team.
That’s my sample story – my case study. It’s much more interesting than me telling you the definition of an Executive Coach.
Tell your story through case studies – the before you and the after you. Your team and your customers will listen.