通过与FM Global的Lou Gritzo通过故事推进科学

“讲故事的变化在整个整体演变中，从前端到尾端的创新......以及一个普通因素就是你说话的人可以把自己放在那个位置？如果他们可以，那么它几乎可以立即可信。“-lou gritzo，vp全球fm

为什么故事对创新过程有关？分享故事的创新者可以灌输哪些值？创新领导者如何激发创作者告诉和分享他们的成功和失败故事？

Lou Groizo，VP研究FM Global., considers communication an overlooked but crucial skill for technical scientists and engineers. Lou shares with us how FM Global motivates their teams to view stories as a vehicle to convey the value and impact of their work. This is why at the moment of entry, FM Global new hires are required to participate in training that helps them explore and strengthen their communication skills. Lou also speaks to the importance of creating institutional memory around successes and failures. He takes an even deeper dive into this subject in his recent publication on研发领导地位的成功因素。

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TRANSCRIPT

该集发电由来自未销售内容的数据讲故事培训供电雷竞技电竞竞猜雷竞技raybet提现Data + Science。Transform your data into powerful visual stories by learning best practices in data visualization and technical storytelling. Whether you’re a PowerBI or a Tableau person—or just want to better communicate your data—this workshop will inspire you to see the stories that lie in the data. Learn more athttps://undoldcontent.com/dataStoryTelling雷竞技raybet提现Trining/。

凯蒂：我们今天的客人是娄格里佐。他是v.p.FM Global研究。这就是他领导了世界上最大的工业和商业物业保险公司130多家科学家，工程师和技术人员的应用工程和自然科学研究团队。娄，我很高兴能在播客上有你。

LU.:很高兴在这里。

凯蒂：所以你能首先告诉我们更多关于你的个人创新故事吗？是什么导致你作为一个职业的研发和创新？

LU.:I believe my personal story of innovation started really when I was about to enter graduate school. Prior to that, in engineering school, you know, was kind of, you got the assignment. There was a right or wrong answer and you had to get the right answer and you got the right answer and you did well. And as I was looking at going into graduate school, you know, I put myself through undergrad school and I was trying to figure out how I might afford being able to go. And there was a National Science Foundation creativity award that my advisor, who’s the chairman of the department in mechanical engineering at Texas Tech, suggested I apply for it. He said, you know, think of something that you think would be good and maybe you should apply for this. So I did. I came up with an off the wall creative—what I thought was an innovative idea. And I interviewed for it. I made the cut and did an in-person interview. And then I had to tell my story at the interview.

凯蒂：它以前如何？

LU.: You know, how I came up with the idea. Was it my idea? Did I think it was going to work? And so I’m sitting here and outside of Dallas, Texas in a conference room full of these esteemed people from the National Science Foundation. And I had to tell my story. And I was fortunate enough to get the award. It paid for my graduate work. And I think that’s really where my journey began.

凯蒂: Oh, my goodness. That is a powerful moment to a young graduate student or hopeful graduate student. Do you remember how you structured that story or how you built credibility in that group?

LU.：我记得有关它的一些关键事情。你知道，那些只是棍子的情况。我记得其中一个人开始脱颖而出，他有一个勃艮第的夹克。所以我告诉他，你知道，我知道如何用这种激光来影响液体喷射的流体动力和分解到液滴的方式影响方式。你知道，打开讲故事机会的问题是，有点，告诉我这来自哪里。这是一个开放的问题，这很好。然后，当我开始告诉他它的情况下，就像，好吧，你知道，我正在做 - 我一直对激光，你能做的很酷的东西感兴趣。我知道，在一个项目中，高级项目工作。而且我以为我可以把这两个放在一起。他开始微笑。 And I thought, OK, he gets it. You know, I’ve been able to kind of put him in a place where he looked and says, OK, this is for real. This is not a script or anything. This is actually the way it happened. And that was the way the story evolved.

