Once upon a time…

by Craig

As kids, my brother and I would sit and listen as our parents read us stories. Each story, no matter how many times we heard it, felt like the first time. My favourite was Mr. Tickle from the Mr. Men books. He made people smile and be happy; I based my life on this mantra.

It wasn’t that my parents were thespians or classically trained actors; it was the fact that their stories always put me and my brother at the heart of the plot. We were always the stars, the heroes and we wanted to hear the stories again and again.

We remember stories, they make it easier to understand situations and emotions, and they draw us into the storyteller’s world. Yet in business and indeed as adults, we talk more about processes and procedures, and facts and figures. How engaging is that, when you consider the majority of people who work in our businesses are not particularly excited or inspired by complicated Excel spreadsheets or PowerPoint presentations?

As humans, we love stories. Every time we’re with friends or family we talk in stories. Comments such as, ‘You’ll never guess what happened to me today’ or ‘Did I ever tell you about the time…?’ become a cacophony of noise heard around bars, coffee shops and shopping centres. Outside the workplace, we tell stories all the time – we just don’t realise it. If we shared more of what’s going on in our business life as a story to our colleagues, they would be more likely to feel part of it and buy into it.

Now, I can hear the cries from some of you already… ’I can’t tell stories’ or ‘We’re adults, not children’. If someone explained to you the direction of your company as a series of bullet points, figures and processes or instead as a beautifully crafted story, where you were the hero and helped to achieve something amazing, which would you prefer? I accept, some of you like spreadsheets and PowerPoint but consider what your people would prefer. I’d also urge you to consider the fact that engaged employees have a direct positive impact on organisational performance (see research from Gallup and the Harvard Business Review).

Why storytelling matters

I’ve worked with many clients over the years and I know that storytelling works. I could give you data, spreadsheets and a presentation to prove the point, however here’s a short story instead:

A client I’m working with decided to create stories about their key business drivers and placed teams and individuals at the heart of driving their success, as opposed to trying to engage people with endless facts, figures and performance data.

Rambutan helped managers design their own stories for their teams. The teams then listened to the stories and thought about what they needed to do each and every day to become the hero of the story. Different teams then came together and shared stories of success and used this as a way of recognising great work, learning lessons and spreading knowledge.

Because of this shift in approach, the accountability to solve issues by teams and managers has increased. Challenging and supporting each other positively has driven a new culture of feedback. And, more importantly, business performance has improved.

That’s the end of this story, but it could be just the beginning of yours. Where do you want to go and how are you going to get there?