The Innovator’s Quick Guide to Telling Winning Stories
So you want to make a change. ____ Business transformation doesn’t just appear out of thin air. Behind each step change is a story of determination, courage and countless hours put in by passionate individuals like you. Bringing about organisational change is hard work, and often new ideas, concepts and intentions are lost in translation between technology and business leaders although there is one thing that could have sold them all: Storytelling, the powerful little tool that connects your ideas with the hearts and minds of colleagues, chief executives and customers.
Tell better stories now! To make your introduction into the art of connecting with others as straightforward as possible, we’ve filled this toolkit with everything you need to find success in storytelling. Whether you’re looking for board-level buy-in, funding or your teams’ support for your ideas, we’ll show you just how easy it is to create a persuasive story and tell it.
____ 1. Connecting with your audience 2. Discovering your story 3. Building a narrative 4. Crystallising your message 5. Plotting story success 6. Crafting a call to action 7. Sharing your story 8. Finding your voice
1. The Fellow Changemaker
wants insight into the process, how you addressed a challenge and overcame it. Illustrate how you turned insights into practice.
2. The Thought-Leader
wants to know what’s unique and how and why the new solution fits within your corporate story, emerging market trends or wider social change. Relate your project to the bigger picture.
3. The Funder
wants you to provide compelling evidence of the ROI potential and business impact of your idea or solution. And some proof that nothing else is already solving the same problem.
4. The End User
wants to be inspired, moved or entertained. Capture their imagination how your solution makes life easier and you’re one step closer to a base of advocates.
1. CONNECTING WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
The best stories spark a connection because they inspire, challenge, educate or incite emotion.
____ Your story is only as good as the amount of people that listen and act on it. That’s why it is important to help your listeners find themselves inside your story. Surprise your audience to capture their attention quickly. Then teach them something useful, speak to their desires or outline their role in your plot as the story unfolds. You’ll see it makes your story memorable and infinitely more shareable. Before you know it, your colleagues will go off to spread your word amongst their peers and teams, recruiting additional supporters for your mission.
2. DISCOVERING YOUR STORY
So where do I start? ____ The hardest part of storytelling is telling the right story at the right time. This works best if you have two or three stories up your sleeve but just carving out one can be a challenge to begin with, so it’s best to start with a story that’s rooted in reality. Remember a few moments from your life when you had to break out of your comfort zone to tackle a problem and make a positive difference in the world. What was the challenge? What was the watershed? How did your action make you feel, and how did it impact others around you?
There you go, you’re starting to paint a vivid mental picture! Select one of these moments as the basis for your story.
3. BUILDING A NARRATIVE
If you create more tension and happy endings than the profit graph in your board meeting, you’re on to a winner.
____ Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end and all three parts are important in their own right. For a simple but effective story, start with a good hook to wake up your audience, introduce some drama by detailing the central conflict, and then resolve the situation by introducing your solution.
The Conflict The Hook It’s simply the opening that pulls your audience into the story by setting the scene. Describe the where, when and who. In other words, give some context and introduce your protagonist(s).
You really want to build your story around that key moment you identified earlier and clearly describe the question or challenge you faced, outlining the social/economic/technological cause of the issue. What impact did it have on you and the people around you? Why was there a need for your solution?
You may well be the main character in this story but you’re free to take a different perspective, of course, e.g. that of a staff member or another decision-maker, if it helps your audience to recognise themselves in your story.
The better you are able to recall and relay the emotions that accompanied your challenge, the better your audience will be able to connect with your protagonist(s). After all, your goal is to make this story sticky and inspire others to share your vision.
The Big Idea When your audience is suitably on tenterhooks, resolve the tension by introducing your solution. What is it, how does it work and how did you come to think of it? How did you engage stakeholders and respond to criticism from the skeptics? Don’t forget to highlight how it’s different from other solutions. If you are addressing a currently unresolved issue, detail your strategy and evidence how your solution will work, including examples, scenarios or pilot results for illustration.