凯蒂: I love that, you know, there are so many different types of innovation stories or ways to structure your big idea when you’re communicating it. And I think there’s that traditional 90 second, you know, 10 second opportunity you get to show impact and how your idea is going to address a problem. And then the next story pattern that emerges once you get buy in, in that first moment, I tend to notice it has more to do with process and credibility. So can you make a connection with the people that you’re pitching to and build credibility with them if it’s not already there? And sometimes taking them through your thinking and showing how it was interdisciplinary in nature or how you took something from one place and applied it somewhere else in this really creative way. That can take you to the next level, which is then hopefully, right, about implementation possibilities and how feasible the idea is. Do you see how certain storytelling tactics sort of shift depending on the stage gate process part, you know, where you’re at in the process of, sort of, coming up with and then hopefully getting to the opportunity to create the product or service or system that you’re designing.

LU.:The storytelling, I think, changes throughout that whole evolution of the innovation from the front end and the idea to the tail end or when you’re putting it into practice or seek to put it into practice and you’re ready to see that innovation pay off. And the one common factor, I think, between—and you hit on it quite early—is can the person you’re talking to put themselves in that position? And if they can, then it becomes almost immediately credible. Can I put myself in the position of—in the case of my graduate student story, how did this graduate student candidate come up with this idea? Or if I’m on the tail end of the innovation, can I put myself in the position of a customer, saying that, yes, I’m going to buy this. I think this is cool. I think this is really good. And therefore, it’s going to add value and therefore be a viable innovation and not something that sits on the shelf.

凯蒂: I think that makes so much sense. I would love to hear some of the innovation stories coming out of FM Global and your teams. Can you share a couple of your favorite projects or initiatives you have going on?

LU.:因此，FM Global现在正在进行的一些事情是首先，工业和商业物业持有人和企业的数字转型以及FM Global如何帮助这些企业降低其风险，这是公司的整个商业模式。我们与客户合作，了解并降低其财产风险或业务风险，然后我们确保我们无法通过工程减少的风险。在某些情况下，我们这样做的方式是通过观察企业的趋势以及我们认为我们能做的事情是创新的和不同，能够减少这些风险或解决他们的风险may be causing that’s completely new. And a couple examples on either side of that. One would be—a number of years ago, we realized that we could use, kind of, Internet of Things technology to do condition-based monitoring of everything from fire protection systems to key equipment so that it would be very cost effective and easy to monitor the condition of these systems. So in the case of a fire protection system, you know that if there’s a fire in the facility, that’s going to work. And in the case of a piece of equipment, you know that something is maybe not going so well and that piece of equipment may fail to work. So those kinds of concepts have come out of basic megatrends, but ultimately relate at the end of the day for FM Global as to what’s the client story behind it? Not only because our clients are our customers, but FM Global is a mutual company. We’re owned by our clients. So it all boils down to what’s the client’s story. So if I’m going to monitor a sprinkler valve to make sure it’s open, how is that going to work for a client? What’s the what’s the client story behind that? You’re going to take Fred, who used to go around and check and make sure that there’s a chain and a lock on that valve and Fred’s going to be able to glance at a screen and see that all the valves are open. So that’s a very different story for Fred’s morning. From one to the other. Or you’re going to take, you know, Sally, who used to go out and open up the transformer and take an oil sample and send it off somewhere to see if the transformer is going to work right to Sally looking on her phone and saying, oh, well, you know what? Dissolved gas is in this transformer. I need to think about doing something for it. So it’s ultimately that making it real for a client, for solutions that we’re developing that we would seek then to put into practice to reduce the business risk.

