It's Story Time!

Terry Goodwin needed to help thousands of employees get over their resistance to new information systems. The year was 1997 and his company's veteran employees weren't comfortable adjusting to new ways of doing business. The Internet drastically changed supply chain management, and the executives at Ryder Logistics needed to take action. “21st century logisticians will evolve into fully competent operations managers and information technocrats,” the organization mandated in a statement.⁴

Plenty of employees, however, weren't ready to give up “doing it the old way.” Operations managers had to learn new systems. Failure to “evolve” would have been devastating for the company. As Ryder Logistics' senior manager of training and education, Goodwin needed a clever way to make sure the naysayers understood the importance of their company's digital conversion.

Then the idea came to Goodwin. After re-reading Eliyahu Goldratt's The Goal, he thought that maybe an instruction tool in the form of a learning novel would be their best way to inform employees. A piece of fiction, The Goal tells the story about a manager tasked with turning around his plant's operations in three months. Readers, often college business students, follow a cast of eight characters as they implement change. Goodwin liked the book so much he decided to use the concept of a fictional novel as a means to educate Ryder Logistics' employees on the benefits of information technology in their industry.

Ryder Logistics hired a writer and published The Janz Awakening. Following The Goal's formula, The Janz Awakening tells the story of how characters Bob and Ralph come to understand their company's new requirement to put computers on every truck. The two central characters are convinced the whole plan is a foolish whim dreamt up by MBAs to raise expenses and destroy their profitability. As the novel progresses, Bob and Ralph come to see the light—information technology will save them money and effort. Goodwin, now retired from Ryder Logistics, tells me The Janz Awakening was a successful learning tool because “it was written in first person present tense and put the reader inside the head of the main character.”

What happens when a speaker kicks off a presentation with a good story? People put down their assorted “i” devices and listen. It's story time! Ryder Logistics personnel did just that. They embraced the story and learned about the benefits of change as a result. Possibly the most natural teaching device ever created, storytelling is a great way to educate as you entertain. Stories make ideas real—they give our brain something to latch on to that helps us put foreign concepts into a context we can relate to. But when you hear a good story none of that seems to matter—we don't know why we're engaged—we just know we are.

Stories have been told since before Romans wore togas, but the coming of the digital age has rekindled our interest in connecting with this time-honored tradition. With so much data being hurled at us, our brains need relief. Stories give us that break and help us make sense out of what otherwise might just be noise. Perhaps you've noticed that I like to tell stories as I explain complicated subjects to you.

You may be surprised to learn how many organizations use storytelling as a means to communicate complicated content. From button-down executives to the most brilliant of scientists, communicators are discovering that stories help them get their point across. Many see the narrative as an antidote to these complicated times. American poet Muriel Rukeyser tells us, “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”⁵

The rise of the narrative isn't New Age “feel good” rhetoric. There's scientific evidence that suggests storytelling is very helpful to learning new material. “Stories,” write adult learning experts Carolyn Clark and Marsha Rossiter, “are powerful precisely because they engage learners at a deeply human level.” Because they draw us into an experience, we see content at more than a cognitive level. You can depend on good narratives to “engage our spirit, our imagination, our heart.”⁷

Additionally, stories may evoke other experiences we've had at earlier points in our lives—and that's a good thing for learning. To learn, we must connect new content to experiences we've had in the past.⁸ Telling stories makes those experiences real again. Similar to analogies, stories help your brain latch onto something old so the new content isn't so foreign.

STORYTELLING CAN LIGHTEN UP THE DRIEST OF SUBJECTS

Perhaps you don't think economics is an exciting subject. Many people find it boring; yet two economists figured out a way to use storytelling to keep readers engaged. Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw tell the story about how politico-economic events shaped the twentieth century in their book The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy.⁹ Readers worldwide devoured the historical account like a steamy E. L. James novel.

The Commanding Heights employs a cast of no less than thirty characters—real-life economists, heads of state, central bankers, and finance ministers—as the book's protagonists. The authors explain the pitfalls of big government and the enduring fortitude of financial markets. Yet when you read the book, you become absorbed in the stories told by Yergin and Stanislaw. They introduce interesting people and, like a good novel, you want to find out what happens to them. Fortune says the book “reads like a juicy nonfiction soap opera.”¹⁰ But while you read the narratives, something incredible occurs simultaneously: you're learning about a subject of academic heft.

The Commanding Heights demonstrates how narratives can illuminate an otherwise bland subject and make it interesting—and therefore accessible. But stories are also a great way to motivate people. Paul Smith, author of Lead with a Story, says companies like Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, and Hewlett-Packard are embracing the power of the narrative to take action. “You just can't tell people to get motivated,” he observes, “you have to lead them there.” By telling employees stories you make a human connection that may encourage them to act like the person you're talking about. Their empathy may spill over. “The best way to get the attention of a business audience,” says Smith, “is to quickly introduce a main character they can relate to, and put the character in a challenging situation or predicament.”¹¹

GETTING STARTED WITH STORYTELLING

The benefits of storytelling are many, but it may take practice to seamlessly weave this technique into your communication efforts. You may start out clumsy at first if you've never used stories in a professional setting, but with practice it will feel more natural in no time.

What kind of story should you tell? One that is relevant to the audience and pertinent to the subject being discussed. Don't tell stories unrelated to their topic as a means to break the ice. Some speakers like to kick off presentations with jokes about the traffic, the weather, or a funny thing that happened to them on the way to the conference. They may get a chuckle from the audience—perhaps easing the relationship between speaker and audience. But content that doesn't help you deliver meaning is essentially wasted time. You can do much better.

Tell a story that's in context with the rest of your presentation or paper. Help your audience comprehend your topic at a human level before digging down into detail. The intro story should get the audience's attention and possibly strike an emotional chord, but those feelings must be related to the subject at hand. Your opening story is a great chance for you to communicate at a human level. Don't waste the opportunity.

Look for stories that relate to your subject and include a human element. Use the model of so many of the stories in this book, if you like.

A professional encounters a communications challenge.
To overcome obstacles, he explores possible solutions, and then triumphs by figuring out the right formula.

Could it be any easier? In each chapter, the characters, situations, and solutions change. Yet like a romantic comedy, the plot remains essentially the same.

Communicators have been applying the “Conflict-Crisis-Resolution Model” for centuries. This tool can help you frame your story easily. This model, also called the Freitag triangle, identifies five stages of a story¹²:

1. THE EXPOSITION. Begin your story—set the stage by providing background information that is important to the story's development.

2. RISING ACTION. Build your story with a conflict or event your audience will find compelling.

3. CLIMAX. Let the conflict reach a crescendo. This is where your rising action comes to a head.

4. FALLING ACTION. Ease your audience down after the big climax.

5. RESOLUTION. Tie up any loose ends.

You can simplify the model to include just context setting (exposition), rising action, and conclusion if that sounds easier.