It’s national storytelling week and who doesn’t love a great story?
Stories are incredibly powerful ways to communicate; we are hard-wired to respond to stories and remember them. Put simply, stories make us feel something, when we listen to a good story we share in the experience, which is what makes stories so powerful.
On hearing a great story, neural activity in our brains significantly increases. It’s this activity that helps us to remember way more information, compared to say a presentation with a load of bullet points.
A great story will also trigger the release of the neurotransmitter oxytocin, which increases our empathy and helps to make us care – and the research shows that the empathy we feel on hearing a good story is transferrable to other areas of our lives.
Stories are not just about sharing information in an entertaining way; they can also shape our behaviour. For example one study showed that seeing acts of altruism in a movie lead to increases in this behaviour in everyday life.
So stories are a brilliant way to communicate, and a great way to tell a story inside your organisation is to begin with your strategic narrative.
A strategic narrative is a clear, compelling story of where your organisation is heading and why. But this is not about presenting a load of facts with bullet points, detailing info such as projected turnover, profit and loss, and the need to maximise shareholder value. It’s hard to retain information presented in this way and to make it meaningful for your people.
Just imagine if Star Wars, (one of the greatest stories of our time, in my opinion) had been shared in the following way:
I need say no more! To get you started on developing your strategic narrative, download our free top tips handout here
If you’d like to find out how People Lab can help you with your strategic narrative or craft compelling stories then get in touch today, we’d love to hear from you
@Emma
