I have found that sometimes the best way to get a point across is to couch it into or around a story. When I first started writing my newsletter, I was coming up with a point and then going right at it, pretty straightforward stuff. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that much fun to read either.

The one day I started off with a story first, and came back around to the topic of the newsletter. Out of the blue, it seems like I was touching people on some emotional level, and that particular newsletter garnered 20 comments back to me, which was, well, amazing.

It shouldn't have been anything new to me. I've been writing stories of my adventures for a very long time. When email came along I found that it was easier to write it once and send it out in an email rather than having to type up a bunch of envelopes. And the audience grew with the emails, as, it would seem, some of my friends decided they just had to share those stories with other people. One of these days I may put online the story of my first time trying to paint in my present house; it seems to be the most popular thing I've ever written.

I bring this up because I've just finished reading a wonderful book called Squawk by Travis Bradberry, Ph.D. It was sent to me by a reader of my blog and newsletter who wanted to know my opinion of it. I'd heard the term "seagull management" before, but this is the first book that actually put a full story together to present it to the masses, along with some suggestions on how to solve those types of problems. It's not a big book, nor is it a difficult book to read; I read it in less than an hour, as it told the story about Charlie, the seagull manager who has some big lessons to learn in how to continue being a star manager after succeeding in the past.

This isn't a book review, though, but a tale of how, sometimes, it only takes a different way of presenting information to someone to help them understand the concepts you're trying to teach. Managers can be under a lot of pressure sometimes, and if they have a lot of people they're responsible for, they'll usually be so direct and to the point in trying to solve the issue that they leave more confusion than help. Sometimes, taking a little bit more time in coming up with a different way of communicating, something everyone can identify with, might be more beneficial.

Sometimes, though. I wouldn't want to tell managers that they should sit around writing stories to present to their employees. Instead, I'd say to try to come up with creative ways to educate and teach concepts that might not be easily grasped. It benefits everyone in the long run.