The Magical Art of Showing Up

Our world can be very impersonal, especially at work. We send stacks of emails and texts, even when we could just as easily talk. We’re obsessed with scrolling on our phones, even when we’re not looking for anything. We meet on Zoom or Teams, where everyone is not-so-secretly checking their email and phones.

And we wonder why employee engagement has fallen to a 15-year low.

Some of this happened by necessity. The COVID-19 pandemic drove us all to our make-shift home offices, and while many organizations are demanding a return to the office — at least part of the time — it doesn’t feel quite the same.

All of this makes it much harder to be an effective storyteller in your organization. So, here’s our great big idea: Let’s get better at showing up.

I was reminded of this while reading “Times Insider,” one of my favorite New York Times features, which take readers behind the scenes to learn the story behind the story.

On Page 2 of the print edition published Sunday, Oct. 25, Times Insider writer Terence McGinley interviewed investigative reporter Andrea Elliott about her story on the competition to open a cannabis dispensary in upstate Hudson, New York, and how the fight exposed the tensions created by the town’s gentrification.

As a reporter, Elliott said: “nothing compares to the act of showing up. There is no substitute for being there. And people know this, instinctively. They are more inclined to open up when they see how devoted you are to the story.”

The benefits of showing up offer clear advantages to communicators. Here are a few ways, with our tips:  

• Showing up. What does a story look like? How does it feel? We’re always asking those questions when working with writers in our Build Better Writers program. “The utility of on-the-ground reporting never ceases to amaze me,” says Elliott, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner including in 2022 for her book, “Invisible Child.”

The problem, of course, is that many of our writers can’t answer that question because they’re either working from home or their companies are so far-flung that it’s physically impossible for them to be on location. And no, the corporate jet just never seems to be available.  

Our tips: When you can, go there. Yes, it takes longer, and you don’t think you have the time. Neither do the people you want to interview. But as Elliott says, making the effort to show up can make the difference between a run-of-the-mill story and one that will resonate with your audience. Visit the small clinic miles from the main hospital. Tour the manufacturing plant that makes the products. See what you’re writing about.

You may be surprised how people respond when you ask them for some face time. We once worked with the writers at a big insurance company on stories that would benefit from getting hard-to-access data. One visit to the company’s researchers changed that. “No one has ever asked us for that,” one confided.

When you can’t be there, you need eyes and ears. Find a contact who can describe an environment for you. Take time to ask as many questions as you need to set the scene. Maybe even ask to go on a video tour so you can get a feel for the place. A story set in a factory will turn out much better if you can describe what it looks like and how it sounds it in action.

In a communications audit for a utility, we wondered why employees weren’t reading the digital signs in the breakroom, which we weren’t there to see. When we talked with a few line workers in a focus group, they said they preferred to take their breaks outside the warehouse where they picked up supplies and loaded up their trucks. We recommended moving the monitors.

• Interviewing. You get the best information and quotes from people when you’re sitting across from them. They’re usually not as distracted. You can look them in the eye and size them up, just as they are taking the measure of you. You can have more back-and-forth in ways you can’t do in an email or even on Zoom, where people can get self-conscious. Here’s Elliott:

“Just as I am observing my subjects, they are taking note of me — the kinds of questions I ask, or how I talk to my kids when they call, mid-interview, or whether I laugh at a particular joke. It is a deeply human exchange.”

Our tips: Push gently. Make appointments to meet your interview subjects in their office. Photos, plaques and desktop knickknacks can tell a lot about a person.  Or suggest meeting outside of their office, in the lunchroom or the shop floor, where you might get some color details or see the interviewee interact with others. The worst place for an interview someone is a conference room, to be used only when interruptions are a big problem.

For video calls, build in extra time for some pre-interview conversation. Our audit clients tend to protect their executives and only schedule 30 minutes for us to talk with them. But a little friendly banter up front works wonders, and most leaders ignore the deadline once we get going. 

Finally, after an in-person or video interview, always schedule a follow-up phone call. Your subjects will be looser because they already know you, and you might get your best stuff the second time around. 

• Writing. Showing up helps you dig deeper for the details you need while giving you the bigger picture from above.  For example, writing a story about new company goals would benefit by attending sales meetings. Those are so much more than an event; they’re a glimpse into company strategy, the mood of the sales force and a measure of what it takes to succeed, especially in a difficult economy.
  
  Launching a new product or technology is certainly worth a story, but how will it change how people work? That’s the story you want to tell.

Our tip: I’ll give Elliott the last word on this one:

“Like my colleagues on investigations, I am always looking for the bigger story,” she says. “This is an essential part of our job. It’s what my mentor, the revered Times editor Christine Kay, called ‘taking altitude.’”

Ragan Consulting Group Co-founder Jim Ylisela loves to help writers discover the big picture in their stories. Jim and his colleague Tom Corfman will help you find yours in our Build Better Writers program. Email Tom to learn more.

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