The WHAT of Story Building?
Answer…
To help you ‘Discover Your Hidden and Vital Strengths’ through an intentional ‘Experience of being Valued’.

gavincargill@valuetheperson.com

We discovered overwhelming evidence that ‘Experiencing being Valued’ can release strengths, purpose and ambition and is the heart, mind and spirit of sustained success and human desire! 

What Everybody Wants!
Listening to people working from the city of London to Silicon Valley in California ~ the answer was the same. From the transformation of a failing steel mill in Pennsylvania to rebirth in post-genocide in Rwanda ~ the answer was the same. From the survivors of arguably the biggest medical mistake in history, the Thalidomide pill, to survivors from the Albanian Revolution ~ the answers were all the same… Everywhere we heard that ‘Experiencing being Valued’ is really the one experience most everybody wants!

The task was to translate this discovery and transform it into interesting, meaningful and enjoyable ways of living and working.

Today the mission is to share these discoveries, the principles, practices and possibilities with you, your organisation and your community, wherever you are in the World.

Our principle beliefs are founded in the innate value, uniqueness, and potential of each person irrespective of circumstances, culture, or capacity. 

Experiencing Being Valued

‘The irresistible force - common sense but not common practice'!’

‘It Getters - Point Missers - Care Lessers’

‘When we talk about ‘Experiencing being Valued’ the vast majority of people we encounter are ‘It Getters’ - they get the concepts, want the experience but understand that this is not common practice. 

There are those who we call ‘Point Missers’ people who need a bit more explanation and often a lot of persuasion! These are many of the people who have constructively challenged the propositions and have helped us greatly refine the offering!

Of course there are always, at least on the face of it, ‘Care Lessers’ those who just don’t get it and appear to be totally disinterested. However we are encouraged that the Value the Person - Story Building experience has helped us to understand their ‘Why’s’ and many in this this group have become our supporters!

Prisoners of Hope!
As a ‘coping mechanism’ we’ve adopted an alternative response to being optimistic or pessimistic and became ‘Prisoners of Hope’ in our endeavours to cope with the disappointments of positivity or the pains of negativity!

enter…

The Angry Surgeon

A few years ago I was being assessed for a new hip. A junior doctor was assigned to explain to me that the X-rays indicated that surgery would probably be needed but not for a few years yet. I was happy with the explanation so the doctor then asked the consultant surgeon to join us to hear my agreement with the assessment and answer any other questions. That was all very good and well until the surgeon asked me the ubiquitous question “And what do you do Mr Cargill?” My answer to that particular question varies but on that occasion I chose to say “I go into organisations with research that proves that it is only when staff ‘experience being valued’ that they can perform at their best”.

The surgeon looked me straight between the eyes and asked me to repeat my statement. After that repetition, much to my surprise he reacted in an extraordinary way and much to the obvious horror of the junior doctor. I can only say that he ‘lost the plot’ - using expletives and gestures he left no question that he was certainly not ‘experiencing being valued’ as he continued with a diatribe of accusations against his management! The air was blue as he stormed out of the room!

I thought “You really DO get it, don’t you!” 

As I was driving home the thought occurred to me that if my surgeon was so easily ‘triggered off on one’ did I really want to be under his knife? A new and dramatic understanding of the importance of ‘experiencing being valued’ had arrived!

enter…

The Irresistible Force and the Immovable Object

What happens when ‘the irresistible force meets the immovable object’ has been a question that has tested the minds of philosophers for centuries. Both phrases cannot be true at the same time, it’s a paradox, a contradiction! 

We believe with a passion that ‘Experiencing being Valued’ when fully understood is an irresistible force but we have encountered, on the face of it, ‘Immovable Objects’. 

Something’s Gotta Give!

The answer to this dilemma came in the lyrics of a song inspired by the Johnny Mercer song from 1955 and sung by Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and many other famous singers ever since! ~ Something’s Gotta Give!

We translated these words into ‘Somebody’s Gotta Give’!

That thought started the journey towards ‘The HOW of Story Building’ But before we explain that that we need to highlight another principle… 

Serious Fun!
Another principal belief we have is that the activities must include ‘Serious Fun’. There is always a very serious purpose in everything we do but unless there is a healthy fun element we run the risk of the activities not taking root.

Beyond the initial impact the ‘serious fun’ elements can become a key part of ongoing reinforcement activities.

Enter….

Each one of these ‘characters, symbols or metaphors’ (you decide!) has an inspirational history that arrived separately on our Global journey. We connected them to help us communicate and reinforce ‘Experiencing being Valued’ as one of the great possibilities to live into as opposed to an expectation to live up to.

Bucket Filling feelings!
The Bucket Story originated in the mind of Dr Don Clifton in the USA following a traumatic research project into survivors of Korean ‘Prisoner of War’ Camps in the 1950’s. The idea that evolved was to imagine that we all have an internal ‘Bucket’ and when we are feeling great our Bucket is full. However ‘life happens’ and we encounter negativity or bad news. This can be like someone taking a dip out our good ‘Bucket‘ feelings. Perhaps you started your day with a full Bucket and ended it with it being empty!

Then the question is…
‘How do I fill my own Bucket’?

Pearl Polishing thoughts!

The Pearl Story was brought to life by Dr Nicholas Hitimana in Rwanda in his efforts to create meaningful employment for the widows and orphans from the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. One of Nicholas’s ideas was to name a project to produce essential oil from Geranium Plants farmed by the survivors after the ancient Kinyarwanda word ‘Ikirezi’ which means a ‘Precious Pearl. Thinking and speaking about each person as innately valuable, unique and full of potential can not only ‘Fill our Buckets’ in a very special way but also ‘Polish our Pearls…

Then the question is…

‘How do I ‘Polish my own Pearl?

Starfish Liberating actions!

This story was first mentioned in the book ‘The Star Thrower’ by Loren Eiseley. The big idea is that even getting one Starfish back into the sea will Make a Positive Difference’ to that one! 

The idea was embraced by Dr Martin Johnson in England after he envisioned a ‘Volunteer Visitor Group’ for Thalidomide survivors in the UK Trust when he was their Director. In one remarkable instance a Thalidomide survivor was discovered in Jamaica after forty years. Liberating a Starfish can simultaneously Fill Buckets an Polish Pearls!

Then the question is…
‘How do I liberate my own Starfish?

The Bucket, the Pearl and the Starfish GAME!

The answer to all three questions is to find a way to intentionally fill the Buckets, Polish the Pearls and Liberate the Starfish of your colleagues, family and friends.

That’s the Serious Fun Game!

‘The Golden Rule on steroids!!!
“Do to others as you would have them do to you!”

So as we explore ‘How we do what we do’ and continuing in the spirit of ‘serious fun’ we retranslated one of the most famous quotes in the World…

from ‘To be OR not to be, that is the QUESTION’ into…

To be VALUED AND not to be persuaded otherwise, that is the ANSWER!