Several years ago, in one of our Leadership Through Storytelling training workshops, a participant stood up in front of the room to take her turn at storytelling practice. This particular woman, Susan, had been very engaged in the workshop so far, so I was excited to see what she’d do in her moment in the spotlight.
As a brief set-up, Susan told us that she wanted to share a work story in an upcoming meeting with her clients to introduce a cloud-based data management platform that her company had just launched, and she asked us to pretend that we were those clients. After taking a breath and giving us all a warm smile, Susan began.
She started her business storytelling practice by stating the key benefit of this new initiative: that it was going to provide us, the clients, with a better way to aggregate and analyze our customer data and glean richer, more actionable insights from it. She then talked us through the various features of the new platform, telling us in detail how it worked, how easy it was to use, and how much effort it would save our frontline teams who were, up until now, inputting data by hand and evaluating it whenever they could find the time to do so. She explained the real-time dashboard and some of the key reports the platform could produce. She even included some data points in her talk.
As Susan spoke, she did so with clarity and conviction, and it was obvious that she not only believed in this new initiative but was also proud of it. She concluded by looking us all — her pretend clients — confidently in the eyes and telling us, “This platform could change the game for your employees, because they will spend much less time having to work on the data, and instead working smarter because of how this tool manages and examines that data. And we would like you to consider upgrading to it.”
While everyone applauded, I joined Susan at the front of the room to facilitate feedback on her story. As I always do, I first asked her fellow storytelling training participants, “What was the point of Susan’s story: the key message you got from it?” Several people jumped in and said, “That this new initiative is going to save our employees time and effort and help them work smarter.” I looked to Susan, who smiled and nodded affirmatively.
As follow up, I asked, “How, exactly, did Susan’s story help you realize this benefit?”, only to be met with a few blank stares and a lot of silence before someone volunteered, “Because she told us it would.” I continued, “Did what Susan share feel like a story, or more like a report?”, and the group all replied, “Report.” Exactly. I then turned to Susan, who now looked a bit dejected and confused, “What you just did wasn’t so much business storytelling as it was reporting about business. A very good report, mind you, delivered incredibly well; but it wasn’t a story.”
This is a regular piece of feedback I give participants in our Business Storytelling training workshops, pointing out that what they just did was give a report (or a pitch or a pep-talk) instead of telling a story. I am always clear to point out that business storytelling isn’t better than business reporting; it’s just different. And to make the most of storytelling in a business or workplace situation, it’s best to understand what those key differences are.
ONE: Reporting tells, while business storytelling shows
In Susan’s storytelling practice, she did a fantastic job of relaying a great deal of information in a short amount of time. She was thorough in her description of the platform and, more importantly, clear in conveying its benefits: the key message she wanted us to take-away. But a story goes beyond just voicing something to also depict something. Stories paint a scene, recreate a situation. More specifically, they show the storyteller’s key message in action, or they bring to life an addressable problem or opportunity, helping the audience see and experience something instead of just hearing it.
TWO: Reports inform; stories enlighten and inspire
Reports are primarily given to apprise an audience of something that has happened, is currently happening, or, in a pitch or proposal situation, should happen, could happen in the future. When an audience hears a report, they end up knowing something they didn’t know before. In contrast, when an audience hears a story, they can have a shift in not only knowledge, but also in thinking and perspective (e.g., “Wow, I never saw it that way.”). Going further, a story can shift the way an audience feels, giving them the courage and conviction to take the actions the storyteller wants them to take.
THREE: Reports focus on work drama; stories, human drama
People are an essential element of any story. With this in mind, if reports are about what happened, stories are about what happened to someone, even if what happened to them was at work. Importantly, it’s not just about what those people did at work, but also about what they saw, heard, said, thought, felt or experienced.
When we hear reports at work, we connect with them primarily at a professional level, but only if what is being reported is of interest to us or germane to our business, organization, discipline, role, etc. As such, the relevance and appeal of a report can be relatively narrow. In contrast, because stories involve human drama, we connect with them at a human level. And because we are all human, stories provide greater opportunity to engage more people in a deeper and more meaningful way.
FOUR: Stories don’t replace reports; they position what you’re reporting
A well-crafted story, well told can play a compelling and convincing role in a business report or business case proposal presentation. But to be clear, it doesn’t completely replace all of the content of that presentation. Rather, you use storytelling to position what you want to report or propose, shaping the way you want your audience to think and feel about it, removing mental or emotional barriers getting in the way of them embracing it, and paving the way for them to be receptive to it. In any report or pitch presentation, the presenter will need to inform the audience and share details around what they are doing (or want to do) and how they are doing it. Business storytelling, included within that presentation, helps your audience understand why you’re doing something or why it’s worth doing.
Example of Better Business Storytelling
With the above four points in mind, let me give you an example of how Susan could’ve done more business storytelling in her practice round.
“Thank you very much for your time. I am here to tell you about a new cloud-based data management platform that we have launched and, over the next half hour, demonstrate how it will provide you — and, more specifically, your frontline employees — with a better, more efficient way to aggregate and analyze your customer data and pull more robust, more actionable insights from it. I will get into the specifics of this platform in just a moment, but before I dive into those details, I want to quickly tell you about a conversation with one of your frontline employees that underscored why this new tool is so valuable.
“I met this gentleman on one of our site visits during the qualitative assessments we were doing for you. We were having a very productive discussion in one of the conference rooms about the work he and his colleagues were doing, and he was answering all of my questions with care and enthusiasm.
“But when our discussion turned to customer data, the tone got more somber. He let out a heavy sigh and started telling me about how he knew how important all this customer data was, but that the process of pulling it together, inputting it, and analyzing it took anywhere from 15 to 20 additional hours every month: time spent above and beyond the more meaningful, day-to-day work he and his colleagues were doing.
“He went further to say that at least one day a week, instead of heading home to his family at the end of it, he would pour himself a cup of strong coffee, sit down at his desk in an otherwise dark and empty office, and spend the next several hours working into the night, manually inputting data, page after page after page of it. He emphasized that he didn’t want to complain and that he knew this was a necessary part of the job, but he was getting frustrated with how many additional hours it was taking, and how much it was taking him away from other things, like his family. He also said he and others were spending so much time inputting the data, they didn’t have enough time to analyze it.
“After pausing for a moment and looking up from his hands, he finished by saying, ‘What’s the point of having data if you don’t have time to use it? I have to think there is a more efficient way to do all of this.’
“Indeed, there is. And this is exactly why we developed this platform and why I want to share it with you. I know this one employee’s story is similar to others’, all of them dedicated, passionate colleagues who very much believe in the work you all do, but also know there is a better way to do it. So, with this story in mind, let me introduce you to this new platform and walk you through it.”
Remember that if you say to an audience that you want to tell them a story, they are expecting a story—a real story, with people, with plot, drama, tension, resolution…and some relevant insight and inspiration generated from all of the above. We know how a story sounds, flows and feels, because we have been hearing stories and telling stories all of our lives. So don’t think that sharing facts and information in some sort of chronological fashion will cut it. It might make for a good report, but it won’t be a good story. Your audience will know the difference; it’s essential you do too.
Bill Baker is the founder and principal of BB&Co Strategic Storytelling. For over 15 years, BB&Co has been providing Business Storytelling and Effective Presentation Skills training to organizations such as Coca-Cola, Cisco, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, GE, Dell, Novartis, ICF International, and others.
