Practical application of business storytelling

Posted by  Mark Schenk —March 5, 2013
Filed in Business storytelling, Leadership Posts

I was asked last week about the practical application of things we cover in our Storytelling for Leaders workshop. Fortunately, we had a very recent example to relate.

We ran a session in late November with the senior HR team for a large company and one of the participants called me in December to give some feedback.

During the workshop you helped me with a story I needed to explain the history and achievements of the major culture change initiative I am leading. With the new CEO arriving, I needed to win her support as the project was under threat. You gave me some great feedback around the essential components of the story and how to tell it without being long-winded. A few days after the workshop I got a phone call advising the new CEO would see me in 2 hours for a 30 minute meeting. I practised the story a couple of times before the meeting. Three minutes into the meeting, I have told the story and the new CEO was asking me how she could support the project. I was amazed at how effective the story was and how quickly I could communicate such a complex issue.

We often hear people say things like ‘I don’t have time to tell stories.’ This example helps explain the response we normally give to such comments…’you don’t have time not to use stories’.

Mark Schenk About  Mark Schenk

Mark works globally with senior leadership teams to improve their ability to communicate clearly and memorably. He has been a Director of Anecdote since 2004 and helped the company grow into one of the world’s leading business storytelling consultancies. Connect with Mark on:

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