The Transformation How has your solution transformed the situation you were in? In what ways has it improved employees’ work lives, customer interactions, brand experience or business performance? Lay bare the impact your solution is creating. Include data to convince the arithmocracy. Then share the feedback you’ve collected from people that were directly affected by the problem and your big idea to emphasise the social change you’ve brought about.
4. CRYSTALLISING YOUR MESSAGE
If your audience were to take away only one thing from your story, what would it be?
____ Whether you’re setting out to garner advocacy for an idea, secure funding for a project or open people’s eyes to a new way of working, consider why you are telling your story. There is no magic here. Just clear thinking. What do you want your fellow changemakers, sponsors, end users or stick-in-the-muds to understand? Can you crystallise your solution and mission into one easy-to-remember message? Being able to sum it up in one sentence will keep you focused on what’s important as you build your narrative.
The Quest
The protagonist and some companions set out on a mission from A to B, defying obstacles, challenges and temptations along the way. The main character emerges from this quest as a hero. __ Sound like you and your team?
Rebirth An important event forces the main protagonist to change their ways, often making them a better person in the process.
Overcoming the Monster
The protagonist is on a mission to defeat an antagonistic force that threatens his or her homeland.
__
__
A story for those scared of change.
How are you saving your business?
5. PLOTTING STORY SUCCESS
Take it up one notch by using a classic plot line that people will easily recognise and remember.
____ There are really only seven types of stories (or six, if you believe AI). Which archetypal plot best suits your mission, depends on your protagonist, audience and the challenge at hand but in the workplace context you’ll probably find the format of the mighty Quest (or “Hero Journey”), Rebirth and Overcoming the Monster the most useful. Nail one of these and everyone will be on the edge of their seat during the next meeting.
5. CRAFTING A CALL TO ACTION
Get them to share your vision. ____ You put effort into crafting your story to inspire your audience, so once you have earned their attention (and hopefully enthusiasm!) you absolutely should seize the opportunity and make clear what action you would like your audience to take next. Become a champion of your cause? Tell their departments about your big idea? Take part in a pilot project? Being univocal and explicit about the urgency of the action guarantees a strong call to action and will motivate your audience to share your story now.
5. SHARING YOUR STORY
Get social. ____ Whenever you can, tell your story to others in person - in meetings, presentations, speeches, interviews or in the office kitchen. On top of that, try one of these proven tactics:
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Share your story through digital media such as your company blog, podcast, customer portal, brand content platforms, e-newsletters and intranet
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Social media including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Reddit
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Share your story with known supporters, media outlets and influencers who can share it to their own networks to increase reach
Most importantly, use your story to build deeper personal connections, further engagement and gain commitment from key people in your organisation.
5. FINDING YOUR VOICE
Just be yourself. ____ As much as your story needs to be true to establish credibility, your voice needs to be, well, you! Minus the swear words if you’re of the straight-talking kind. Essentially, there is everything wrong with pretending to be someone you are not, and everything right with being just yourself. Authenticity inspires empathy in your audience, builds trust in you and confidence in your vision. Plus, you’ll feel a lot more comfortable when those follow-up questions start to fly in.
GET INSPIRED
Delve into these short and long reads for tips how to become a better storyteller and for the science behind a good story.
____ Be A Good Storyteller, CIO Career Coach Series, Martha Heller, 2017 CIO Finds Storytelling Challenging But Crucial, Clint Boulton, 2017 Data Mining Reveals the Six Basic Emotionals Arcs of Storytelling, MIT Technology Review, 2016 The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, Christopher Booker, 2005 How To Become A Better Storyteller: Tips From Obama’s Speechwriter, Unpacked, Steve Seager, 2017 The Storytelling Book, Anthony Tasgal, 2015 The Storyteller's Secret: How TED Speakers and Inspirational Leaders Turn Their Passion into Performance, Carmine Gallo, 2016
Connecting ideas with people.
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