Facts and data are not automatically meaningful. Connecting them – tying the spreadsheets and charts and anecdotes together to tell a story – is what gives this information meaning to your audiences.
Good stories will better engage your colleagues and bosses and employees and customers, staying in their minds to create a compelling and positive portrait of your brand.
Data is good for your mind to analyze. But stories speak to your heart, triggering emotions, and if they are good emotions they will instill positive attitudes as well as loyalty to your firm.
Authentic stories stay with people longer than any bar chart will. Here are some tips on using storytelling in business.
Feature a conflict
Explain that there was a goal, and there were challenges in the way. It isn’t enough to say something was done – what had to be overcome to achieve that? Tell it in a way that they can empathize and will possibly learn something useful for themselves.
The hero is we not you
The best protagonist is someone else or a group, rather than you by yourself. “What this team I was part of did” is more appealing than “what I did.” Things you’ve witnessed make compelling life lesson stories. The point of your story is to share a valuable insight or best practice. The point should not be how wonderful you are.
Simplicity
Have a beginning, middle, and end, in that order, with a clear through-line. Business audiences don’t have time for too much nuance nor for digressions. Focus on the one or two most important things you want them to take away from your story.
Read the room
Adjust aspects of your story as needed so that a given audience will easily understand the situation and what occurs. Every story can be approached from multiple perspectives to help the audience understand what is at stake and what happens. Finance people, project managers, team managers, customer support people, and so on, will all have their own preferred ways to identify with the story they hear, and will take versions of the same lessons home with them.