Less Chatter, More Matter: The Communications Podcast

#70 Strategic storytelling: what is it and why should you use it?

• Season 1 • Episode 70

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Strategic storytelling is a skill as old as time… literally. As in, most of the world couldn’t read or write until the 1980s, so how we communicated was through verbal storytelling. 

This, however, has become less used over time with the introduction of length presentations and the infamous dot-point; but can we really say that those are more effective than a story?

No, we actually can’t. Which is why this week’s episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast is centred around the neuroscience, alongside the history, of why storytelling is actually significantly more impactful with an audience - especially when it’s strategic. 

Alongside how you can use it, and why you should. So, get stuck into it and hone in on your inner storyteller this week.

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Mel:

Hi, and welcome to Less Chatter, More Matter, a podcast about all things communication without the waffle. I'm your host, Mel Loy, and in this show, I will give you short, punchy, practical communication tips and insights I'm You can start using in your communication practices right away. I'm a former corporate communication executive who happily took a redundancy, started my own business and never looked back. These days I use my 20 plus years of experience to help guide organisations of all shapes and sizes in how to communicate more effectively. I'm wife to Michael, cat mum to Cookie, aunty to 12 nieces and nephews, a yoga teacher, and a group fitness fanatic. I promise these episodes will always be short, sharp, and helpful, so let's get amongst it. Hi everyone, and welcome to the show. Again, it is absolutely brilliant to have you all here. And if this is your first time tuning in a big hello to you, before we kick on, I have one tiny request of you. Will you be a super helpful person and become a reviewer of this show? It only takes about 30 seconds of your time and all you need to do is rate the show and leave a quick review. It's only 30 seconds, but it makes the world of difference in this show being seen by more people who could really use support in improving their communications. And if you're already a reviewer, a big thanks to you. Okay, onto today's show. Let me start by telling you a story. Once upon a time, actually not that long ago, nobody wrote words or read them. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum, in 1820, so only about 200 years ago, the literacy rate of the world's population from high school age onwards was only 12%. That's just three in every 25 people, just 200 years ago. By 1900, it hadn't improved that much. That literacy rate was about 20%. It wasn't until 1960 we saw a big lift, but even then it was under 50%. It was 42 percent of people were literate. And then 70 percent by 1983. Today, it's about 87 percent or nine in 10 people. Now, why am I telling you this? Well, if you think about it, human history is about anywhere up to 350, 000 years old. So for only the tiniest, tiny part of our history, have we actually communicated in writing. Our ancestors, even just the ones most recently in just the last few hundred years, mostly communicated through the spoken word and history and culture was recorded in verbal storytelling. Essentially what that means is our brains are wired for stories. It's how we retained memories and records, ideas and learning, and it's how we pass them on to the future generations. And here's what else we know about neuroscience and storytelling. When you hear a story, chemicals like cortisol, dopamine, oxytocin are released, and that assists with engagement, connection, and memory. And when you hear something really novel or surprising, your brain releases a bit of dopamine, which kind of acts like a save button. So when you hear a stupid fun fact, like wombats poop cubes, you're going to remember that more than you're going to remember a list of dot points that somebody sent you. Hearing a story also activates the language processing parts of our brain. So essentially you have the same physiological reaction to hearing a story as you would if you actually experienced it yourself. Isn't that madness? Our brains are wired to detect change as well because long ago we had to be on the lookout for change. Changes in our environment because of predators, prey, you know, natural disasters, et cetera. Change and our survival went hand in hand. And when you think about it, most stories are about change. So we know that, but why else should we use storytelling more? Well, number one, it drives a greater connection to and a richer experience of the key message that you're trying to tell. Again, think about a story versus dot points. People remember stories, not dot points. A story cuts through the noise and helps grab attention as well. And when you think about how many emails people get a day, I think at last estimate, we send 40, we receive 120. Yeah. Something has to be able to cut through. The other really powerful thing about stories is that people are motivated by purpose, not transaction. And a story can demonstrate purpose in everyday activity, so it can really help connect people to a bigger why. Storytelling is also really key in terms of meaning making and sense making, so it can help make really complex things very simple for people. And it's all about learning. It's about exchanging ideas, gaining new perspectives, expanding and challenging your world view. There's also a lot of business value in storytelling and using it in a workplace. It drives your strategy success, so it helps people at all at all levels in your organization understand the why behind your organization strategy, and that gives it a bigger chance of success, which helps drive your business performance. Secondly, it can help improve engagement because, as I said, it drives that connection to purpose and therefore improves performance and engagement. And thirdly, it can help you. It improves the buy in to your story or your message, makes your key messages memorable, and it builds connection with all your stakeholders, including your people, customers, the board, whatever it is, whoever else it might be. Now, despite all of these good things and all the science that we