# That's My Story And I'm Sticking To It!



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Storytelling as a leadership and training tool

*VALERIE VAN BROCKLIN
Training Contributor*
_Officer.com_

Let me tell you a story. Imagine you're out walking and you come upon a construction site. You ask the first person you encounter, "What are you doing?" He says, "I'm making $12 an hour." You continue on, stop at the next person, and again ask, "What are you doing?" This worker says, "I'm a stone mason. I'm building a wall." You walk on and pause beside a third individual. You ask the same question, "What are you doing?" He looks up, smiles and replies, "I'm building a cathedral to the greater glory of God." 
Each of these workers is doing the same job but they have very different visions of the work. Which vision of police work do the recruits or officers you lead or train have? Are they earning a paycheck, feeling pride as a professional, or do they see the importance of their work in something that has greater and lasting meaning than even their career? Do you think their vision influences how they do their job? Do you think it might influence how they respond to your leadership or training? 
How might you help the recruits or officers you lead and train see themselves as building a cathedral to the greater glory of protecting and serving others? What if you told them this story? What if you asked them which vision they had regarding policing? Regarding the training? Did they ever feel that policing was "building a cathedral?" When? If they don't still feel that way, when did they start to change? What caused the change? What if you continued and asked them who is responsible for how they view their job? The training? Who can change their view? Do they think their view of their job might impact anyone else? Who? How? Do they want to impact these people this way? How might they regain the vision of building a cathedral in their work? 
NOW--let me ask you, what is your vision of your job? Are you earning a paycheck, taking pride as a professional? Or are you building cathedrals? If you're not building cathedrals, put yourself through the rest of the questions you might pose to officers.

Full Article: http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=35506


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