凯蒂：您分享的示例是如此强大，因为它是如何考虑最终用户可能需要的，也是由于您正在开发的创新而挑战或推动的重要性。并且有一种讲故事的力量，可以帮助他们思考这一创新可能永远改变或改变你总是做某事的方式。但不要害怕。以下是使您的工作生活不同但最终更好的事情。您是否发现自己有时必须导航成为创新者的角色，并作为为未来提供自己的用户和客户的创新团队？

LU.：当创新真的抓住之前，有一些迭代，也可能是多个迭代，也许是多个故事或多个交易所。并且这些可能是您将向用户或客户客户提供最终结果的各种不同的上下文，无论终极收件人或人们将从该创新中获得价值的人。然后，相比之下，可能为这一创新支付或将其付诸实践，以便成为一个有益而有用的创新。这可能需要各种不同的背景和故事，具体取决于那个人的情况，他们的情况。但我们的经验一直在于这些案件越相关，有时它们可​​能被称为案例研究。但这太无聊，对了吗？A case study, the more relevant they are to where that person is or that stakeholder is or where their business is or what they’re facing, the more successful they’ll be in terms of getting beyond the barrier of, well, I really don’t need that or I can’t use that or that’ll never work.

凯蒂：这是一个如此明显的观点。你知道，这对我来说，它让我想起了同理心的力量。如果您对您的客户密切相关，如果您有重视他们的价值和意识到他们所需要的内容，您的创新将更容易翻译，更容易成功，您知道。您是否在创新过程中采取了某些方法，使您的团队能够与用户和客户密切联系，或者您与帐户管理人员密切合作？您如何解决您在创新过程中嵌入同情的情况？

LU.:所以同理心是一个非常好的观点，凯蒂，而且，你知道，感受到痛苦和了解痛苦。FM Global的一些方式是我们在全世界的研究进入我们的工程劳动力的创新之中，最终劳动力是与客户互动的方式。所以我们有时会与客户的试验。再次，将这些工程师带到了将卷展览栏中涉及到客户端和公司的人员以及该领域的工程师进入混合。但总体故事真的，我认为，拥有 - 这相当干燥 - 拥有数据。做了功课来表明我们相信这是一个要增加价值的东西。这不是一个制作问题。这是一个重要的问题。我们有数据和对其背后的问题的理解。这可能是一个故事。 But then the way it gets rolled out throughout that value chain for us is a little different than a consumer products company that’s looking to do market research or use design thinking to involve their customers in the development of a product.

凯蒂：What that makes me think about is data and the way that it can sometimes get in the way of generating buy in. In other ways, it can absolutely be the thing that brings everybody at the boardroom table or in the organization to get behind something. How do you find yourselves striking the right balance between sharing too much data or not enough evidence?

LU.:数据的适当平衡 - 我会说情境表征，换句话说，我们相信这一点，这是另一件事 - 强烈的，至少这是我的经验，凯蒂，它强烈取决于情况。如果所使用的数据不太了解，它是非常容易的，因为它是为了成为一个完整的侧杆，侧面，侧面，干扰，批评者，无论何时要称之为。它只是让一切都远离了这个想法的价值和创新潜在的潜力，哦，不，那不是正确的。那么，呢？，B，C或D呢？所以数据必须定制，我认为，一个相当紧凑的，简明的创新价值主张的画面，然后有时但并不总是可行性的水平。

凯蒂：当然。

LU.:我们相信我们可以取得成功，因为A，B，C。因为我们已经做了其他类似的事情，我们可以在那里看看我们的成功率。我们可以在这里展示成功率，或者我们有合适的合作伙伴已经完成了一些事情。所以我认为当你考虑将数据放在那里时，理想情况下，它应该在我的思想中，在我的思想中，是故事本身的完美情景。所以这就是这种情况。有问题出现了。我们去了数据来回答这些问题，数据向我们展示了问题的答案是一个或它是b或者这是它的。从我的角度来看，应该始终呈现数据，以便在被问到的问题上，然后将其从其从干燥信息移到回答问题的方式。

凯蒂：是的，它使数据有影响，上下文化，它可以帮助人们激活它。我喜欢你在那里做的每一个点。那么你如何注意到，这是讲故事或播放练习或沟通技巧 - 这是你在创新团队内部谈论的东西吗？

LU.:沟通对技术人员和创新者来说非常重要。是，我说，一个重要的器官。我们有各种方式，我们努力开发FM Global研究的沟通技巧。每一个新员工。通常，我们将雇用工程科学或物理学学院的博士学位。他们经历了一天的创新训练营。

凯蒂：Awesome.

