CARL will make you a better storyteller

Mes amis,

Welcome, welcome! Please have a seat and welcome to the house 🏠

Can I get you something? A smooth hot drink? Refreshing cold beverage?

In the meantime, help yourself to this week's (and next week's) issue

This is the second installment of the professional storyteller - a breakdown of our case study.

Today, we’ll be taking a look into CARL and you can use this framework to land clients, your dream job or that glossy promotion.

Ready? Let’s break it down.

What is CARL?

It stands for:

• Context

• Action

• Result

• Learning

CARL is like STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) but better equipped to deal with competency and behavioural questions.

Whoever it is you’re talking with will know they’re in gifted hands if you can nail the storytelling here.

The S.T.A.R. method has its place and can be maximised elsewhere.

Plus, I’m sure everyone used it at the start of their careers (I know I wouldn’t be where I am now without it).

But it lacks the discussion of learnings which are crucial for displaying self-awareness, emotional intelligence and a growth mindset

(Which are all soft skills people seek to work with).

We will cover STAR in a future newsletter, but let’s dive deeper into CARL.

Context

It’s important to set the scene.

Give key background information. This forces you to be precise.

When being interviewed, you want to be entertaining and interesting when the interviewer(s) asks you questions about your CV.

So keep it focused but keep the language visual too.

As you’re giving context, keep these questions in mind:

• What was the context of the situation?

• What was the situation?

• Where was it?

• Who was there?

• What was I hoping to accomplish?

Your CV is a snapshot of what you have achieved and how you did it, so make it an exciting tale!

Interviewers are looking for what happened and what you did to affect that change.

Set the stage and tell them what the issue (project) was.

Action

Now, you’ve set the scene.

• What action did you take to resolve the pain?

• Why were you best placed to solve this issue?

• Did you seek a mentor or subject matter expert?

• Why did you choose this action?

• What other actions could you have chosen? (not necessarily giving you the same result)

Once the stage is set, the interviewers should know and understand what was at stake.

Use emotive language.

Describe what you did with vivid imagery.

Go into detail about how long it took to resolve.

Who you worked with.

The plan you had put together and how you planned to execute each one.

Bring the interviewers into the moment with you and they’ll get emotionally invested. They’ll begin rooting for you to do well all the while you’ll be building rapport, too.

Result

You’ve built all this tension now and then... What happened?!

• Did you accomplish what you wanted?

• Did your actions accomplish what you wanted in the way you expected?

• What are the implications of your actions on yourself/others/similar situations in the future?

• Could different actions have given you the same result?

Everyone is on the edge of their seats, desperate to know how your tale ends.

But you know what’s funny?

They already know how the tale ends because they (the good ones) would have read your CV before you entered the interview room.

If your story is gripping, if it has stakes, emotion, and is easy to comprehend, then they’ll want to hear that story over and over again.

Since it’s a professional setting, be sure to explain why the results mattered for the objectives you were trying to achieve.

If it’s a fantastic story, then it’s sticky. People will want to listen to it on a loop.

Remind them of the pain your previous company was in, where they wanted to go, and how you were the vehicle that got them there.

Learning

"How did the situation affect you?"

This is an opportunity for you to show your personality, philosophy, and soft skills.

This could be the knockout punch, where you leave the interview with a job offer in hand!

With every great end to a story, remember that it should be the opposite of you started the story.

An example you could give is:

Trying option A because that was the best practice approach. Then coming to the realisation that Option B is better for this situation because of factors X, Y & Z.

Here are some prompts to help you discover the learning points you received from that situation.

• What did I learn from the experience?

• What should I do next time I’m in a similar experience?

• Would I do the same thing again, or would I change something?

• Should I change anything about the way I do things? What?

CARL is a great framework for answering competency-based or behavioural interview questions, contributing to business meetings, and giving updates or feedback in various situations.

You could be a plain Jane and list off your answer like a bot.

Or you could be a charismatic leader whose presence is unforgettable.

That choice is your mes ami.

A bientot 👋🏿

Like what you read? 👀

If you did then there's more to come next week 👇🏿

If you didn't then reply and tell me why. (Please be nice 🥹)

The Work in Progress Show

Did I tell you about the time I saw a UFO?

I was about 7 and it was honestly like something out of a movie; spinning saucer, green lights and just about visible in the clouds.

Of course, it zoomed off before my mum could get a glance at it but I'm certain of what I saw...

Anyway, we discuss that and 'monk' mode in our recent episode. Enjoy!

Wall of Inspiration

A pic from Namur, Belgium in late summer.