The CEO marched to the podium. The applause faded. The audience of 500 senior executives and middle managers listened as the CEO outlined the major change initiative. Her grasp of the facts and details was amazing. Unfortunately, after 10 minutes of data, the audience drifted. The CEO lost them because she didn't know that broadcasting is not communicating. She didn't realize that to transform the mind one must go through the heart. This leader didn't appreciate the power of story to inspire, motivate, and encourage others to commit to her message.
Do you? Do you employ the key elements of effective storytelling to move others from where they are to where you need them to be? Research teaches us that stories have a unique power to persuade and motivate because they appeal to our capacity for empathy (1, 2). Here are several techniques to help you motivate your team (during training, team meetings, 1-on-1 communication…) using the power of story:
1. A journey begins on common ground. The life experiences of your audience affect their ability to connect emotionally to any story. Familiarity helps an audience identify with the characters in your story. So, make sure your stories relate to their experiences. Begin on their turf so they know that you know where they are coming from.
2. Be true to you. Share who you are by letting the audience experience the emotion in your story. How? By feeling it yourself. They will feel it when you do. Therefore, you need to relive your story and its emotions as you tell it. This requires a degree of vulnerability that many leaders have a hard time exposing. I encourage you to try.
3. Keep them guessing. Professor Peter Gruber tells us “a great story is never fully predictable through foresight, but it is projectable through hindsight." It is how you reveal the nature of your characters, their difficulties, and how they overcome their obstacles that tantalize your audience.
4. Keep them engaged. Involve the audience by asking questions, adding humor, painting vivid pictures, and using the power of you. One of my favorite techniques is to put the audience in my stories. It's as easy as saying "imagine you're walking down the street..." You turn an ‘I’ story into a ‘we’ story. The whole audience experiences your story together.
5. Practice the paradox of presents. I strongly urge you to wing it when you present, BUT only after obsessively practicing. That's practicing the paradox of presents. It takes a lot of practice to appear unrehearsed. You practice, drill, and rehearse until you know your story inside and out. Then as you start telling the story, you become present with the audience. Be with them and they’ll go along with you.
Your Story?
These are a few of the keys to telling effective stories. The CEO didn’t use them to move her audience. How can you adapt them move yours?
