BusinesS Storytelling: Where do I start?
There are some things that will help you design, create and deliver highly impactful stories, and there are some things that we do every day that do the opposite. This blog explores the every day practice of starting your business stories at the content level, and the potential impact that has on your business story or presentation. This blog offers an alternative starting point that explores the importance and impact of understanding and defining your objective(s); analyzing your audience; and selecting the right team at the planning and design phase. I also offer some helpful tools that you might want to use if you want compelling business stories.
If you are starting your business stories or presentations by opening a PowerPoint, you are doing yourself and your organization a huge disservice. I have done a lot of business storytelling work (consultations, coaching and training) with leading consulting companies, coaches, entrepreneurs and leaders. I have also trained thousands of leaders around the world in storytelling techniques, tools and approaches.
Where Most People Start
What I have observed over the last two decades, is that many leaders all start at the same place, which puts them at an immediate disadvantage. Their initial response to a request for a client or sales presentation (for example, an RFP; Stage 0 sales; oral sales presentations; or case studies and offerings documentation) is to start with content. We live in a content driven world, but we should never start with content.
They start their story or presentation journey by opening a slide deck. They then either create new content or they copy and paste from other slide decks. Worst case scenario, they simply take old slide decks and change the name and dates. Once something is on a slide, we become committed to it because we spent time and effort on it, it becomes hard to want to change it. Once it is on a slide, it is harder to see the bigger picture and story arc. Once it is on a slide, it takes more time and effort to iterate than simply create, craft and design it well from the start.
Starting with content always makes it difficult to then change - we have a tendency to love things that we spend more time on, and less open or willing to adapt. A story draft is just that, your first draft is likely not the best draft and is often not the final draft. Don’t get stuck in the content first trap or the time-love continuum.
There is nothing wrong with slides, but they are simply a delivery tool, and they are not a design tool. I am not one of those storytelling coach that will say all slides or PowerPoint are evil. I think they are an important tool that can add true value, when they are used to assist a story, not drive it. It is not the tool that is the problem, but how we use it. In fact, it should be one of the last things a leader should do when it comes to creating a presentation. Never design your presentation in PowerPoint. So, what should we do first? Before anything ever gets put down in a slide, start with designing and planning a story.
Below I offer three things to consider doing before creating any content. While this blog only addresses three things, there are many other considerations in the design and planning phase not covered here in this blog. Please reach out and we can discuss how I can help you and your organization plan and design compelling business stories.
Clearly Define the Story Purpose and Objective
All stories are active and purposeful. There is no such thing as a story that does not serve a purpose. It is worth spending quite a lot of time on truly understanding the need for your story, and determining what you are specifically trying to accomplish by sharing your story. Many stories are often very untargted because they don’t take the time upfront to determine the need and the objective. Spend as much time as needed at this initial stage. Do not move on or create anything until this is clearly defined. Some easy prompts for this is to ask yourself:
Why do we need to create this story? (List top 3-5 reasons).
What are we hoping to accomplish by sharing this story? (this needs to be clearly defined.) There is no space for maybe’s or if’s.
Select The Right Team
In observing and working with leaders, I notice that most of the time the person or persons who create the slides are very often the most junior person in the room. It's one of those unglamorous jobs that many leaders simply delegate and only see the final product and then put their red pen too. Most of the focus then is often on arranging content in an aesthetically pleasing way and lots of colors, visuals and spacial alignment. All are important in compelling storytelling but these should not be the initial activities.
The right team of people in the initial phases of story design will have a direct impact on the success of your story or presentation. There are a range of personality and skill types that are best suited to writing hyper-impactful stories. If you are using lots of data, then get people who know data. If you need to tell stories using advanced linguistic features, then get people who know language. If you are creating visual stories, then find people with those skills. If you are creating stories about something technical, then have people who know technology on the team. If you are creating something about Cloud Conversion, then include them right from the start. If you are creating a story or presentation for client sales, then make sure the people who will present to the potential client are in the design phase. You get the point. Most stories are often created and then handed off. Having a check list can be helpful about tracking what your potential needs for the story design. There are people who are best suited in the story design elements, for example people with Visual Skills, Audio, Content Creation, Video Skills, Animation etc. There are also the subject matter experts who know their functional domains that need to be included. You should also have a storytelling coach, who can guide you thorough the process to ensure you are designing impactful stories right from the start. Reach out and we can discuss how I can help you, your team and your organization.
Audience Analysis
The more you know about your audience, the better placed you are. If you know their needs, preferences and dislikes, then you are well placed to design potentially highly impactful stories. Stories are all about connecting with an audience. So it is worth taking quite some time in thinking through who your audience is. This needs to go beyond basic information that we might already know or assume. The deeper and more systematic you can be to understand your audience’s frame of mind; how they might respond; what they like and don’t like are really important. You can have the perfect story, but if it is not framed for the exact audience you story might very well not perform as you expect or hope it would. There are multiple methods for understanding your audience e.g. ethnographic research approaches, or observatory research approaches. You are likely already sitting on a wealth of information about your audience if they are already existing clients. It might not always be possible to access your specific audience, or it might be with a prospective client you do not yet have an established relationship with. In this case then make a set of assumptions based on other similar audience profiles and characteristics. This is about storytelling, not just the usual target and market analysis you do.
Storytelling Tools for Initial Story Design Ideation
There are quite a few different tools that can be quite helpful in initial story design, some of my favorites include Storytelling Canvases, 5-C templates, Storytelling Archetypes and Frameworks. These tools focus on structural and communication elements of stories, and thinking through your initial design. The tools that you chose to use are partly based on personal preference, the needs of your story, and on the specific story you are wanting to tell. Using the wrong tool in the design phase might lead to the right story in the wrong format, or the wrong story in the wrong format, or no story at all and just a collection of words. This is why having a storytelling coach is helpful in guiding you through the stages of creating highly impactful business stories.
Please reach out with any questions you might have.
Our Storytelling Service Offerings
Storytelling is a powerful tool that every leader and organization should have. Ask me about my storytelling offerings and bespoke training workshops. All my offerings cover important aspects of leading today including:
Unlocking the power of Storytelling to make the sale. I have supported many leaders to land multi-million dollar deals by helping them develop key narrative and storytelling awareness and skills.
Storytelling as a way to create and maintain healthy and thriving business and work relationships.
Storytelling skills and approaches that create an awareness of underlying and dominant narratives that impact change, culture and diversity.
Helping leaders embrace business storytelling to create vision for your teams and organizations by understanding the power of stories in creating and unlocking meaning and purpose.
Learning ways to embrace storytelling to create better learning and development experiences that truly deliver on their learning objectives.
Reach out on our ‘Contact’ Page or set up a Complimentary discovery call for all your business storytelling needs.