Organizations are casting themselves in the wrong role

I’ve been accompanying choirs and groups on the piano since high school, which means I’ve had many years of practice in the fine art of being essential and not the main attraction.

That felt especially relevant this week.

It was Holy Week, so I was at the piano Thursday night and then again on Sunday. On Thursday, I came straight from a five-hour strategic planning workshop and sat down to cram on liturgy I hadn’t played in a while. In four sharps. (You pianists know this is brutal.)

Piano accompaniment teaches you a few useful things.

One is that the role matters a great deal. Another is that if the accompanist suddenly decides to become the star, things tend to deteriorate quickly.

I bring up a version of this in workshops fairly often, usually with a different example: Yoda and Luke Skywalker.

I usually start by walking through the basic arc of a story. There’s someone the story is about. That person wants something, is facing something, is trying to figure something out, and needs help getting from one place to another.

A lot of organizations tell their story as if they’re Luke. They’re at the center. They’re the focus. They’re the one the whole story is about.

But most of the time, that’s not the most productive role.

People are in their own little worlds. They are the heroes of their own stories. When you cast yourself as the hero, the audience has to work too hard to see themselves in the story.

You can usually hear that in the first few lines—they’re thick with “we”:

• who we are

• what we do

• how long we’ve been here

• what we provide

Stories tend to get stronger when you think of your organization as Yoda. The guide. The one helping someone else make sense of something, make a decision, take a step, or do something difficult with a little more clarity and confidence.

In practical terms, the strongest stories usually put a stakeholder in that central role:

• A donor who found a way to make a meaningful gift.

• A parent who got the help she needed and could finally breathe a little easier.

• A volunteer who stepped in and discovered they had more to offer than they realized.

Once you do that, your organization’s role becomes clearer. It is there to support the movement, provide structure, remove friction, and help the whole thing make sense.

The accompanist has an important job. But if I butcher a hymn, let’s hope that’s not the story people are telling after church.

Lori