Storytelling can bring dull facts to life and create stronger engagement between a speaker and the people they’re trying to reach. You can use stories to change employees’ opinions, shape their feelings and ultimately guide their actions.
To help you become a more effective storyteller and start improving internal communications, follow these four tips.
Put a human face on the story
If you want your employees to relate to your story, you need to make it about a real person. What I’ve found to work when communicating with my workforce is to use a story about a fellow employee, for example how they’ve used a new benefit or employee recognition programme, or taken part in a learning course. This helps them see the human side, engage with the message and begin improving internal communications from the get-go.
Tell a hero’s journey
We all love a hero and hearing about how they overcame obstacles and succeeded in their mission. By using real or fictional characters to tell a hero’s journey, you can help your employees connect emotionally with the message and visualize the possible outcomes. For your stories, you may want to use your own employees as heroes, which conveys the message that if their peers can do it, so can they. Don’t forget that a hero’s journey involves a beginning, middle and end, so be sure to include all three parts of the journey.
Create empathy and understanding
If the aim of storytelling is to have your employees engage with your message, it’s critical that your story triggers empathy and understanding.
Motivate action
It’s all well and good to have your employees empathies with your story, but ultimately you want to create a call to action. You need to motivate them to want to take these actions. Find ways to build the call to action into your story, and never end the story until you’ve done so.
I hope this has helped you understand the power of storytelling and some ways to tell an effective story. The next time you need to communicate a message to your employees, first ask yourself if a story would do a better job of achieving your communications campaign objectives.
