Liz Gordon has found this to be true as well. Why? When you come up with an idea for your business there will be a story behind it - whether it's to do with developing a new product or growing your business. The data had meaning. When Gordon first learned this technique in a Leadership Story Lab training, her group had 65 slides they had to boil down! Plunge your reader into the action. We remember stories better than other types of information, such as data and facts, because stories are more engaging. Observe their actions. Stories can be told in lots of different ways. Storytelling creates a love of language and motivation to read. I am the author of the book "Let the Story Do the Work" and the CEO of Leadership Story Lab. Business storytelling enables you to empathize with your target audience. Tell a good story so you show your company's personality and humanity - don't just become a faceless company that consumers feel unconnected from and uninspired to interact with and buy from. How do you really know a person? These days, she says, “everything is very scheduled.” Instead of bumping into each other and chatting, we have to schedule a Zoom meeting. This is why visual storytelling is much more efficient than conventional text-on-page storytelling. Using storytelling in this way helps the audience to connect with you so they trust you, the human, and therefore they trust the brand. At 6:06, she heard a siren… and then nothing. Stories… Promote a feeling of well-being and relaxation; Increase children's willingness to communicate thoughts and feelings; Encourage active participation; Increase verbal proficiency; Encourage use of imagination and creativity; Encourage cooperation between students; … I teach classical storytelling to modern leaders through my own practice, Kellogg School of Management and University of Zurich in Switzerland. This has been highlighted in the Global Empathy Index (2015) where the businesses near the top of the list were amongst the most profitable and fastest growing businesses in the world. “All we have right now is our word.”, “Do you want people to pay more attention to you?” asks Maiorisi. This is why public speakers frequently begin presentations with stories. We live in an impatient world. So, what happened to Mike Maiorisi when he needed to convince the healthcare customer that his company’s product could meet their needs? Do you want to be a facilitator?”. You can tell a story that quickly illustrates the main point you want to convey. This is why more businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of storytelling. At 6:16, an announcement instructed everyone to evacuate the building. For almost an hour, she heard nothing—waiting inside the building, as instructed, while the fire was being investigated. Good Stories Are Seeds to Neuro-Associations. Finally, at 7:12, the hotel manager announced that everything was fine. We remember things better when we hear them in story form, and powerful hormones such as oxytocin, the same hormone when you experience trust or kindness, are released in our bodies when we hear a good story. Storytelling in of itself is perhaps the best way to hit … 5:48, 6:06, 6:16, and 7:12. To many, “story” may sound like a synonym for “tangent.” Not so, says Liz Gordon, Senior Director of Analytic Services at Barton Cotton, a firm that provides multi-channel fundraising and marketing for nonprofits. Storytelling can be a valuable tool to help understand the context or the challenge that a business is facing. Benefits of Using Storytelling in Your Branding. We’re used to … Ensure that you keep this story consistent across all mediums e.g. Because the audience could remember the numbers she shared. Ensure that you're making the story relatable to the audience by using real-life situations as this makes it easier to see why your goods will add value to their lives. Leaders, and the companies they lead, must have a consistent way of communicating what’s in their hearts through words and action. Each business needs to use storytelling to answer the simple question of "why should people care? They, in turn, use their stories to communicate authentically, inspire others and create lasting impact that they previously considered out of reach. To learn more, check out How B2B Brand Storytelling Can Benefit Your Business. This is the same for looking at businesses - when people think "why should I get involved with this business?" By helping us to think metaphorically, stories build ideas that transcend the merely functional benefits of a product, providing a business with a means to escape commodification. Stories convey the culture, history, and values that unite people. And like Amanda Palmer’s flip cards endeared her to tens of thousands of strangers, stories can help us build businesses and independent careers. However, this understanding requires true awareness of our differences, says Adam Waytz, Professor of Management & Organizations at Kellogg School of Management. Transferring values and beliefs is done through your story's character having an epiphany because your audience will also experience this. Advertising needs to be more than cheap tactics, such as using sex appeal. The items, which were purchased for around $1.25 each, sold for nearly $8,000 cumulatively. When there were technical difficulties during the first ten minutes of her session, she decided to share the story of the fire alarm. Karma Auden, Director of Finance and Business Services at University of Canberra. Auden left for the conference. You may opt-out by. empathetic companies. The London School of Business did a study on this and it confirmed what was experienced by people who’ve been using storytelling as a means to transfer information and convince people. People want to buy from companies that they believe care i.e. When you bring this concept to your professional communication and start taking advantage of the impact of storytelling in business, then you can get your audience to take action like never before. There are stories and people behind every data set. Do your sales people rely too heavily on facts and data, features and benefits? We have discussed the reasons as to why storytelling is important below. 