For most of my career, I’ve been trying to persuade leaders to take storytelling seriously with the usual arguments:
‘it’s how you taught your kids about values and what matters in the world’
‘human beings have been telling stories since before the dawn of civilization’
‘it’s the universal language and we all speak it – no-one needs to take a class to know what a good story sounds like!’
‘sometimes you need to capture hearts as well as minds.’
But something changed recently….
We now live in a world driven by, and immersed in, stories
It’s not about ideas, perspectives, or platforms fighting for our scarce attention, and it’s certainly not facts (ah, the good old days!)…
It’s stories.
The problem is that many stories in the world today are driving us apart, inside and outside our organizations.
I believe we can create stories that bring us together
How?
Our Dilemma - 1:
Should we wait for ‘rational thinking based on facts and hard data’ to return?
Well, given how the human mind works...
(which is not about it searching for truth, but ’a sense that makes sense’)
...good luck with that.
And besides, here’s the real problem about facts and stories…
“You cannot change a story with facts; you can only change a story with a bigger story.”
—Dave Snowden
Or - Our Dilemma - 2:
Perhaps we can invest in everyone getting ‘effective storytelling skills’ that help us ‘sell’ our features, benefits and proposals so we can stand out from our competitors?
Except, everyone has had access to the same ‘storytelling as persuasion’ skills for decades. Everybody has something they want to sell to someone else – which is why we live in such a noisy world!
There’s a better response, more relevant to the business pressures of today.
Choose These Possibilities Instead:
ONE: STORIES THAT BUILD TRUST
The instinct is to use communication & storytelling to persuade or influence other people.
This is the number 1 reason people say they want to come on my workshops. But then I ask them “When was the last time you went to a meeting hoping that someone would persuade you, influence you or ‘change your thinking’? When was the last time you hoped to be ‘really sold!’”
What I believe is needed in times of disruption is communication & storytelling that changes how leaders show up to others.
That’s why 'meeting people where they are’ and ‘listening' and ‘authenticity' are all such essential and practical parts of leadership in times like this.
TWO: STORIES THAT CREATE NEW FUTURES
The reason we all want to tell good stories is because we know that stories influence how people think, feel and behave.
The problem is that there is already, always a story in place, and it is already at work on your people (it’s at work on people because they believe the story to be true, and that’s making them feel good).
It is the existing, default or dominant existing story that is our real ‘change challenge.’
Leaders need to be aware of, and sensitive to, those stories before they can hope to align people around a new, shared future.
THREE: STORIES THAT ACTIVATE ACCOUNTABILITY AND ACTION
Usually, leaders lock themselves away to create a story/strategy/purpose that they then try to enroll other people into…
‘Great, now let’s cascade it down the organization!’
This traditional practice is usually the very cause of the ‘resistance’ leaders are trying to overcome. Why? Because no-one wants to be sold to.
I’ve created a process that helps everybody become the author of the story they then want to live out.
This is good news, because human beings care about and defend what they help create. Always have, always will do.
By being authors of a change, people will become drivers of it.