LU.:他们在哪里与同龄人在一起。Typically other people that have joined the organization within the last 6, 9, 12 months and we have a bootcamp trainer that we’ve worked with extensively with the public relations and newscaster background, and she comes in and works them through the basics of communication. They do dry runs; they do case studies with each other. And then for our staff whom will require additional interactions either with clients or with interest groups or codes and standards committees or policymakers. Then we have a more extended speakers’ alliance, speaker training multi-session course that they go through where they learn some skills, put them to practice over a period of time, then come back and meet again with their group and the trainer to review those skills and how they put them to practice and then work on the next ones. So this strategy is all based on overcoming the dry, scientific communicator syndrome.

凯蒂：[Laughs] sure.

LU.:然后还克服了让我们称之为训练的潜力。雷竞技raybet提现但是发展经验。我坐在教室里。我有一堆话题告诉我。然后我回去了，在第二天之前我做了一些事情。

凯蒂：是的。Exactly. The fact that they’re constantly building into those skills is so critical.

LU.:引人注目的是一些早期的更改career staff have made in terms of their communication skills. Just completely remarkable. From the dry, you know, view graph with data and a bunch of words and a bunch of details to, you know, she or he standing up there saying, so, you know, what about this? And we have one staff member that basically got everybody very effectively by saying. So I’ve looked at the numbers, I’ve reduced the data and I’ve decided this is absolutely not going to work. My project should be immediately cancelled.

凯蒂：I love it. Yes.

LU.:That was a talk that she gave on April Fool’s Day.

凯蒂：哦，我的天啊。你在开玩笑。哦，我也即将推出分享失败叙述的重要性，并且具有讲故障的讲故事技术来升级和杀害项目。虽然这是一个非常好的技巧，在愚人节上扮演你的同事。

LU.:谈谈有订阅的受众，对。什么方式可以参与受众。

凯蒂：您知道，您已经发表了关于成功研究和开发领导者内部的成功因素的研究。我喜欢阅读你的一些出版物。而且，你知道，这是一个有趣的是，在他们的组织中的其他人所感受到的方式，他们有时会被认为是缺乏那种技能，人际的技能或沟通技巧的方式。你能告诉那些调查结果，为什么现在必须沟通和讲故事比以前更加至关重要，而不是以前是技术道路的人，并且想要升起领导力的角色。

LU.:多年前并发布的成功因素研究是研发领导对其他业务职能的比较。因此，研究看着研发领导人如何成功，以及他们如何相对于公司成功的其他人衡量。我相信这项研究表明，R＆D领导，因为他们的技术背景，而且因为只是典型的刻板印象 - 他们会变得干燥，他们会很无聊，他们将长期蜿蜒 - 有更大的挑战to overcome that implicit bias, to get in the place where they’re effective communicators and where they can immediately, as soon as the discussion starts and they walk into a situation, become not only effective but, in some cases, get over a place where they started maybe behind their peers in another business function.

凯蒂：是的。所以，你知道，我认为在进入创新团队时的培训经验和专业雷竞技raybet提现发展是如此重要。And then those follow-on touch points, when you shared that example of seeing that transformation in a young—you know—in a new hire and the ways in which they’re able to share their pitch or their concept in a much clearer way by the end of that training. It reminds me of at Untold were oftentimes providing innovation storytelling training workshops, and it can be so uncomfortable and such a vulnerable thing to do when a scientist or an engineer stands up at the beginning of the day and provides their, you know, 90 second, five minute pitches and to create a safe environment where we can provide feedback and build into each of those people and to see how those projects and initiatives are transformed in terms of how they’re communicated by the end of just one day is amazing to me. But it does take a level of vulnerability and a willingness and an openness to learn. We share a lot of epic examples across industries of innovation stories that are powerful and that are resonant and that work well both internally and externally to customers but also kind of creating buy-in internally. I’m curious if you could paint a picture for us of what internal buy-in looks like at FM Global when one of your creators has a great idea. Who do they have to turn to? Who needs to buy-in to their innovation story?

