Story telling is an untapped power which resides in many of us. In a recent HBR Blog titled the Indispensable Power of Storytelling, anthropologist-turned-entrepreneur Bob Deutsch describes the importance of what he calls “self-story”:
There is much to be learned from the lessons that fictional characters and their creators teach us… All of our lives have stretches filled with the rising and falling action of a well-plotted story… The best fiction writers capture the core of that. Our most enduring stories and novels live in our hearts because they distill our essences.
Story telling for business leaders is a core skill through which they can relay key competitive principles in a manner that resounds and will be recalled and retold in their business. The power of stories lies in the power of their message to be retold throughout the business and to take on a life of their own. As Bob notes above, we all have stories which carry key messages, but there is an art and skill to storytelling that must be practised and mastered if it is to become compelling. Consultancy firm Anecdote specialise in teaching leaders how to craft and communicate stories that will carry their messages. Anecdote considers that as a bare minimum a story must have:
- A time marker, a place marker or a character
- Be about something happening
- Contain people’s names and dialogue
- Include something you didn’t anticipate
There are of course ways in which a business can craft its own story and this can be a very powerful and transforming process in developing strategy, building teams and overcoming performance barriers. Lego Serious Play is an approach to discovering and crafting answers where the players construct the story through lego blocks. For many this may seem child’s play but engaging a team to use their hands to construct solutions engages the creative side of the brain and builds powerful metaphors and stories which will live in a business for years. I am a trained facilitator in Lego Serious Play and have used it across many businesses in developing business strategies, building teams and in developing change management programs.
