Why You Must Be a Story Expert
By Carla Rieger
The Importance of Telling Compelling Stories
The cover article in Fast Company’s May-05 issue is Change
or Die. The author, Alan Deutschman, says the latest findings in
psychology and neuroscience have something important to say about
stories. Stories can change a person’s “frame of view” much
more
powerfully than dry concepts. Instead of fear-based facts told
in conceptual form, you need to offer people a compelling, positive
vision for the future told in narrative form — if you want to motivate
people to act in new ways. In fact, most people in a leadership
role are now expected to know how to structure their message in
story form.
Here is a simple example. I coached a woman named Mandy who
worked in a hospital and she was responsible for internal customer
service. She wanted to pitch the idea of a calendar for a staff
gift. This was right around the time that calendar-making software
programs were a new thing. Mandy’s first attempt was to use fact-based,
fear driven concepts. She left a voicemail for her boss.
Hi Carol, I just wanted to run an idea by you. What do you think
about a calendar as a gift that's full of staff pictures from
the Christmas party? Morale has been very low. We just got through
the downsizing and the merger. It’s low budget and you know how
tight things are right now. Let me know. — Mandy
She never heard back from Carol, so Mandy sent an e-mail with
the same basic message. Carol replied that they would talk about
it at the next staff meeting. But they never got around to it.
That is when Mandy and I worked on a simple but different pitch.
This is the second way she ended up trying it. She asked if she
could see Carol for about 10 minutes face-to-face. She agreed.
Here is how Mandy tried it this time.
“I was over at the house of a friend the other night for dinner
and I noticed on her refrigerator was a calendar. For the month
of October there was a picture of my friend, Wendy, playing air
guitar with people. She said that photo was taken at last year's
Christmas party. They had an air band contest. Several of her
co-workers were secretly huge Abba fans and so they memorized
then lipsynched the lyrics to Dancing Queen. They took photos
of the whole evening then turned it into a calendar and gave two
calendars to all the staff members. I have it right here — take
a look”.
Mandy showed the calendar to her boss and it was full of photos
of people laughing outrageously, a picture of Santa Claus juggling
giant candy canes, a photo of another group of employees on stage
doing comedy sketches, and one fellow dressed up like a giant
exclamation mark.
Many continued, “Everyone loved this gift better than any gift
before or after. My friend bought an extra one for the Fitness
facility where she teaches part-time. They had been having trouble
recruiting new nursing staff. After a nurse at the Fitness Centre
saw the calendar — she applied for a job there. She said it looked
like a fun place to work where people seem to care about each
other.”
Mandy finished her story by starting to explain about the cost
involved, but Carol interrupted her and said, “I don’t care what
it costs, let’s do it! I love it.”
The calendar was a big hit with all the employees in Mandy’s
hospital. Not only did staff buy more at their own expense, even
seven years later people still have that particular calendar up
on their walls.
The Five-Part Mythic Story Structure
Everyone loves a good story. A story paints a verbal picture
in people's minds and is remembered much more than linear facts.
Stories help you create emotional intimacy with people. People
are more moved to take action on your message if they feel moved
emotionally. Below is a brief synopsis of the mythic structure
used in some of the biggest movie hits in history — such as Star
Wars; Schindler's List, The Full Monty, Tootsie, the Wizard
of Oz, etc. Whether you are telling a comic story or a tragic one,
whether it is 3 hours long or 5 minutes, using a mythic structure
will definitely capture people's attention. I use the story inside
the story example above as an example of a mini mythic structure:
- Set the Platform: You must establish the present situation
or status quo.
Mandy wants to pitch the calendar idea to her boss because morale
and budget are low, but she is getting little response.
- Tilt the Platform: You need to rock the boat and bring in
a new element. The main character of your story must make a new
decision or discovery, or bring in conflict or trouble. Mandy
decides to use a story approach and tells about how another facility
in the same position used the calendar idea.
- Consequences: You now need to describe what happens as a result
of this change in #2 above. The calendar is easy to produce, people
love it and word flies that their facility is a great place to
work.
- Getting Back to Stability: You now need to describe how the
hero deals with those consequences or is affected by them. This
is usually a small or big heroic act, something new, unusual or
creative. Mandy gets her boss involved in the story and then shows
her the calendar with gets her hooked.
- New Platform: Finally, you need to describe the new status
quo or how this story changed the main character. Mandy’s boss
decides to go ahead with the idea and it is just as successful
with their staff.
The key to writing your own mini mythic story is to think of
a time in your life when you had conflict, or went through a big
change, or got into trouble, or you had to face something challenging,
or life threw you a curve ball. I’m sure you have more than one
of these incidents. Make of list of them. Pick the most compelling
ones for you that include a message you can relate to your topic.
You will need to have passion and emotion behind it. Also choose
a “Platform Tilter” that feels complete for you, otherwise you
won't have an ending to your story yet. In other words, don't
talk about your struggle to quit smoking if you are still struggling
with it. Once you have a story in mind use the Five-Part Structure
to write it out. Then edit, edit, edit, for as Shakespeare once
said "Brevity is the soul of wit." •
© 2005 Carla Rieger
About the Author
Carla Rieger is an expert on creative people skills at work.
If you want a motivational speaker, trainer or leadership coach
to help you stay on the creative edge, contact Carla Rieger.
Tel: 1-866-294-2988, email carla@carlarieger.com, Web site: www.carlarieger.com
11/16/05
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