LU.:内部买入可能以很多不同的方式发生。具体而言，在FM Global Research团队中，有最初的买入人民将与公司使命挑战，它归结为目标。我们确实打开了想法，但即使是那些定制的特定业务目标也可以确保它们保持相关。

凯蒂：当然。

LU.:这是必须支持。是的,我can see that’s relevant. I can see it’s important. In some cases those objectives are well presented in the form of a story themselves. You know, here’s the challenge our clients have. Imagine if you’re a client and you have this challenge; how would you deal with that? What’s your approach to dealing with that? And how can we at research within the company—how can we solve that problem? Then there’s the typical kind of two-pronged buy-in, at least from one perspective of… does it matter? And will it work?

凯蒂：当然。

LU.:如果没关系，没有买入。如果你不能说服我，它会上班，没有买它。

凯蒂：当然。你也谈到了对齐。你知道，如果它没有与我们有点战略设置的沙箱对齐。您知道，至少有助于提供播放领域或周围一些最关键优先事项的界限。正确的。

LU.:Very much so. And alignment is important. But a line that can sometimes be tweaked.

凯蒂：是的。

LU.:我认为有些机会重新安排或者对齐在条纹上。只要创新的差异和所追求的东西，传统的对齐观点并不太远。它仍然必须在更广泛的任务空间内。

凯蒂：What are some of the challenges or some of the things you would recommend not to do when you’re trying to get buy-in for a response or a solution to a technical brief?

LU.:第一次想到我思想不好的建议是假装一切都很柔软。假装一切都完成了。承认弱点或承认柔软的斑点以及他们被考虑的柔软斑点和被管理的柔软斑点非常重要。

凯蒂：是的。是的，这是一个脆弱的事情，但它非常重要 - 实际上它可以是一个可信度的建设者。当你说的时候，我还没有想到这部分。我需要帮助。

LU.:或者是，你知道，我知道需要解决这一点。我有一个计划解决它，我认为这很努力。这些是我要做的事情。我在先前的职能中有一个赞助商，我拥有的先后工作，该项目没有顺利。所以我要去一个高级别的赞助商，基本上是一个高级人，五角大楼。而且我走路，我必须告诉这个人并没有聚集在一起。

凯蒂：这是一个艰难的一天。

LU.:I thought, well, that’s where we’re probably going to lose this one. But that’s what we’re going to do because that’s the reality of it. And we don’t want to lose our credibility or integrity. And the story behind this one is I presented it. Here’s what we’re seeing in the models. Here’s what we’re seeing in the experiments that are being done. They’re not in agreement. This is going to be an opportunity. One or the other is going to be improved at the end of the day here. And here’s our plan that we’re going to pursue to address this issue. And I’ll never forget his response. It was very much, you know, I sit in this chair all day long and have people come in and tell me how everything’s perfect and everything’s right. And he says, I know better than that. I’ve been there. I’ve done research. I know it’s not alright. Said this is good. And it should continue. And that was the end of it.

凯蒂: That’s incredible. I’m working with a research team who’s focused on brilliant failure out of the Innovation Research Interchange. And we’re hoping to publish a manuscript on the topic, you know, in research technology management. And boy, that’s the theme of the entire publication—is can you learn rapidly from things that don’t go well and do so at the most reasonable cost you can? And if so, that’s a brilliant failure. And, you know, I think there’s an element of if you’re not failing, then you’re not taking risks.

