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Once Upon a Time

Become a Great Storyteller

WHEN’S THE LAST TIME you heard a really great speech from one of your organization’s senior leaders? How’d he or she do? Were you engaged? Did you understand the intended message, and could you translate that for your team? Was any part of it truly memorable? How did it land with the rest of the audience—could you tell? The fact is leaders often find themselves speaking or presenting in front of an audience of employees, trying to deliver a particular message. You’ve probably been in front of your own team several times this year. How’d you do? Are you happy with your speaking or presenting style? Did you have a specific purpose in mind, and did you achieve it? Though it helps to have persuasive facts, a compelling message, and a clear sense of the appropriate steps to take, there’s one other element you should add to your toolkit if you want to be an effective public speaker: the art of telling stories.

By now it’s common knowledge that storytelling is a great way for leaders to convey a message, share their experiences, and inspire an audience. Storytelling, of course, has a long and rich history. Humans have been telling stories for as long as they’ve been communicating; stories were the primary means of teaching and sharing wisdom before writing was invented. Whether they captured real experiences or were merely fables or parables, stories were passed down from generation to generation as a way of preserving precious memories and sharing knowledge. Isn’t it remarkable that the oldest means of communicating a message is still one of the best?

Stories serve to flesh out or illustrate your message, making it easier to remember. Stories add color and texture to your key points, giving people a way to relate to what you’re saying or asking them to do. Listen to just about any speech, and when your attention starts to drift, notice if you snap right back when the speaker starts to tell a story. That’s the power of stories; we’re programmed from a young age to perk up and listen to a story, waiting to see how it will end. In fact, stories will be what your audience or team remembers about the speech or presentation, long after the PowerPoint slides have faded or your statistics have grown outdated. Stories simply stick with people, and they provide an easy way for leaders to cascade a message to their teams. Telling a story isn’t hard, of course; you do it several times each day without even thinking about it. But there is an art to weaving stories into your message; it takes a little imagination and planning. Following are four techniques to use when adding stories to your next speech or presentation.

Connect Stories to Your Key Messages

First, be sure to connect the story to your key messages. There’s no magic formula to the number of stories you can tell in any one speech, but you’re probably striving to make two or three main points, at best. Make sure each of your main points has a story to help drive the message home. Let me tell you a story to illustrate how this works (see how easy this is?). A few years ago, our HR team was launching a new internal marketing slogan. We were looking to boost our own customer focus skills by using the phrase “moments that matter” to describe our desired interaction with employees (we wanted every encounter with the HR team to be a meaningful touch point for our associates). I was one of several senior HR leaders who spoke that day in support of this new initiative, and I shared the story of a book I was reading called Once Upon a Town by Bob Greene.¹² The book is about the citizens of North Platte, Nebraska, who opened a 24-hour canteen at their train station to bring a little joy to the thousands of U.S. soldiers who were moving through on troop trains during WW II. What was remarkable about the story was that the trains only stopped in North Platte for about fifteen minutes. In those brief moments, however, in the middle of nowhere, the soldiers experienced an outpouring of love and generosity that would stay with them for years. The spirit of “making every associate interaction count” really came alive with the help of this example. I was able to use a story to connect to the key message, which helped people understand what we were trying to do. Afterward, I received a lot of positive feedback from the audience about my story; most people told me it helped them emotionally connect with the initiative we were trying to drive. What’s the moral of this particular story? Matching your stories to your key messages brings your main points to life.

Second, build a well-crafted story. As with any story, be sure it has a beginning, a middle, and an end; make it easy to follow. Introduce the story by saying: “Let me tell you a story to demonstrate this” or “Here’s a story that illustrates what I’m talking about.” Then clearly state how the story actually does connect to your message (stories don’t work if they leave your audience scratching their heads for relevance).

Third, in today’s world, it’s important to ensure that the story is culturally and politically correct. You don’t need the awkward moment that comes with putting your foot in your mouth by sharing a story that will offend any portion of the audience. This goes double for stories that you think are cute or funny; keep it clean, or don’t tell it at all.

Finally, keep your story short; the best stories take only a minute or two to deliver. Get into your story, make your points, and move on. If you ramble along for ten minutes with a poorly constructed story, you’ll lose the audience—so keep it brief, but tell it with passion.

What type of stories work best? Examples from your own experience always get high marks, especially if they’re representing you in a humble or “I learned from my mistakes” perspective. Lessons from great leaders throughout history work well, too, to illustrate what other leaders struggled with or achieved. Clearly, lessons learned within your own organization are a big hit because they’re so relevant.

Even ancient fables or parables work and can be a lot of fun to share. Just make sure they’re connected to your message (you might seek feedback from a few peers to see if they see the same link you do).

One of the best ways to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps is to make yourself into a better public speaker. Developing your storytelling capability will help you get there. The next time you have a speech or a presentation to give, find room for a few stories, and watch your audience respond when you say those six magical words: “Let me tell you a story. . . .”

Bootstrap Takeaways

Become a Great Storyteller

1. Add stories to your next speech or presentation, and start using the power of storytelling to connect with your audience.

2. Use stories that obviously connect to your key messages. Don’t make your audience search for relevance—make the metaphor clear.

3. Become known as a great storyteller and people will actually look forward to seeing you up on stage. Imagine that!