The title of this article is an invitation to a person to suspend their reality for a few moments and let a storyteller entertain them. It invites the listener to engage their imagination to conjure mental images to go along with the spoken words. A good storyteller has a theme, often of good overcoming evil or the weak conquering the strong. There is a moral lesson to be learned from the protagonists’ struggles. A good story causes emotional responses on the part of the listener—interest, suspense, fear, relief, and happiness. Children’s stories are filled with these plays on emotions. Innocent children may be captured by a wicked witch, their lives in imminent danger, and the suspense builds, but through their imaginations and quick thinking, they can overcome the scary witch and escape, happily leaving the witch in a position to no longer threaten or harm other children.
How many meetings have you been in where the leader strives to impart information, maybe important information, with a recitation of facts, figures, and rationally desired outcomes? The employees appear to be listening, but their eyes have dulled over, and the information is only being partly received, tuned out as they think about what they need to pick up at the grocery store on their way home for dinner.
An effective leader will engage the employee audience using storytelling techniques. They will engage them emotionally, using stories to keep their attention while making points. The audience will develop a mental vision to accompany the story being told, and that will reinforce remembering the key message long after the meeting has ended. In a workplace presentation, there won’t be time for a full-blown story hitting on various emotions, but the basic idea is still there. The presenter will still use a story but a truncated one to fit the short time available. In that short story, there will still be the opportunity to create interest in the story’s outcome, perhaps evoking empathy for a character in the story that the listener can relate to. Then the presenter brings in the relationship of the storyline to the work-related message that is the point of the presentation.
I will share the essence of a real story in my own life that I use in my book, So You Want To Be A Leader, Secrets of A Lifetime Of Success, that I use to make a point regarding recognizing your employees’ strengths and weaknesses to help them succeed, not have you be an obstacle to their success.
One summer in high school, I worked as a lifeguard for the City Recreation Department. On Saturday mornings, several other lifeguards and I taught group swimming lessons to probably 30 or so children. One bright sunny morning after we had demonstrated a particular swimming stroke, we had the kids line up on the other side of the pool from us, splash in, and, using the particular technique we had just taught, swim across the pool to us as we observed what they had learned. As I focused on the group segment swimming toward me, I noticed one of the youngsters using one arm much more vigorously than the other. I started shouting at him to “pull harder with your right arm,” with obvious agitation in my voice. When he arrived at the side of the pool and came out of the water, to my chagrin, I noticed his right arm was shriveled from polio. No amount of me screaming at him would have enabled that arm to be used as we had instructed.
We all have things we are good at and things we are not. In some cases, like the young swimmer, some employees have weaknesses, often ones that are not visible, that will not allow them to perform certain tasks—weaknesses that no amount of cajoling or threatening will overcome. But, and this is crucial “but,” they may not be able to accomplish the assigned task in the same manner as others do, but if given the latitude to perform the task in their own way, they can and will accomplish the objective. The swimmer didn’t use the exact same strokes as the other kids, but in his adaptation of his strokes to compensate for the difference in his arms, he swam, he reached the other side of the pool at the same time as the others and he felt the same jubilant sense of achievement as the other kids. The story catches my listeners’ imaginations—they generate a mental vision of the swimmer and me yelling and then quickly internalize my message of getting to know their employees to encourage, not impede, their success. I later realized how much my own story made me appreciate and admire the young boy’s determination to succeed in swimming, not letting his one weak arm deter him from his goal. And, I reflected on my misguided attempts, through my own ignorance, to make him swim in a textbook fashion that was not to be.
I encourage anyone in leadership positions to use the art of storytelling to enhance their communication effectiveness. It is an art that has been used successfully for thousands of years!
When using stories, it is important to know your audience and frame the story to appeal to that particular group. Be conscious of the words and references in the story so that you will not inadvertently offend anyone with a remark inappropriate for that group. Be sure you are using words and references that the audience will understand. Sometimes lawyers and accountants, obsessed with a desire to be technically correct in their delivery, will use words or phrases common to their professions but not ones familiar to the audience. The result can be that much of what they say will not be comprehended, just the opposite of their intent. I’m still not totally clear what is meant when a lawyer throws in the phrase “notwithstanding the foregoing.” Does that mean I disregard what went before, or is it still in effect? I guess I could look it up, but I won’t be doing that while delivering the speech.
Sometimes you will hear a speaker get so excited and involved in the storytelling they use up the majority of their allotted time. As the hook comes out, they then end their presentation without connecting the intended message of the speech to the story they spent too much time telling. Keep your stories succinct, and make sure they are related to the topic of your talk. You don’t want people leaving the venue saying, “great story, but what was the point?”
My experience in telling stories is that the first time I tell one, it is not as polished as it could be. I notice the audience’s reaction, and that gives me feedback on what I need to emphasize, rephrase or simply ditch completely. After another telling or so, the story gets better, I feel more comfortable using it, and the audience is more receptive.
Jacqueline Baker on The Unexpected Leader Exclusive Interview(Opens in a new browser tab)
Good luck, and keep your audiences’ attention with great stories!
By Bill Merck