LU.: Absolutely. The traditional mode of failure. I set out to do A and B and I’m not gonna get there. I know I’m not going to get there. I’ve actually kind of encouraged within our own team not to consider those failures, to consider those as learning opportunities and opportunities to morph to something that may even be a greater value, which it’s hard to call that a failure. But, you know, when you look at it from the very beginning point to say this is where I’m going to end up, and then indeed you’re not going to end up there.

凯蒂：我完全同意。我们需要一些新的言论围绕失败。我甚至看到一些组织吃了失败蛋糕。当一个想法被拒绝或不成功时，他们会在那种代表这个项目的那种代表这个项目中，他们将带来一个蛋糕。而且，你知道，它是一种 -

LU.：周围的仪式，呵呵。

凯蒂：对，就是这样。但它在文化建设方面，它创造了一种愿意谈论它的文化。你知道，不只是害怕 - 如果我们太害怕谈论我们的失败，那么我们也害怕向他们学习。在那里我们错过了这一学习。

LU.:我完全赞同错过学习的可能性。只是为了给那些东西提供一个具体的例子。在某些领域，你看到同样的问题一遍又一遍地出现，随着人们的改变并转到不同的角色，你看到同样的问题有一个倾向于在不同的时间的时间点工作。除非这些学习被记录，否则未来其他人的机会返回并审查那些相同的错误或相同的路径。基本上，我们将重复工作，以便在过去的学习已经实现的问题。但是没有记录，因为有人认为这是一个失败。

凯蒂： 这是正确的。是的。所以制度记忆建设，无论是以书面形式记录，无论是对话，是否领导人讲述了一些相同的故事一遍又一遍地保持内存，这对成功和失败来说是至关重要的。为了帮助，你知道，让每个人都在同一页面上关于我们未来所需的方向，以及为什么我们可能不会选择某些路径，因为我们可能已经沿着它们陷入了困境。

LU.所以这种过去的学习文件还提供了从不同的角度建立在他们身上的机会，这可能是自身的创新。

凯蒂：是的，那就是想法从架子上回来的时候。当你有机会提取一个被搁置的想法，也许组织中的某个人或来自组织的相邻部分的人或甚至以外地看到它的人。难道你不知道，现在这是一个正确的时间把它拉出架子，并以一种新的方式看它。

LU.:从架子上拉出一些东西并以一种新的方式查看它的伟大举例，或者其他选择甚至以新的方式查看它并部署新技术，这可能允许它以新的方式进行评估或以略微不同的方式进行评估，使其更加可行。

凯蒂: Completely agree with you Lou, could you offer some advice to innovators as they prepare to convey their great ideas? You’ve shared so much. But if you had to sort of pick your top pieces of advice, what would you say?

LU.:我认为创新者最重要的是，因为他们准备传达他们的伟大想法是三大事物。观众，观众，观众。他们要和谁交谈？他们对什么关心？他们最有可能与之相关的事情是什么？And how can you present what you’re doing, in a story that’s engaging, without leaving big open spaces—they get filled with something you don’t want them to be filled in with—but with enough detail to where they can put themselves in that place.

凯蒂：是的，我喜欢那种。我喜欢思考如何运送观众的视觉隐喻。我认为，它又回到了同情心。我非常感谢你今天分享的所有见解。我知道听众会得到这么多。在新雇用进入新雇用时，从创造成功和失败的机会探讨和加强他们的沟通技巧时，一切都从事成功和失败。这是如此美妙的谈话，娄。非常感谢你在这里。

LU.:Thank you very much. Katie. I appreciate the opportunity. It’s an exciting topic in terms of how to communicate innovation ideas and innovation value and storytelling is a great way to do it, so it’s been a great conversation. I appreciate the chance to discuss it with you.

你可以听更多的剧集Untold Stories of Innovation Podcast。

*Interviews are not endorsements of individuals or businesses.