Passion, Alignment, and The Little Engine that Could
How Stories Enable Teams to Accomplish the Impossible
Everyone loves a good story.
Stories captivate through the use of wit, drama, and conflict resolution. They convey powerful lessons, build empathy, and simplify even the grandest abstractions through relatable themes. Entertaining, memorable, relatable — stories are incredible tools not only for their ability to communicate ideas but also their innate ability to provide something even more impactful: alignment.
When tackling a problem, there are numerous ways to align your team on a given goal. You can create a series of hills, lists of outcomes, form themes and epics, or just give a rallying war cry and hope for the best (I recommend “charge” but go with your gut). Some work well, others work well for some. Regardless of the development philosophy/ies you employ there is one constant: without proper alignment, your team will have no direction and, without direction, no passion.
That’s where stories come into play…
What’s so special about stories?
Put aside just about everything you know about “stories.” Forget, for a moment, the agile concepts of user stories, themes, and epics. Pack away the New York Times Bestsellers List understanding of what defines a great story. Even do away with the structured concept of stories having a beginning, middle, and end.
For the purposes of this article, a “story” is so much more organic, innocent, and free from any entrenched complexity. A story is simply the guiding narrative we choose to tell ourselves and, most importantly, choose to believe. Beyond mere goal setting and goal achievement, stories reveal the greatness that can be accomplished for the many by the dedication and compassion of the few.
Think The Little Engine that Could. Believe it or not, that is a perfect story.
A story is simply the guiding narrative we choose to tell ourselves and, most importantly, choose to believe.
I think I can. I think I can.
In this classic children’s story by Watty Piper, a small engine train does what many larger and better suited engines believe far too difficult or belittling a task for themselves to accomplish: move a long chain of railcars carrying toys and food for local children up an impossibly steep hill. The anthropomorphic little engine succeeds, switching from a motivational chant of “I think I can” to “I thought I could” upon finally reaching the top.
In this delightful book there are no great complexities or grand contemplations on life and existence. No, what makes this tale so perfectly compelling and powerful is that it promotes a focus on story over task.
At no point did the little engine view the goal in a technical capacity: transporting items to a client by a deadline or using X amount of coal to achieve Y momentum, for instance. Instead, the underpowered engine believes deeply in a genuine, emotionally-driven story: bringing food, toys, and joy to hungry children nearby.
Focus on story over task.
The impossibly steep hill along the way is just a small component of the far bigger, higher-level story that guides the engine on its journey. The hill here is, quite literally, a “hill” in the IBM Design Thinking sense: a scoped challenge, which, in conjunction with other hills, helps define larger outcomes.
While hills do much to align teams and set goals, they alone do not achieve the emotional alignment required to stir passion, motivate teams, and change entire organizations. Stories, however, can do exactly that by focusing on impactful, high-level problems and outcomes.
Stories drive emotion. Emotion drives passion.
Think back to your most recent project — what was the story you told yourself? Were you simply designing an improved interface for a client or were you empowering hundreds of thousands of users to become more productive, more effective, and better able to manage their lives through your work? The story you tell yourself and others is the story you become.
A standard goal framework might be as simple as:
We need to <task> so that <user> can <intended outcome>.
Filling in the blanks, that framework can scale from something as standard but important as: “We need to develop an easier way to input test results so that Penn Medicine can reduce time spent on data entry” to something truly impactful on an elemental human level:
“We need to transform our approach to data research so that, together, with Penn Medicine, we can put an end to cancer.” (I just got chills)
If you tell yourself a better story, the passion, drive, and resources will follow.
The story you tell yourself and others is the story you become.
Higher-level thinking for higher-level problems.
Stories that emphasize the higher-level problem and outcome enable entire teams to align behind a single goal while surfacing in each individual the personal passion and drive required to make that story, that problem, and that outcome their own.
How you set about accomplishing a story is entirely your choice — the structure provided by hills, sprints, themes, and any number of development practices suddenly become relevant again — but no longer do they bear the customary responsibility of propelling work and enforcing accountability.
With the right story, the work becomes guided by a larger call-to-action, each member feeling distinctly impactful and essential to the problem at hand. Success no longer feels like another measurable benchmark but an inevitable destination guided by the story you’ve chosen.
Find your story.
Stories are incredibly impactful vehicles for organizational change. A single story — convincingly told, smartly crafted, and enthusiastically embraced — helps create a natural guide for you and your teammates. Stories reveal simple but obscured truths, put into words seemingly abstract or intangible goals, and help shape the narrative of hills, goals, and outcomes.
More than any other technique, stories can transform an entire team’s outlook in just a few words, empowering each member with the passion, alignment, and innate sense of direction required to tackle any obstacle that may arise. All it takes is a willingness to discover the right story, share it vibrantly, and the choice to make that story your own.
From bringing toys and food to hungry children to putting an end to cancer, stories make the impossible seem incredibly possible.
What’s your story?
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Note: Like what you read? Feel that I missed the mark? Please feel free to provide any and all comments, questions, and feedback. Thanks so much for taking the time to read!
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Colin Budd is a UX Designer at IBM based in Austin, TX. The above article is personal and does not necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
