Storytelling has impacted our lives in ways you can not even think of. To kill a mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, and many others, the tale of two cities are great stories that have been living for years. We do not get tired of reading them over and over. This applies to your favorite movies and TV shows. No matter how many times you have been through, you still want more stories. The truth is that stories are an inseparable part of our existence. The question is, why do we not use them where we should.
Storytelling is a great tool for the engagement of the audience. The biggest reason that can be attributed is the presence of a chemical in our brain called oxytocin. Multiple studies and research are conducted to back the fact that storytelling does induce oxytocin’s secretion in our brain. The production of oxytocin takes place when we show kindness and trust. It also helps us better cooperate with others by heightening the empathy we feel. In a study, it was found that character-driven stories lead to the production of oxytocin. This leads to the subject’s increase in willingness to help others.
Benefits of Story Telling
Maybe you know this fact, maybe you don’t, but humans have been the slave of stories for as long as they have been on this planet. Stories engage us, persuade us, and help us not forget things.
Using storytelling for engagement
Storytelling is a great tool for the engagement of the audience. The biggest reason that can be attributed is the presence of a chemical in our brain called oxytocin. Multiple studies and research are conducted to back the fact that storytelling does induce oxytocin’s secretion in our brain. The production of oxytocin takes place when we show kindness and trust. It also helps us better cooperate with others by heightening the empathy we feel. In a study, it was found that character-driven stories lead to the production of oxytocin. This leads to the subject’s increase in willingness to help others.
Persuasive Tool
Storytelling sure has huge power to persuade and move people. Two major studies demonstrate it. A study conducted by Penn State College of Medicine found that medical students who listen to the patients’ stories were much more sympathetic and open to help. In another study conducted by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, two high blood pressure patients were monitored. One group was treated using the normal treatment method, and the other group was made to watch three videos that told the stories of patients dealing with high blood pressure. It was found that it was the second group that demonstrated better blood pressure results.
Both studies show how storytelling influence our decision making and how we act in different situations. Stories can convince and bring people together. It also involves more of our brain and connects with others on a deeper level. As per pressboard research, when we are told facts and numbers around something, our language processing center gets activated. But when we are told stories, multiple parts of our brain get active- the hippocampus, motor, and sensory cortex.
Make things memorable
Stories help us remember things in a more manageable and effective way. Information that we largely refer to as important in the business world is nothing but some facts and figures. This stuff is tough to retain and keep in mind. Stories, on the other hand, can give these facts and figures some stickiness. Stories manage to hook the information to our memories by attaching emotions to things.
Common mistakes that people do
When telling stories at the workplace, there are largely two mistakes that people make. First, are people getting nervous, doubting themselves, and thinking of themselves as “awful storytellers”? These people do not even give storytelling a shot and go ahead and present the facts. The second one is just the opposite. Some people think that they are born to tell epic stories. They go without thinking through, and without practice thinking, they will be able to wing it.
The downside of making the first mistake and not giving storytelling a chance deprives the person of a great presentation tool. The downside of making the second mistake is that audience will be scratching their heads, thinking, “what the hell is going on? The person is a regular storyteller but not an effective one.
The truth is that stories work all the time if you are confident and telling an effective story. It would be best if you put some work into your stories to make them work for you. If you make the aforementioned mistakes, you can follow the below-mentioned tips and be an effective storyteller. 8 tips mentioned below can also help you increase your communication’s overall impact, make them remember things, and even persuade them better.
6 Tips to be an effective story-teller at the workplace
1. Know what you want to do with storytelling (Impact)
To be an effective story-teller, you must strategize before you actually start. You must know what impact you want to make and what things you want to achieve. Like in business, you do not start with the work right away. You sit, define, and plan things. Similarly, think about the impact you want to make and the goals you want to achieve. Once you are done with strategizing and planning, you need to see what kind of story will best meet the set objective. To achieve this, you can ask yourself the following question:
- Who is my audience and where do they stand? (Knowing your audience)
- What do I expect from them/ what do I need them to do? (Desired Action)
- How do I want them to think or feel so they take the desired action? (influence)
The strategy part is not about your story or the content going to be, or even how you chose to deliver it. These things come later after planning and strategy. Primarily, it is about finding why. To know why you want to narrate the story and what you will achieve through it.
