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The 7 Components of an Effective “Lesson Learned” Story

Whether communicating to an internal or external audience, “Lesson Learned” stories are a powerful communication tools.

Bear in mind that certain stories are wonderful teaching tools internally, however they may not be appropriate for external audiences.  A “TITANIC” scale disaster story or one that suggests a preventable situation is not a good choice for external audiences.  Ideally, you want  “SUPERHERO” stories for external audiences that demonstrate heroics in unforeseeable circumstances.

Always test a story by delivering it to someone who can give you honest feedback about it’s effectiveness before adding it to your repertoire.  Never deliver a story for the first time to an external audience.

I recommend regularly reflecting on your lessons learned and outlining these stories using the 7 step formula below.  Keep them in a file by topic to locate them easily when you want to use one.

I welcome your comments on this post below.

Lesson Learned info_graphic