If I tell at a meeting how a neighbor parks on the lawn, is that storytelling?
We’ve already explained what storytelling is and why you should use it. Now let’s show how stories are used in business. If you’re in business storytelling, your stories are different from coffee conversations.
The “right” story has a specific purpose. It is important to determine what exactly you are telling the story for: want to inspire employees to work with a new service, train employees to work more efficiently, or help establish communication in the department.
Is there a specific example of how the story helped you get things done?
Several years ago, an experiment was conducted in a large charitable foundation. We recruited 2 groups of student volunteers to collect donations. One group was shown data on a daily basis how the money raised for the fund would affect their personal remuneration for the work done. The second group was told stories of how the donations they had collected had helped specific families. For example, one family of needy people bought a house, another – the child was paid for a medical examination. As a result of the experiment, the second group collected twice as many donations.