[00:00:00] Janet Taggart: Don’t underestimate those, who due to their deep technical expertise, may be pigeonholed in their current role without the opportunity to influence and help lead transformational growth. These technical experts are doing a great job, but may not know how to create breakthroughs for themselves and you can help them.

[00:00:23] And that’s what good leadership does. Not to just manage performance, but to nurture potential. And since leaders are so busy with the work at hand, the nurturing of potential can sometimes fall in the cracks and be neglected.

[00:00:45] Stephanie Willmore: Welcome to the Leadership Transformations podcast. I’m your host, Stephanie Wilmore, accountability coach with Peridot Circle Consulting. In this podcast, we explore real life situations with the help of our two founders and principal consultants, Janet Taggart and Linda Linfield. Today we are joined by Janet Taggart.

[00:01:05] Janet specializes in empowering leadership transformations from the inside out coaching, aspiring to executive leaders to become known for their highest value. Thank you for joining us again, Janet. 

[00:01:17] Janet Taggart: Thank you Stephanie. 

[00:01:18] Stephanie Willmore:  And so today’s conversation, we are going to be touching on a topic that is nostalgic and with a purpose.

[00:01:26] Today, we’re going to go back to kindergarten, but with a professional twist. We’re talking about show and tell and what it meant to us back then and why it’s still one of the most important leadership tools today. Janet, welcome back. 

[00:01:40] Janet Taggart: Thank you, Stephanie. I love today’s topic as well because it taps into something so universally human, storytelling, and how that skill, when cultivated intentionally becomes a leadership superpower.

[00:01:53] In another podcast episode, I referenced a great little book I keep in my personal library, “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” One of the early learnings that sticks with me is the experience of show and tell or sharing time. This was a time set aside once a week for each of us to bring something from home that was important only to us and to talk to the whole class about it.

[00:02:18] For some, that moment in the spotlight was exciting, for others, overwhelming. Some kids even froze. Some couldn’t stop talking and some discovered for the first time that they had the power to influence others just by sharing something personal and meaningful. 

[00:02:39] Stephanie Willmore: You know, as you were describing that, that’s such an interesting parallel. I love that. I love how something as simple as show and tell can reflect part of our adult reality, especially when it comes to leadership presence and visibility. 

[00:02:53] Janet Taggart: Exactly that early classroom exercise foreshadowed a challenge many professionals still face today: being seen and being heard. The truth is, whatever your thoughts and feelings are about your own story, about what is important to you, your wins, your achievements, your hopes, your challenges, I want to encourage you to deeply consider the impact of storytelling to your professional success and to the professional success of others. This really isn’t about bragging, it’s about clarity. It’s about helping others see what they might otherwise miss. 

[00:03:30] Stephanie Willmore: That’s so powerful. So can you give us an example of how that storytelling plays out in the real world? 

[00:03:37] Janet Taggart: Absolutely. I can give you an example. We worked with a high performing senior software engineer who was shocked to hear his manager describe him as merely an overpaid junior engineer.

[00:03:50] The feedback was crushing. Why? Because in truth, this engineer had been putting in extra time not only to deliver on his assigned work and to do it well, but also to eliminate problematic technical debt, what he called dreadful code. He even helped others troubleshoot and optimize their projects. The issue wasn’t performance, it was perception.

[00:04:14] The manager had no idea what was happening behind the scenes because it was never shared in a compelling way. This engineer believed that if he worked hard, someone would notice. 

[00:04:25] Stephanie Willmore: Yeah. I think that’s so common with professionals that we work with, they work so hard, they put in so much extra effort and assume that the work will speak for itself.

[00:04:34] Janet Taggart: Absolutely. But you know, here’s the thing. If you’re not telling your story, you’re leaving it untold, and that leaves room for misperceptions. It can lead to misunderstandings, and it may even result in your achievements being undervalued or altogether unseen. Managers, especially in fast-paced, high growth organizations are tracking dozens of priorities.

[00:04:57] They may not have the full context on your background, your experience, or your additional contributions. That’s not a failure of leadership, it’s the nature of complexity. The story has to be told or it simply won’t be known. 

[00:05:11] Stephanie Willmore: That’s a really good point. And so what’s the takeaway here for aspiring and current leaders? How can they improve their storytelling? 

[00:05:19] Janet Taggart: Leaders, and that includes technical leaders, functional managers and senior executives, need to learn how to tell their own performance stories. These stories shouldn’t be monologues. They should be structured and meaningful. Like in show and tell, the sharing needs to be a well constructed short story with the beginning, a middle, and an end.

[00:05:40] In other words, each story should include the setup, the challenger conflict, and the resolution, including the tangible value achieved. When told consistency, these stories create visibility and clarity, and over time they build a reputation. 

[00:05:57] Stephanie Willmore: Yeah, and it seems like the importance of these stories aren’t just about the individual, they’re there to help the organization as well.

[00:06:04] Janet Taggart: Absolutely. Stories like these told weekly have a powerful effect. They build on each other and then taken together provide convincing evidence of awesome impact. As leaders hear these stories, they start to see hidden value. They can better recognize potential, assign responsibilities more strategically, and invest in the right people.

[00:06:29] I’ve worked with leaders who have leaders saying that they have team members that they lead that are ready for development and they’re caught by surprise ’cause those people are almost invisible to that, a higher leader who’s the one that has to advocate and, and come up with the budget to develop those people.

