Wise Leaders Tell Stories

Never underestimate the power of a good story. Storytelling creates instant understanding when we communicate with individuals and shared stories can build awesome cultures within teams or whole organisations. I learnt about storytelling from an expert.

On a spring day in my second week of employment in London, I walk purposefully towards the front door in order to collide with my CEO at exactly 8-30am.

I had started work as a 22 year old graduate keen to impress. Apart from my natural ambition, I had taken on a mortgage with repayments bigger than my annual salary; I needed career promotion. My manager advised me to impress the CEO, John Garnett. ‘He is most impressed by people who get out and visit customers early in the morning. He is even more impressed when people volunteer to walk the night shift to talk with employees who would normally be ignored. By the way, he always arrives at 8-30 am like clockwork’. This is all I need to know! Next morning, I ‘bump into’ John as he arrives; I am on my way out with a basket of files on my arm (I cannot afford a briefcase yet).

‘Dear girl’ he exclaims with surprise (even 10 years later he calls me ‘dear girl’ because he can never remember names) ‘who are you and where are you going at this time of the morning’? Just the response I had hoped for! ‘I am Janis Grummitt, I started last week as a trainee and I understand that the most important thing to do is to visit customers – so that is what I am doing John’. I quickly added for good measure ‘and I have arranged to walk the nightshift tonight too’. He beamed and encouraged me with ‘wonderful, wonderful dear girl’.

Within six months I am promoted to unit head. I have two full time staff, two difficult part time contractors – and a pay rise. Within another year I am a department manager but I am beginning to sense something else is happening. This is confirmed when I sit down with a new employee for induction. ‘Wow, she says, you are the actual Janis Grummitt’? ‘What do you mean’ I ask tentatively ‘..well, when we went to John Garnett’s induction talk he told us about you. ‘Go on’ I encouraged her. ‘Well, he explained that it was only your second week at work and you were marching out to visit a customer at 8-30 in the morning with your golden hair flowing down your back and a basket of files over your arm’. My heart sank. She continued excitedly while looking at me with adulation as if I were famous. ‘You were also going to walk the nightshift he said – what a wonderful role model you are’. I felt terrible. In the next few years my goldilocks story becomes a firm favourite at induction for new staff.

By the time I am 25 I am working directly for John and have regular one on one meetings; I can bear the guilt no more. I clumsily blurt out my apology at one of our meetings ‘I did it because I knew it would affect your view of me and get me promoted’. John paused and ran his fingers through his tangled, white shock of hair with exasperation. ‘Dear girl’, he said ‘I don’t tell that story for your benefit. I don’t care why you did it – it’s a good story to tell others – to explain the importance of getting out there and not sitting behind a desk. That’s what we’re all about here’.

Suddenly I realised. How stupid of me! John understood the power of a good story and after all those years of guilt, he had known all the time that my appearance that morning was no accident. I had provided him with a good story!

That story was one of many that John used to explain his expectations to people. He also used stories  to build a strong, shared culture. Those stories were all true–ish like the one about a young girl, her golden hair flowing and a basket of files over her arm. Most of us can still remember those stories today.

Storytelling is acknowledged as a powerful technique now, but why does it work? Recent brain research has uncovered some shocking information about stories. Neural coupling between people’s brains occurs when they are listening to stories; brains mirror each other as if they were sharing the same experience. But brain scans show that neural coupling doesn’t always occur – it only happens when the listener is paying attention and understanding the story. It does not occur when people listen to facts, statistics or theoretical information. It seems as if our brains are wired to respond to stories. This was probably an important early survival technique before writing was invented and when the bonding of the tribe mattered. Today, leaders can use this technique to communicate better and to build strong cultures based on shared values in stories.

There are some simple rules to remember when story telling:

1 Start with a provocative statement or a connection for listeners

in the story. Make the audience curious.‘I want to tell you a surprising story about a new employee, just like you…’

2 Begin the story with action: ‘I was on my way to work this

morning....’  let it lead to the next action. Have the audience asking

 ‘What happened then…?’

3 Include specific details. Say ‘red rose’ instead of ‘flower,’ and

‘Flowing golden hair’ rather than ‘hair.’ Vivid details paint lasting

pictures in the minds of your listeners.

4 Flesh out your characters. Give the audience a sense of a character's

physical appearance, occupation and personality.

5 Base the story on reality, but don’t let the truth ruin a good story!

6 Identify possible good stories and note them in a book for use later. Good stories are those that could communicate a point or be used to share values with others.

7 Conclude with an important thought or moral. Good stories provide new experience, perspective or a transformation, for the characters in the story and for us.

8 Tell the story more than once. Practice your delivery until it is perfect and record yourself telling the story to see how it sounds. Rehearse the telling until it sounds natural. Adjust the story each time you tell it.

Leaders can use stories to communicate better; create role models that represent key values;build a strong shared culture around a common purpose.