5 Mistakes About the Repository of Stories that Every CHRO Should Avoid

If you are leading a workforce today, then you know that where people are involved, stories are involved.

Within the confines of a corporate setup, in-office or remote, there are always people who are actively living your company culture. Through a creative and motivated workforce, companies can accumulate a repository of culture stories, which illustrate how employees are practicing the established company culture.

This repository, while an important tool for any CHRO, needs to be utilized in a productive manner. We rounded up the top five mistakes that those in charge of company culture should avoid when dealing with their repository of culture stories -

Mistake #1 - Focusing on Big Stories - It goes without saying that the major milestones of a company and its employees must definitely be shared across the board and workforce. But doing so and ignoring the more relatable and day-to-day anecdotes can be a shortcoming. For example, posting the story of a company’s origin on your website is great! But what about a story of a new employee’s first day at your firm? It is important to always keep such stories in your repository; they can be a source of great insight for your workforce and can be a testament to how your company culture is in practice throughout your operations.

Mistake # 2 - Every Story for Good PR - Sharing stories that show the leaders of a company in good light is a good way to speak about what your firm is doing right. But to show that your firm is learning, and evolving with new values is equally important, if not more so. Such ‘anti-stories’ must be in a CHRO’s repository, which follow a mistake or instance where company values were not followed, and the consequential learning from it. They can help add authenticity to an organization’s reputation. You can find out more about stories and anti-stories here.

Mistake #3 - Unequal Representation - If your repository of stories has a truck load on the experiences involving leaders, but only a handful of experiences which are from the point of view of freshers, or women, or even supporting and administrative employees, your repository is falling short. This becomes especially important when trying to acquire new talent for your organization. People who are on the outside of your company want to hear about the people who they can relate to, and that isn’t necessarily always the founder or C-suite executive of a firm.

Mistake #4 - Ignoring Old Stories - In the excitement of new and recent stories involving culture and value wins, the older stories from the archives of a company are often ignored. It is important to identify culture stories from your repository which are timeless, and share them with your workforce as it grows. These could be old stories of how the values of the company came into existence, the journey the founders took to attain those values, or even stories from old employees who might have moved on to other organizations, which demonstrate your company values (the way they were back then, and the way they are now). There is a lot of merit in historical stories which might have been the foundation of your present-day company culture. If you want to know more, here are some insights on what your culture diet should look like.

Mistake #5 - Isolated Interaction Points - How do you share stories from your culture repository with your organization? Monthly newsletters? Great! But what about the all-hands meetings? Or when you are onboarding new employees? Or the conference room brainstorming sessions? Or even your marketing campaigns? There are a number of places in your organization that allow you to reach into your repository of stories and amplify them. It is important to analyze which all places in your organization are in fact interaction points that can allow you to highlight your company values in action.

Your repository of stories is an important element of your company culture. It should be utilized with a strategy in mind - on how you use the stories and to reach which one of your stakeholders. 

Tell us some mistakes you have made with respect to storytelling in your organization and what your learnings were.