[00:06:49] This is really an important concept. We, as leadership coaches, help individuals become more known by coaching them to selectively drip their past experiences, education, and how they creatively think through issues and solve problems, especially within the context of the value these individuals most want to become known for and what the organization most values.

[00:07:16] We’re not just elevating performance, we’re shaping future leadership. At Peridot Circle Consulting, our mission is to help leaders lead and to help the best leaders become even better. 

[00:07:27] Stephanie Willmore: That’s a wonderful way to explain what you do and the impact you have on these leaders. And what about team leads or managers? How can they support their teams in owning their stories? 

[00:07:40] Janet Taggart: You know, it really starts with conversations. You can take the initiative to explore every six to 12 months, your team members, interest in people leadership or further growth opportunities, both technical and non-technical, so that as your people evolve and mature, their professional goals can grow too.

[00:08:01] Some questions you could ask are, what are you most proud of in the past quarter, and what was the impact of that on you, on others, and on the organization? Another question could be, what was something that was harder than it looked, and how did you overcome it or get through it? Or what’s a hidden strength you wish more people recognized and in what way can you show up in that strength?

[00:08:27] These all open up storytelling. They invite reflection and they start to create a shared understanding of impact. 

[00:08:34] Stephanie Willmore: I really love those points that you offer people, some examples to think about something that they did in the last quarter. What was something that they overcame? I think that really gives people an idea of the types of stories they should be telling, and that sounds especially important in organizations that are fast growing or are tech savvy.

[00:08:55] They’re always inundated with so much, and so being able to tell those stories as they’re working in that environment is really pivotal. 

[00:09:02] Janet Taggart: Those types of organizations are our primary audience. In these environments, roles evolve quickly, reporting lines shift, visibility can be lost. That’s why leaders must guide their people in learning how to share stories, not as performance reviews, but as ongoing conversation.

[00:09:22] Here’s an example from one of our clients whom we’ll call Roy, someone I consider as having a brilliant mind and is working for a top tech company. He said, “It’s not enough to know stuff if others don’t know about it or appreciate the value you have.” He began subtly signaling his expertise through his LinkedIn profile, his email signature, and during standups where he’d connect the dots across projects. It wasn’t self-promotion, it was leadership through context. 

[00:09:55] Stephanie Willmore: So what you’re saying is this isn’t just merely reframing, it’s a strategy and that based on the example you gave, that storytelling is about aligning with your career progression and even the organization’s success. 

[00:10:08] Janet Taggart: Yes. Storytelling is a strategy that helps you align your career progression with what the organization values, and it’s especially important for those who lead technical teams.

[00:10:23] Don’t underestimate those who due to their deep technical expertise may be pigeonholed in their current role without the opportunity to influence and help lead transformational growth. These technical experts are doing a great job, but may not know how to create breakthroughs for themselves, and you can help them.

[00:10:44] And that’s what good leadership does. Not to just manage performance, but to nurture potential. And since leaders are so busy with the work at hand, the nurturing of potential can sometimes fall in the cracks and be neglected. That’s where we can partner with leaders to help the talent on their teams grow in their leadership capability and capacity.

[00:11:05] Stephanie Willmore: That’s a really, really good point, especially for those who feel that they have deep expertise in one area, but want to progress in different ways. And let’s pivot to another facet of this, which is leadership culture. It’s kind of the big picture. How does storytelling play a role in an organization’s leadership culture?

[00:11:25] Janet Taggart: Well, you know, it can transform everything, really. When individuals see the big picture for the work they do, when they understand the importance of context, they can better articulate how their story fits into the overall mission and the intentions of the organization. Their stories can clarify how their work is contributing to the team, the department, and the organization.

[00:11:49] And here’s the kicker. Leaders need their people to learn how to narrate a performance story that includes not only the con contributions of other team members, but also includes the contribution of the person who is leading and inspiring the work. That’s culture, that’s engagement, and that’s growth.

[00:12:08] Stephanie Willmore: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. You know, this has been a really engaging and rich conversation about an important topic about the role of storytelling, and what is one thing that you would leave our listeners, what’s a great call to action you would give to them after discussing this at length?

[00:12:26] Janet Taggart: I’d say create a culture where storytelling is not just allowed, it’s expected. Where everyone from your newest hire to your most senior leader has the confidence and clarity to own their story. Because when that happens, people stop waiting to be discovered. They become known for their highest value. 

[00:12:46] Stephanie Willmore: I was just gonna say, you know, that’s really key to what you do.

[00:12:49] That’s what you talk about is helping leaders become known for their highest value. And so thank you for helping us understand how storytelling is a pivotal part of becoming known. And to our listeners, thank you for joining us on this episode of the Leadership Transformations podcast. If you are an HR leader committed to building a strong leadership pipeline, or if you’re a business leader who knows that your company’s growth depends on the growth of your people, we would love to connect. And at Peridot Circle Consulting, we like to partner with forward thinking organizations to help leaders at every level rise to their potential with programs, coaching and tools that create real impact. Until next time.

At Peridot Circle, we facilitate the growth and transformation of individuals, leaders, and emerging leaders of fast-growing tech-savvy organizations. If any of our listeners are interested in learning more about our approach to leadership coaching at Peridot Circle Consulting and how to help transform how you show up at work, book a consult with us online at peridotcircleconsulting.com. We would love to help you and your organization achieve more than ever before.