know, And despite the fact that stories are just so powerful, in just a few decades really, in our entire existence as human beings on this planet, we've resorted to bullet point lists and boring PowerPoints and long, long emails, none of which tell stories. So of course our communication isn't cutting through. Of course we're not connecting. as well as we used to. So now we come to the crux of this episode. Clearly storytelling is our most natural and our most powerful form of communication. So why aren't we using it more? My own theory based on observations is that we've now become creatures of habit and we are slaves to the email. And don't get me wrong, reading and writing is great. I love it. I love reading and I love writing. I read every night. But the writing has to be good, right? It has to tell a story. But because storytelling is outside of our corporate comfort zone, and because emails are much more easy to send when it's just a list of dotted points, it's not, storytelling isn't being used. And many people also just may not understand or have learned the power of it as well. If they did, maybe they would use it more. So today, I'm going to give you three steps and a simple formula to help you tell a great strategic story that you can use in your work. Sound good? Sounds amazing! Awesome! Let's go. The three steps I'm going to talk you through are, number one, get clear on your objectives. Number two, pick a type of story. And number three, choose a formula. So let's start with step one objectives like everything in communication. And I know I bang on about this all the time, but you need to have three clear objectives. What do you want people to know, feel or do as a result of the message or the story that you sent? You have to know what outcome you're trying to achieve because that is how you craft a story that will actually have purpose. Telling a story for the sake of telling one is great if you're chatting to a colleague in the kitchen over Zoom and sharing what you did on the weekend. But not so much if you want to drive strategy or change. So be very clear on what you want people to know, whether that's about a change, a strategy, or some other initiative. Then be clear on what you want them to do. Maybe it's just, you want them to be motivated, to continue to drive the project forward. And as always, be super clear on what you want people to feel. This is where the gold is in storytelling. If you can hit people in the feels, you'll be on the right track to your message cutting through and sticking with people. So you've gotten clear on your objectives. It's time for step two, which is picking a type of story and picking the story type can really help just get the creative juices flowing and also really help people who aren't that comfortable yet with storytelling, who wouldn't even know where to start. There's four main story types that I teach in our masterclasses. The first one is hypotheticals. So these stories that usually start with words like imagine if... So, for example, if you're telling a story that relates to your new organisational strategy, it might start with something like, "imagine it's five years from now and you're a customer walking into one of our stores. As soon as you walk in, you're recognised by the AI power camera and the usual purchases that you get are presented to you in an instant." So hypotheticals are really helpful, particularly for leaders who are uncomfortable or new to storytelling because they're not as personal as other types of story. And you can use them to paint a picture of your vision of what could be, so they can be really great for strategic stories. The second story type is the classic, the hero, the villain, and the victim. Now these stories are really useful when you want to make a compelling case for why, why you want people to do something differently or why you need to change the direction of a business. So the victim could be your customers or some other stakeholders. The villain is whatever forces are working against them that are making their lives harder. The hero is your company coming in to save the That's when you talk about how you're going to help your customers. Or maybe the victim is your business. So for example, the villain could be global financial forces or AI that's about to take over everything that you do. And if it's allowed to roam free in your business. So the hero, the thing that saves you is your strategy. The third story type is analogy. So it's those, this is like that kind of stories or scenarios. So you could use a more abstract analogy. So for example, maybe a story about how penguins survive in the Antarctic and so harsh environments, and you can relate that back to resilience, or you could use another business as a comparison. So for a long time, almost every single executive session used the Kodak story. For those of you who thankfully aren't aware of the Kodak story, didn't hear it a million times. Kodak stupidly passed on the digital camera thinking it would never take off. And of course that killed their business in the long run. Uh, another way to use analogies is to remind people of a similar situation that they may have been in. So this is really good when you're communicating change. So, you could say something like, you know, remember when we put in that new payroll system last year, this is just like that. We are going to have some teething problems. We know that. But a year down the track, we're using the payroll system every day. It's pretty seamless and it's saved us heaps of time. So that's an analogy. The fourth type of story is personal experiences. So this is often where some leaders, particularly people who are new to leadership, find it a bit uncomfortable. But these personal stories work really well because they connect the speaker and the audience on a very human level. Now, when I say personal, obviously there are boundaries and you want to make sure the personal stories are obviously very relevant to the point you want to make. So these types of stories often start with words like, "I remember when or a few years ago, I blah, blah, blah." So for example, a CEO could talk about their first memories of joining the business and how different it was then. Or a leader could talk about a time that they felt very challenged and had to overcome that challenge or build resilience. There's loads of ways to do it that still