2. Identify the primary message you want to convey (Desired goals)
Effective storytelling is not just about entertaining people (it most certainly is a great way of entertainment). It is much more than that, having a meaningful conversation, getting across a relevant point you want people to know, and delivering them in the best possible way. Your message should be put in the story so that it can elicit the thoughts and feelings you planned. This way, you will bring your thoughts and feelings you identified during the story strategy. Not just that, consequently, you will be able to inspire your audience to take the desired actions. One thing that I strongly suggest is that you do not cram your speech. As a matter of fact, do not have an overly worded script with yourself. It will make you sound mechanical and can come across as manipulative.
It is suggested not to add a structure where you jot everything down like a script or memorize it. Try and remember the important keywords. Before you do so, you should sit down with a pen-paper and write the outcome you want to achieve. Once you are aware of what you want to achieve, the rest is just a cakewalk.
3. Finding the right story
Once you are settled with what you need to achieve with a story, your job is to find just the right story. For example, if you face a particular problem, your team is failing to achieve their set targets. It would help if you had a story that will act as a common thread to accommodate all the members. The story will inspire them to work harder and convey that they can overcome any challenge if they work collaboratively.
The best and the most natural place for you to look at for such stories is your own experience, which could be personal or professional. This way, you will be able to give first-hand knowledge from the stories of your past. However, it is not necessary to have your own experience with all the things. You can “borrow” the stories of someone else’s experience: a friend, family member, or a co-worker. For that matter, you can pull out an analogous story from sport, history or literature/ movies, etc. If you cannot come up with your own story, you can definitely go ahead and search for a relevant story from the internet.
4. Give your story the structure
Unarguably, time is one most precious things at any workplace. So, the onus is on you while you are telling your story. It should worth everyone’s time. It is not an extempore wherein you go in front of your audience and speak whatever comes to your mind at that very moment. You need to sit and think each and everything through well in advance.
It should start strong and also finish in a way that people remember it. The plot should be captivating and the story meaningful. Try and incorporating rich details enough to set the scene and ensure the right experience, nothing more. Most importantly, your story’s plot should be such that it drives to the message, and people should be able to easily follow and be there with you till the very end.
5. Do not confuse stories with reports and business cases
Acknowledging that business cases and reports are integral to any workplace environment, they differ from storytelling. The former ones are more didactic and informative: what is happening right now, what happened in the past, and what could happen in the future. They try to answer ‘what’ and ‘how,’ but stories are about ‘why.’ Stories essentially go beyond informing others. It has the power to shift people’s perspectives, inspiring them and motivating them to take the desired action. Instead, make a point to include stories in your business cases, reports, and even the presentations.
6. Try and include stories in your presentations
Just remind yourself of the last presentation you had to sit through. Was there anything that kept you on the edge of the seat or made you bite your nails? I assume the answer is NO. Being such social creatures, I don’t understand why we do not imbibe stories everywhere- including work and presentations. In this article, you will learn why storytelling is so impactful for us and how you can use it in your presentations. Making use of storytelling in presentation makes it much more engaging and persuasive.
Start with an impactful opening
For anyone who has done a presentation before would agree that attention span is your biggest enemy. It can shift just quickly from what you are watching to what you had for lunch. Or thinking a witty comeback of an argument that you had years ago, in no time. Therefore, you must realize how you would want to start a presentation.
Build up the tension
The very essence of introducing the core of your presentation (that is, your product or service) as a character in the story creates tension. You can also add another important character to your story. This is your audience. We all are well aware of the fact that stories can generate empathy within us. You can leverage it by making them realize that they are moving in the direction of losses. Or making them realize they are dealing with a great number of unskilled employees.
Tell stories uniformly
This is where the majority of the people or presenters struggle to keep their audience hooked. You should totally consider having a story in the middle part of the presentation for the following reason. It saves you from the efforts of writing and having a script when presenting. You can go with your stories and ask questions to your audience.
