Author and global speaker on communication, creativity and collaboration, Neil Mullarkey, says the good news is, everyone can tell a story: colleagues, clients, customers... you just have to seek them out
It’s no good just being good at your own job, you’ve got to be a coach as well, an enabler, yada-yada … and now a storyteller! When did storytelling become a thing?
There are lot of myths about storytelling. Some people think it just means being better at presentation skills. Others whisper deeply about ‘sense-making’. ‘Narrative’ is bandied about in data and tech circles. Or does it just mean, ‘marshal your thoughts better’?
One time I talked through the twelve stages of the hero’s journey. Well, it was for a business school. I droned on about archetypes - the mentor, the shapeshifter - and, oh dear. The story that lots of organisations want to tell is, ‘we want to sell more widgets’ or ‘our thingamajig is the best’ or ‘our whatjamacall will make you happy’.
I could tell you some science behind stories, about mirror neurons that mean my brain ‘acts out’ in a tiny way, in my head (or even gut) what you are describing - movement, emotion, facing dilemma, making a choice - as if I were in the story, identifying with the protagonist. I might convince you that ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’ so that, if you tell me a compelling story then I want to be your customer, your client or your colleague. But you don’t need any of this to know that we all have a story and that story is the original software - it pre-dates Powerpoint, Excel and even the Biro.
"The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories”, said the anthropologist, Mary Catherine Bateson.
"People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way round”, said Terry Pratchett.
To illustrate the point I often get people to describe a recent project in two ways. First, with us much management jargon as possible (KPIs, synergy, alignment, values, leverage, straw man, burning platform, transformation, pathway, customer experience, behaviours, trusted adviser, helicopter view, low-hanging fruit, cascade, purpose…) I’m sure you can add to that list, which contains words that do mean something but may have lost their power through over-use or misuse. I fear that storytelling is going the same way.
Second, they just have to tell it in simple language - the sort their niece/nephew/grandparent/next-door-neighbour-at-a-barbecue could understand. Managers relish the chance to send themselves up, yet readily admit that they often default to buzzword banality.
Neil on soft skills, at the London Business Forum
But then to tell the group not their story but their partner’s one. They are great at this. We begin to realise that we all have much in common. Stories have similar shapes - loss, redemption, growing up, finding love, learning a lesson, victory from the jaws of defeat, a failure that was a blessing - things with which we can all identify.
I see people telling a brilliant story. Then I ask them to talk about their work and they fall over, sometimes literally.
It becomes impersonal, dry and dull.
So, yes, dear leader, you might have to tell your team the story of how we got here, where we are now and where we might go in the future. It needn’t be complicated. It may change over time but there has to be some element of jeopardy, choice, and facing failure. You need to be clear that your people have a role to play in the story, and indeed in co-creating it.
Data can be helpful but without a story it’s raw and indigestible. One thing I work on is to be clear about who the protagonist is. Too many firms are good at telling their own story but not so good with that of their client or the end-user. You may have great processes but ‘what’s in it for us’? How will our customer feel?
The good news is that everybody can tell a story. I have seen this time and again. You can improve with practice. That means finding stories, articulating projects and strategies as stories not as congested Powerpoint slides - and LISTENING.
Your suppliers, clients, colleagues and customers have stories to tell. You may find them hard to hear. But seek them out. Surveys are one thing. Stories are gold dust.
Business not as usual: Neil's tips on coping during the current crisis