show some personality and connect with other people without getting too personal. Remember though, we are talking to humans, not robots. So we really want connection if we want people to really take the message home that we want them to take home. Um, which is a good point to pause to quickly talk about what actually makes a good story. So good stories are number one relatable as in, if you're listening to it, you might think, Oh, I could see myself doing that, or it's about a place or a time or an event that you're involved in or that you observed yourself. Good stories are also personal, as I said, within boundaries, but they do connect the speaker to their audience. And sometimes the speaker or the sender of the message. Shows a bit of vulnerability as well. Good stories often have humor, if appropriate. But humor always goes down well, because it releases happy hormones. And it helps your topic be much more interesting and memorable as well. Good stories are also relevant. So, as I said, it has to be relevant to the point you're trying to make, or to the topic of the event, or even what your audience does for a living. Good stories are also genuine, so that they are told authentically and from the heart. We all know when somebody isn't being genuine with us, it's a sixth sense we seem to have. And that just turns people off, so it has to be told genuinely. And finally, good stories are also emotional. Now that doesn't mean they're always a sob story, that they make people cry in the audience. But the thing is, emotions connect with people, right? So yes, the emotion could be sadness, but it could also be anger, a sense of injustice, happiness, excitement, all sorts of things. So think about what emotion you want to elicit from your audience when you tell this story. Okay, so you've gotten clear on your objectives and you've picked a story type and you've got some ideas of what that story could be. Now it's time to plug it into a structure or a formula. Now there's loads of different formulas out there. In my masterclass on strategic storytelling, we talk through a few of those other formulas, which are absolutely suitable and I encourage you go check them out yourself. We just don't have time to get into them all today. So look up the Pixar story spines. That's Pixar, the guys who made Toy Story, uh, the story brand framework and Nancy Duarte's what is and what could be structure as a starting point. And actually, you could probably even just ask ChatGPT what a good structure is for a story. And it'll give you one. How good is that? The formula I'm going to whiz through with you today, though, is our own HMC formula. It's the 5 step story framework, and it goes a little something like this. Step 1. You start the story. So this is where you transport people in their imaginations. You start the story like, "I remember my first day of school. It was a super hot summer day in late January and the room was warm and noisy with the sounds of all the other students and their parents arriving." So try and use as many adjectives as possible to really describe the scene. Maybe you even saw that play out in your mind as I described it to you. And that's what draws people in. Step two, describe how it made you feel or think or do. So this might be something like, uh, after I ran that marathon, I thought to myself, why didn't I think I could do this? What was stopping me? And then step three is to relate it to your topic. So in the marathon example, this is where you could link it to a topic like imposter syndrome or a multi year strategy that's going to be tough, but worth it. Step four is then we present the evidence. So this is your chance to give the stats, give the compelling case for why; why you need that strategy, why you need something to change. You've pulled on the emotion side of the brain. It's time to appeal to the logic side and step five, finish the story. So we circle back to where we started and close off the story. So for example, to finish the school story, you might say: "now, as my own child starts school for the first time, I finally understand blah, blah, blah" or if it's the marathon story, it could be, "will it be tough? Yes, but the feeling when you cross the finish line is like nothing else on earth." Okay, so it is time for a quick episode recap. Today, I shared an insight into strategic storytelling and why it is so powerful and how to use it. So remember, we were largely illiterate creatures up until the late 80s. So our brains are wired for storytelling. It's how we make sense of the world. It's how we pass on knowledge. It's memorable. There are three steps to strategic storytelling. Number one, get very clear on your objectives. What do you want people to know, feel, and do as a result of this story? It is a message packaged as a story. So you do need clear outcomes. Number two, pick a story type, hypothetical, classic, analogy, or a personal story. Each has their own merits and some will suit some topics better than others. Some people will also be more comfortable with some types of stories than other types. And step three, pick a structure. Our HMC structure is step one, start the story, then describe how it made you think or feel something different, relate it back to your topic, share the evidence, and then finish the story you started back in step one. So my challenge to you is to think about all the comms you are in the middle of and what might else be going on. And think about how you might be able to even just trial using storytelling for at least one message. The more you do it, the more comfortable you're going to get just like anything else. And I promise you people will remember the message for all the right reasons and they'll live happily ever after. Okay, folks, that's all we have time for today. On next week's episode, you're going to hear me interview a special guest speaker who also challenged me to a little game during our interview. I was disastrous. I'm not going to lie, but it's worth tuning in for that alone. So look out for that episode next Thursday. In the meantime, don't forget, you can sign up to my mailing list and each fortnight, you'll receive an email with the latest comms news from around the world, learning and tips that I've shared, as well as a bunch of resources and upcoming events. Until then. Keep doing amazing things. Thank you again for listening and bye for now.