15 Benefits Of Storytelling To Kids Besides being entertaining, stories offer a myriad of benefits for children and aid in their overall development. Finally, they found a story to illustrate their point and to hold everything together. Stories can help us get to know people better, says Gordon. Further develop this by allowing your employees to share their own stories. And not only that… to be able to visualize this data for their leadership? Everyone on her team struggled with the activity. To build connections by finding the right stories for each situation, it’s essential to establish a system for capturing your stories. They will make immediate sense once you get to know what happened to Karma Auden, a Financial Storyteller. And how can you trust that a company truly has your best interest in mind? To convert new audiences, you have to be a memorable example in … Today, it's difficult to find a successful brand that does not have a good story behind it. Employees are the heart of the business, they are the company's best asset and a business only succeeds when its employees do. Often, we know acquaintances as “the person who told that story.” For instance, she says, she still remembers the stories her team members shared during a storytelling workshop she attended with me back in February, eight months before the writing of this article. And 6:16 to 7:12 meant waiting almost a full hour for news of danger or safety. My late father advised me this way: Listen to their words. Other benefits of using storytelling in the classroom. Spark action stories. Business storytelling gives you the opportunity to explore your ‘why’ and build interest in your brand and what you have to offer. Storytelling improves listening skills that are essential in learning and in relationships. And it was. Curiosity. If your business has a vision that audiences can believe and buy into then you are more likely to be successful. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. How do you convince a healthcare customer that your product can cover everything they need in order to capture and calculate daily Covid screenings for their entire staff? You want to intrigue and delight your audience first. This will lead the audience to care about you and consequently your product or service. 4 Reasons Business Storytelling Matters In The Covid Era. The key is grasping the essence of one another. Do they rely on PowerPoint to sell instead of delivering powerful and engaging presentations? The elements of storytelling and performance are key to Steve Jobs’ approach in communicating meaning. I’ve seen it time and time again, and many of the business storytelling techniques Maiorisi, Gordon and Auden have used are described in depth in my book, Let the Story Do the Work. Spark action stories. You are essentially giving your employees a greater sense of purpose and meaning by making them part of the company's wider story. Professor of Management & Organizations at Kellogg School of Management. Most humans are more receptive to stories than compared to facts or data as stories help us relate, empathise and remember. In a 2009 speech Bill Gates, after providing statistics on the issues of malaria, opened a jar of mosquitoes in the presentation room. Business storytelling during the Covid era provides many meaningful benefits. There are a number of advantages of storytelling in your branding schemes. Mike Maiorisi, a customer success manager for a collaborative work management company, knew that to accomplish this, he would need to apply what he’s learned as a business storyteller. There is so much information that consumers are exposed to so it's easy for a business to be lost in the noise. ", whether they are targeting customers, potential employees or stakeholders. For starters, storytelling forges connections among people, and between people and ideas. You may have heard business storytelling during a pep talk by your CEO or maybe one of your colleagues who … The key is grasping the essence of one another. Remembering each other better is especially important during Covid, when people are looking for connections, notes Gordon. And then, in the end, to be able to share meaningful data with government agencies so they can get funding? There are stories and people behind every data set. How do you really know a person? Learn how to effectively design, link and tell better stories in our Business Storytelling course. Stories give the audience purpose and a motive to take action. In the current situation, reading and learning to tell and adapt stories can benefit both children and adults while assisting homeschooling. How did it connect with “Storytelling for Accountants”? The Benefits of Storytelling Storytelling has stood the test of time, and within many schools, reading takes priority over all home learning. In fact, it’s wise to question everything. Stories are also highly structured forms of communication so they help with the audience's understanding. Gordon also notes how relevant distilling information is right now, in the age of virtual meetings. Before paper and computers, knowledge and information travelled mostly in the form of stories told orally and over half of human conversations occur through storytelling so it's a natural part of our thinking and communicating. It may seem counterintuitive to start with a story, but, because stories help us relate and are memorable, they can ground business strategy and be a powerful tool in any stage of the innovation process. For example, Wharton School of Business (2007) found that when participants were asked to collect donations in a call centre, those who were told how the money would improve the lives of others earned more than double than the group that were told how the money they earned would improve their own lives. “No matter the market, ease of use is key.” (9 words), “We should expand into the target market immediately.” (8 words), “We must collaborate in order to achieve this.” (8 words). So take what you know and believe about your product/service and transfer it into the minds of your audience. Learning these business storytelling techniques has changed the course of people’s careers. they are trying to think of the reasons so they look for stories. “No matter the market, ease of use is key.” (9 words) “We should expand into the target market immediately.” (8 words) “We must collaborate in order to achieve this.” (8 … This means that to find connection and true unity, we must understand that the other person’s needs may be different from our own. 6 Storytelling Tips to Tell a Great Business Story What was happening with my new client was a common occurrence in business. It’s psychology 101. And how can you. The best stories evoke emotional reactions - people genuinely relate and connect with these stories and they believe in the company and what it stands for. As much as business storytelling is touted as an easy solution to business communication, there’s no way around the fact that developing this skill requires time, energy, and often money. People retain 65 to 70 percent of information shared through stories while only 5 to10 percent of information is retained through … “I think we need to be comfortable to celebrate our differences,” he says, rather “than push for a full-on melting-pot style coexistence.”. If you know how to effectively tell a story, then potential customers will see your business as the logical solution to their problems. Increasingly, businesses are recognizing the importance of storytelling as a leadership and management skill. So transfer your vision into a captivating story and clearly communicate it using a sincere marketing strategy. If you’re unsold on just why brand storytelling is important, that’s fine. The connection between storytelling and literacy is well established. She has used a technique that requires business storytellers to state their three main points in only 10 words each. 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