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Successful Leadership Through Storytelling
By Suzanne Bates
Managers go to classes, read
books and try to learn from other manager’s success,
all in an effort to be a good leader. They try to
mold employees into what they perceive to be the
perfect successful worker. What they don’t realize
is that by persuading and telling people how to
behave, they are actually alienating everyone.
Instead of telling people how to behave, you can
show them how by telling a story.
One of the best ways to
influence others is through the subtle art of
storytelling. By telling about previous success and
failure, a manager will provide their employees with
subconscious clues as to how to get ahead at work.
People love stories of all
kinds. Centuries ago, people passed information from
one person to another via storytelling long before
they could read or write. As a result, today our
brains are hardwired to listen to and respond to
stories.
When a manager or leader tries
to communicate, whether in a one-on-one meeting or a
formal speech to a large auditorium of people, they
have two choices. They can either lecture the
audience with dry, dull data, or they can ensure
their interest with a story whose characters and
message come to life, right before their eyes. If
you’re like most people, option two is probably more
appealing.
You can use storytelling
regularly as a technique to motivate and inspire
people with stories about others who’ve done a good
job. This recognition or appreciation will allow
your audience to relate to the “characters” in your
story, and they will want to be the hero or
subject of the next story.
You may feel you don’t have any
good stories to tell, but everyone has hundreds of
stories in them, and observing will bring you
hundreds more that you can use to communicate more
effectively at work and advance your career. Follow
these easy steps to use writing and telling stories
as a significant leadership skill.
1. What’s Your Point?
When you’re ready to create a great story, figure
out the topic, value, or idea you want to promote.
What is your reason for telling your story? What
purpose do you want the story to serve? Every story
should make a point. It may be hysterical when you
tell it at a cocktail party, but if it doesn’t drive
home a business point, save it for your social life.
2. Who Are You Talking To?
Next, decide who the audience is for your story and
how you’ll include them. The topic has to be
relevant to that particular group of listeners, or
you may entertain but will accomplish very little.
3. Who Are You Talking
About? Coming up with the idea for a story can
be the hardest part. Powerful original stories
reveal a lot about you as a leader and a person,
without being about you but rather about
people you know, events you’ve witnessed, or things
you’ve observed.
You probably should not make
yourself the hero of your own stories unless you are
relating to your audience something you felt,
understood or learned. You can also make yourself
the central figure if you use self-deprecating humor
to make a point. Many leaders use humor effectively
to become one of the gang or part of the crowd.
Humor breaks the ice and sets up learning.
Begin by considering stories
you have told to friends or family in the past. What
have been some of your “greatest hits?” Consider
looking for stories in the challenges you have
faced, conflicts you have witnessed or experienced,
and difficult decisions you have made. Any painful
experience has many lessons inherent in it. When you
have a little distance from those conflicts, you can
better understand what they really meant.
4. Where Do You Get a Story
From? Storytelling begins with awareness. Start
paying attention to what’s going on around you, and
every day you will pick up at least one new story to
add to your repertoire. Other prompts for great
stories include:
-
Startling
events, historical events and major changes. Has
your group or company had new experiences, lost
opportunities or had to work hard to achieve
something?
-
Embarrassments, awkward situations and dumb ideas
that worked. Failures, turnarounds and last-minute
saves make great story topics! Especially
when you want to provide incentive, consider this
type of story.
-
Inspiring
people, remarkable achievements, memorable events,
athletic contests, wins and losses.
-
Seemingly
insignificant, everyday occurrences, travel
stories, interesting people you’ve met, unexpected
discoveries.
5. How Do You Use a Story?
When you know what story you want to tell, write
it down. You really must put it on paper to tell
it right and ensure that you are actually making the
point you want to make. Feel free to embellish a
little to make the story work most effectively. You
can use the same story to make a lot of different
points, and you can use the story with a wide
variety of audiences.
Your stories should always
include a few colorful descriptive words to make
them real and paint a picture for your listeners.
But don’t use so many details that you slow the
story down. As you write your story imagine how you
might “draw a picture” with your hands, or “show” a
feeling with facial expression, instead of saying
that you were upset, angry, or thrilled. Make a note
in the margin of the text to remind you where to
pause and appear perplexed or irritated or happy.
Showing is better than telling.
6. Structure your story for
maximum effect: All good stories have a
beginning, middle, and end. And whether the story is
meant to be funny, sad, serious or touching, some
conflict or tension must be resolved by the story’s
end.
As you work on your story, read
it out loud, evaluate what works, and then rewrite
and edit it. Read it again, and work on it until
it’s right. Learn it by heart, but don’t memorize it
word for word. Just visualize and internalize, so
that when you tell the story, you recall the major
events and picture the people. Then you will be able
to relate the essence of what happened while
remaining conversational.
Story telling leads to
career success: Not all of your stories need to
relate astonishing, riveting, hang-on-for-your life
experiences. Some will be simple slice of life
anecdotes, funny or serious, that are quick and
simple to tell. As you develop a story, don’t be
afraid to “dramatize” a bit. A few gestures, facial
expression, different tones of voice, or character
voices will bring it alive.
Telling stories will become one
of your most valuable communication tools. Try a
tale or two out and see where they take you and your
career!
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