Stories communicate true things efficiently. Smart leaders use stories in business settings to close the gap between their market (people) and their strategy (ideas). Here’s why.
Stories crystallise
A good story makes the complex simple.
The story is often interesting, even if the underlying matters are, in truth, a bit boring. Facts, attitudes and questions that seem irrelevant can snap into focus thanks to a good story. Stories describe change and engage us in how people drive change, or benefit from it. So a storyline can deliver something you can get a grip on even if there’s nothing concrete to grab with two hands.
Stories connect
A good story brings the teller and the listener closer together.
At the outset, their appetites may be quite different. Yet thanks to the feedback loops built into storytelling, the differing perspectives can be brought into better harmony.
In many cases, you could say that there are two kinds of stories: those the teller wants to share, and those the listener is willing to hear. Working within organisations, throughline uses a range of methods to transform what insiders want to say into a form that actually engages the people targeted.
Stories propel action
Good stories connect organisations with their environments in sustainable, profitable and mutually beneficial ways. The outcomes of effective stories vary, but they’re always good. Typically, stories help a business in a number of ways. For example:
Sales works efficiently in part because prospective customers get the answers they need to make sound decisions at speed.
Investment in PR spend nets coverage that generates changes in attitudes and sometimes even sales leads.
Visionary entrepreneurs feel more connected with their teams and their markets, and staff members feel less sceptical about leadership.
Stories cut through
Stories rein in lazy ways of talking…and lead conversations back to things that, at the end of the day matter: results and outcomes.
Lazy ways of talking, whether they come from a long history or straight out of the R&D lab, can be real conversation killers. By contrast, stories often lead conversations back to things that, ultimately, matter: results and outcomes.
Established companies often suffer from bad habits. Acronyms and product names creep into conversations, never mind if they don’t make sense to customers and newcomers.
Equally, new companies – especially technology startups – struggle in the early days when validation is underway. They need a coherent, appealing way of describing the impact of their technology and its points of difference that can keep pace with commercial evolution.
Stories succeed where jargon and shorthand fail.
Stories put people first
They authentically position people at the heart of your strategy.
People take a central role in stories. Using stories you can often achieve more with the same resources, because stories are portable, they propel action, they makes allies. They circulate because people pass them on.
But more deeply, stories can show companies the people who matter most to them. Stories are about people and the things that they do or that happen to them. Never mind that collective descriptions – like customers, shareholders, end users, beneficiaries, employees – may mask their individuality. Seeing people’s wants and needs afresh can reinvigorate product development and customer service initiatives.