Storytelling fundamentals
When?
Share anywhere anytime
Not just the campfire, but whenever you need people to collaborate, learn and achieve
Who?
Anyone
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Leader
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Team Member
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Partners
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Colleagues
Grab attention Drawn people into the desired future, bring concepts to life with vivid imagery and help others focus on how they can participate
Make connections Invite people to discover new links to information and each other for more innovative efforts
Build understanding Demonstrate the culture in action and help others connect with who you are and what you believe to establish a more trusting working context
How to motivate through stories
1 | Start with the character and their challenge. Choose someone or something that your audience can relate to (yourself, the team, the business, a partner, customer)
2 | Get the audience in the story. Sprinkle facts with emotion, humour and dialogue to make the story more memorable.
3 | Expose the low point. Help the audience to relate to the failure and elicit empathy for the character
4 | Share the twists in the journey. Demonstrate how the character reveals their qualities to respond to the failure, learn and rise.
5 | Wrap it up. Highlight the 'so what' and the 'why' of the story. Share your personal take-aways to build connection and include a call to action
Situation
Action
Benefit
A survey of 3085 behaviour change studies revealed that 84% of people are unlikely to change behaviour on logical arguments. People are influenced more by other people than by facts
Source: Everett Rogers, Diffusion of Innovation
Storytelling isn't really about making people understand it's about making people care.
Steven Moffat
Stories are the single most powerful weapon in a leader's arsenal
Howard Gardner
Choose the situation
Identify key points grounded in the reality of your business/team
Settle on a closing sentence that confirms the benefits
Decide on your opening sentence
Clarify what action you want your audience to take (think specifics)
Storytelling practice
Take 10 minutes to develop your personal story (possible topics listed below)
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My best experience of leading
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My non-negotiable behaviours
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My career story
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A memorable learning experience
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My biggest mistake
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My self-managed learning journey
Share your story with someone for a maximum of 2 minutes
Request feedback on what specifically
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Grabbed their attention
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Helped them make new connections to information or a person
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Made them trust in the situation or a person
