ME&A Vice President for Learning Technologies
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Story Teller
By Don Smith, Ed.D.
“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Rudyard Kipling (1904)
Storytelling has been an effective means of communicating important substantive and cultural messages for thousands of years. The Bible is one of the best examples of how storytelling has been used to shape behaviors, cultural norms, and core values. Great stories create a rich visual imagery in our minds, and great storytellers invite us to dream about possible and realistic futures. Consciously or not, these are undoubtedly some of the reasons why storytelling has emerged as the preferred approach for teaching leadership effectiveness in many of our high-performing organizations today.
Today’s leaders, mentors, coaches, managers, and international development professionals must develop the skills to become effective storytellers, as a workable strategy in how they perform their jobs and engage others to perform theirs. Storytelling, when linked directly to an organization’s strategic and cultural context, is a powerful means of simultaneously building strategic capability (the “doing” aspects of leading), and strengthening organizational character (the “becoming” aspects of leading).
For a story to be effective, it must stimulate learning; encourage mutual involvement; and, to have impact, produce changes in behavior. Different organizations may prefer to emphasize different skills and behaviors as their components of effective leadership, and they should map those elements against the relevant and exciting stories they want to tell. At the same time, storytelling may turn out to be one of the more important tools of the next decade. A story can also stimulate the power of imagination to gain insight into the things for which our colleagues and clients yearn, and how they envisage their future. Telling a story requires a storyteller (“liberating leader”), and an audience (co-workers). The interactions between the storyteller and the audience create a space within which they exchange ideas, experiences, feelings, and other mental content.
The story aims not only at the past, but also at a possible and dramatic tomorrow. With cultural change, the skill is in storytelling the future. Stories can also boost a cultural change that is already underway; they can also serve as an example and inspiration if they are about past and present successes. Colleagues and clients look for a meaning in the story.Most of us love stories. We love to tell them, and we love to hear them. A really dramatic story makes a campfire worth lighting, a cocktail party worth attending, a reunion worth holding, and a ‘retreat’ worth attending. A story can evoke both tears and laughter. An exciting story can touch something familiar in each of us, and yet show us something new about our lives, our world, our organizations, and ourselves.
Some Effective Techniques for Effective Story Delivery:
- Dramatize—Don’t be afraid to ham it up a bit.
- Describe—Use a lot of detail at the beginning, then slowly phase the details out, focusing on the critical message.
- Shift—The storyteller should step in and out of the scene, remaining present, but not dominant.
- Pause—Timing is essential for effective story telling—add suspense, eye contact, and important silences.
- Gesture—Utilize different and dramatic body movements—especially with our hands—and facial expressions.
- Stay focused—Stick to the story and avoid going off on tangents—as Tom Peters said in 1982, “stick to our knitting!”
- Stay positive—Remain sincere, honest, and positive throughout.
A leader’s effective stories engage and secure a balanced perspective. The very act of storytelling creates a natural, relaxed energy between the teller and the listener. When we hear a story, we project ourselves into the situation and listen as if we were there. If a “liberating leader” indicates that he/she has struggled with challenges, similar to those of the listeners, they will connect with them more deeply. Stories help us drop the façade of perfection, which can put distance between ourselves and our colleagues and clients—and our future.
