Every once in a while, before the start of one of our business storytelling training workshops, a participant will walk up to me with a concerned look on their face and whisper that they don’t have a story to work on during the session. I will ask them what’s going on, and they will typically respond, “I just don’t have any great stories to tell. I can’t think of an extraordinary experience I could talk about. I’ve never hiked the Inca Trail, started a new business, survived any great hardship. My life and career are remarkably unremarkable, and I’m stuck.”
I will reassure them that the story they decide to work on over the course of the storytelling training workshop doesn’t have to be about some massive, life-altering or career-defining experience. It could be about something as mundane as a casual conversation with a fellow shopper at the grocery store, something you observed on a recent business trip or at a kid’s soccer game, or a quick anecdote shared by a customer over coffee. I also tell them not to panic, that there is time to think of a story at the start of the workshop, and one will pop into their heads as the storytelling training unfolds. And it always does.
You see, effective business storytelling doesn’t always have to be about monumental, life-changing, made-for-tv experiences, like running a first marathon, surviving a bad accident or illness, implementing a huge new initiative at work. Those experiences are ripe for storytelling, and we can often pull different stories about them because we learn multiple things from them (i.e., different stories to bring to life different messages, lessons, or points). But storytelling in a business setting could also be about a relatively ordinary experience that might otherwise be forgotten except for the fact that it somehow resonated.
Each of us have dozens, if not hundreds of experiences, interactions, or observations every single day. Most leave little to no impression; they occur and are instantly forgotten. But others stick with us somehow, make us ponder. We walk away from them and think, “Huh…that was interesting”. These experiences are noteworthy enough that they resurface in our minds over the day, or we even tell our spouse, friend or colleague about them. If this happens, those experiences deserve a closer look to determine if there is any enlightenment that emerged from them. Because if so, it can often be turned into a short story that could be effectively shared at work.
How to Turn the Everyday into Enlightening Workplace Stories
To make the most of everyday experiences and turn them into workplace stories, you should do the following:
ONE: Take a strategic approach to dissecting the experience and considering the story you could tell about it — Effective business storytelling always has a point that the storyteller is making: a message, lesson or idea that the story is bringing to life and the audience can absorb and take-away in hearing it. So, the first thing to do when contemplating an experience and whether it is “story worthy,” is ask yourself if there is a point you could make in sharing it with others. Is there something you learned from the experience, a realization or epiphany you had, a shift in perspective that experience created? Importantly, is it a point that a workplace or business audience would find relevant and want or need to hear? If yes, great; it’s an appropriate story to share in a workplace situation. If no, then the experience and the story you might tell about it could be just pure entertainment, saved for the bar, lunchroom, or the dinner table.
TWO: Develop the plot for that story — In developing the story further, it’s important to map out the plot for it so you figure out, in advance, where the story is going versus determining that while you’re telling it. It’s also important to understand what makes a story, a story, versus a report, or pitch, or talk; how to make sure it has some drama and compelling tension; and that it’s about people and what happened to them versus just relaying what happened. And lastly, it’s crucial that the story be worth people’s valuable time; that it has good focus and flow; and that it drives towards and brings to life a meaningful point you convey at the end.
THREE: Keep a log of meaningful experiences — And finally, I encourage you to keep a record of those experiences that stick with you. Make a list (I have one in the Notes app on my iPhone). Review it every once in a while to remind yourself of those experiences and see if any of them warrant a story. Upon further reflection, you will recognize that some very much do, while others clearly do not, as you conclude “Yeh…there’s really nothing there.”
A Brief Encounter that Turned into Great Workplace Storytelling
Let me give you an example. For six years, I had the honour of sitting on the board of the Alzheimer’s Society of British Columbia. One of the Society’s strategic goals is to help cities and townships become Dementia Friendly Communities, where people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia feel welcomed, supported, and included. Part of this effort is helping businesses and citizens be more aware of people who might be affected by dementia and in need of some kindness, patience, and assistance.
With this in mind, I was rushing to an appointment one day in downtown Vancouver, worried I was going to be late. As I was scurrying up Robson Street, I passed an elderly woman standing on the corner, looking this way and that and seeming a bit flustered. I knew I didn’t have time to stop and check-in with her, so I hurried on, convincing myself that she was likely okay. But after proceeding another block, my conscience got the better of me, and I turned around and walked back towards her.
“Do you need any help,” I asked her. She looked up at me and smiled and said, “Oh yes. I’m looking for the office of the Vancouver Friends for Life Society, which they told me is located in the West End.”
“Well,” I said, “the West End starts across the street, and I’m not 100% certain, but I think that Society is in one of the historic houses on Barclay Street, which is two blocks that way.”
“Oh,” she replied. “I was certain it was on Robson Street, which is why I’m standing here.” She then started telling me about when she first learned about Friends for Life, how she is volunteering there, how she lives out in the suburbs but took the Skytrain downtown for the first time, etc. While she was talking, I was looking for signs of dementia. After five minutes of her talking, I realized there were none. She was fine, just a bit turned around and excited. Sensing a momentary pause in her soliloquy, I jumped in and said, “Well, I hope you have a great meeting at Friends for Life. Again, I’m pretty sure it’s two blocks that way. Big house on the corner. Have a great day.”
And as I turned to leave, she softly grabbed my arm and said, “Thank you so much. You’re the third person that stopped to see if needed help.” And as I walked away from her, my heart warmed with the thought that two others had interrupted their day to see if this lovely, elderly woman needed assistance: a perfect representation of not only a dementia friendly community, but also and simply a friendly one.
I told that story at our next board meeting for the Society when we were talking about the Dementia Friendly Communities initiative and what it could result in. And I repeated it often at other meetings and events. It was an everyday, mundane moment that lasted about five minutes, but it stuck with me long after.
So, don’t discount an experience just because it’s a brief or relatively ordinary one. There might be a story about it be worth crafting. And when you decide to develop these stories, know that some will flow effortlessly right out of you (as this other story did, about my last business trip before the Covid lockdowns), and others might take a bit more work. But if there is something you learned from that experience, and you think that learning might enlighten or inspire others, then it will be well worth the effort.
