What Makes a Business Story Effective?
PowerSpeaking, Inc.
Transform your speaking skills, transform your business. We help you get there.
By Isabel Walker, PowerSpeaking, Inc. Master Facilitator and Coach
Storytelling is a very potent tool that can have deep and lasting impacts on the storyteller as well as the audience. Stories humanize and bring to life complex ideas, data, and experiences. They broaden our perspective. They tap into our emotions to make meaningful connections with new concepts and with each other—across diverse communities.
I love this quote from Liz Neeley , former executive director of The Story Collider, a nonprofit production company that has staged live events filled with stories about science ...
"We all know this delicious feeling of being swept into a story world … You forget about your surroundings, and you're entirely immersed."
Neeley nails the magical effect of great stories: They take us on a journey and transform us in some way—even in the workplace.
One of my PowerSpeaking colleagues, Reci Schmellick , says,
“Smart leaders know that sharing their journey through stories is the most powerful way to connect and influence. I still remember the stories my manager shared when I first became a manager. With homespun humour, he would guide and teach and make the lessons on leadership memorable.”
No matter what position you hold in the organisation when it comes to stories, you can use them to make a difference—just like leaders do.
The most effective stories told in a business context . . .
Capture our attention from the start by tapping into common interests or emotions, citing a surprising fact or event, or introducing us to a character or situation we relate to.
Educate us by providing information we can use and sparking a desire for more.
Entertain us by presenting characters, actions, and solutions that engage us and make us curious about what’s coming next.
Are brief and have a satisfying flow of information and events, which quickly help us understand the core message or moral of the story.
Are memorable because the content is vivid and relatable on some emotional level.
Inspire action, whether that be a sale; a budget decision; or buy-in to a new idea, project, or initiative.
In my work delivering storytelling workshops, I have found that everyone can find compelling personal and/or business stories to tell if they take a little while to reflect on their experiences. And anyone can learn to tell those stories in ways that resonate with their audiences and can lead to understanding, action, and change.