Let’s back up a bit and answer the basic question of what is a story?  And what do we mean when we talk about “storytelling” for businesses and organizations?*

As I wrote those lines, I panicked.  I don’t know – it can mean so many things!  But let’s break it down…

The Purpose of Telling Stories

I believe that if you tell authentic stories effectively, you can change the world.  Stories can be very powerful!  And with that in mind, the purpose of telling stories is to affect change by increasing awareness and ultimately provoking action.

Marketing, Sales, Branding, Public Relations, Communications, and Human Resources are just a few of the many departments that tell stories within mission-driven organizations.  And within each of these departments, the tactics, tools, and target audiences will be different.  But no matter what department is telling the story, before you set out to create a story, you must first have a goal:  Why are you telling a story?  What do you hope to accomplish with the story?

Story Construction

We’ve known since we were small that stories have a beginning, middle, and end – yet we often forget this when it comes to telling them in our adult business lives.  But alas, it is still true!  Every good story in Western society, no matter what medium, has a beginning, middle, and end.  For example:

1. An organizational story has Mission, Values, and Vision.  The Mission tells what you’re doing now, the Values tell why/how you’re doing it and will continue to do it, and the vision tells what you want the future to look like once it’s done.
2. An executive’s bio tells where she went to school, what she did after school, and what she’s doing now.
3. An advertisement shows where the target demographic is now, how the product or idea will change that target demographic, and what that will look like.
4. A documentary film shows the world before something happened, how the world was changed, and where the world is headed after that change.
5. A business plan shows where you are, where you want to be, what plans you have to get to where you want to be.

Or some variation thereof – every good story has a beginning, middle and end.  Occasionally story construction is played with – for instance in the movie Memento, the end comes at the beginning, and the beginning comes at the end – but the three parts nearly always go together to form a story.

What does it really mean to have a beginning, middle and end?  Change.  In every good story there is change:  I went, I saw, I changed.  Without going too deep into story construction here, each character and each chain of events has an arc of change:  life is going on normally, something happens, the person has to deal with that, and as a result they change.  When you feel a story is going on and on without focus and you just want it to end, generally it is because there is no significant or interesting change happening.

If it helps, think of the most timeless of our children’s stories: Jack and The Beanstalk (Jack changes), Little Red Riding Hood (the wolf changes), or Pinocchio (Pinocchio changes).  Any good story that you remember well will work.

Connective Storytelling

Stories Create Awareness; Communities Create Action

Stories themselves can create awareness and provoke action, but in order for action to take place, stories must be accompanied by the means to create action.  In other words, getting people jazzed up about an idea is only half the battle – once they’re jazzed, you have to give them the tools they need to actually go do it!  Additionally, if your desire is continued action, you must continuously support and motivate people.  You can do this with online or offline community organizing, though in today’s world it is almost a necessity to combine the two.

Storytelling Continuum of Engagement:

Level 1. Targeted Broadcast (creates an Informed Audience)
Level 2. Conversational Engagement (creates an Informed Community)
Level 3. Collaborative Engagement (creates an Engaged Community)

We are entering an era where brands, products, operations, and ideas will never be the same.  Customers, investors, partners, and constituents are no longer satisfied with passively receiving information – they expect to participate and engage as creators, collaborators, and vital members of active communities.  And this changes the rules of storytelling a bit.

Storytelling Rules of  Engagement:

1. Authenticity
2. Transparency
3. Emotional Investment
4. Personally-Aligned Values
5. Community Ownership

Emotional investment between community members is paramount:  You must connect people to people.  We remember good stories, and happily tell them to our friends and families.  A good story appeals to emotions.  Emotions are what make people passionate about ideas, it makes them move from watching, looking, and seeing to doing.

Thoughts?

I hope I haven’t talked “at” you too much here – I would love to know your thoughts!  Since technology is changing so rapidly, to a certain degree we are all making this up as we go along.  Input along the way is certainly welcome!

—–
*Note that when I talk about “story” and “storytelling” I’m talking about good ones, ones that work, ones that do the job they set out to do.  There are bad stories out there that don’t follow these rules, but those are not the ones we’re looking to emulate.

Similar Posts:

• Best Practices in Storytelling, Part 1
• Does Blog Action Day Actually Do Anything To Create Change?
• Weekly Hot Hits in Global Development 11/9-11/13!