Gary<\/strong>: Typically its people feeling that they aren\u2019t creative enough and wish they were. They like the idea of using stories in a work context, and are interested in the training, but they feel that either they don\u2019t have a story in them, or they don\u2019t have a story that matters.\u00a0 They\u2019ve seen others use stories effectively and they\u2019d like to learn how to do that \u2013 but they just don\u2019t know where to start.<\/p>\n Scott:<\/strong> I completely agree. Most participants do see the value and in many ways we are working with the converted. Generally, participants are looking to use stories in a presentation or at an upcoming event, but the biggest challenge they face is where to start.\u00a0 I often hear \u201cI don\u2019t have a story \u201cor \u201cI have a cool story but it\u2019s not really for our regional sales teams\u201d.\u00a0 So how have you approached that from a training perspective? In the training, how do you get people to find their stories?<\/p>\n Gary<\/strong>: When we train storytelling skills my very first goal is to show them that they are surrounded by stories and that everyone can tell a story. One of the ways I start is by asking the participants to share something that has changed them or others.\u00a0 This could be a simple business experience that made a difference to them or shaped them. It could also be something from their private life. I\u2019ve found it is easier with participants who have stronger emotional intelligence, but everyone can find something.\u00a0 The challenge then is getting them to slow down and see it as they tell it.\u00a0 It\u2019s not unusual to see people rushing through their story and speaking in bullet points.\u00a0 This has a lot to do with nerves, but is also connected to wrongly believing that the others won\u2019t be interested in listening to them. When we model the activity it always helps.<\/p>\n Stories are at their most powerful when they get inside people and either connect with an emotion or trigger an emotion.\u00a0 This is the starting point \u2013 at the end of the story how will your audience feel? And what will they know and do?<\/p>\n Scott<\/strong>: I do something similar, \u201ctell us about a moment you are proud of\u201d or \u201ctell us about a moment you regretted\u201d. Anything that taps right into a feelings dimension rather than just narrating factual events.<\/p>\n Gary:<\/strong> When I first started training storytelling in business, I was concerned that when people talked about a moment that shaped them that they would be a little bit light emotionally.\u00a0 I was expecting people would gloss over it or \u201cpresent\u201d it. \u00a0But I find that this isn\u2019t true and that people tend to really dive in and quickly tap into their emotional memory. This then impacts the listeners.\u00a0 \u00a0They leave this activity with a few big wins \u2013 firstly that they can actually tell a story, secondly that they have stories to tell, thirdly that they can convey emotion without having to explicitly talk about it and finally,\u00a0 and perhaps this motivates them the most, \u00a0that people want to listen and do quickly connect.<\/p>\n Scott<\/strong>: I think if the storyteller tries to obviously connect their story to the listeners experiences it doesn\u2019t always work that well. The audience is often put off if you try to get too personal too soon. Pulling people into your story beats pushing a message.\u00a0 Every time we train storytelling skills there is always one person who, in the first 30 minutes of the day, will share an experience that unexpectedly hooks the other participants.<\/p>\n Recently we were delivering training a \u00bd day session on \u201cStorytelling skills for internal trainers\u201d \u00a0in a European investment institution. The first warm-up task of the training was to share a story with your table about something that impacted you in a way you had never anticipated. \u00a0One French lady shared a story about her family going to lay a \u201cstolperstein\u201d at the weekend in front of the house where her great-grandparents had lived.\u00a0 Obviously, the context of the story had everyone paying respectful attention, but it was the unexpected joy and warmth in her story, and the way she described her family reconnecting, \u00a0that had the room in silence and actually grinning. She pulled people into her story by telling it naturally, not over-structuring it, and tapping into her emotional memory. When we started looking at their organizations greatest learning moments and the managers practiced telling stories aimed at reinforcing their culture, we reinforced 3 key points from her first story – tell it naturally, tell it simply and see it as you tell.<\/p>\n Gary:<\/strong> Once we\u2019ve shown participants that they do actually have stories, the next challenge is finding the right story for the situation. \u00a0There\u2019s a simple and effective model we use with 3 concentric circles, and the key is to start with the emotion. The central point of this circle is \u201cBy the end of story what do you want them to feel, know or do?\u201d Occasionally we need to help out by sharing a list of emotions to get people thinking. Feel comes first, and then comes what do you want them to know and what you want them to do. We train our clients to build stories from the inside out.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth highlighting that sometimes that feeling isn\u2019t going to be a positive feeling … and that is okay. There is a place for warning, shocking, etc. as long as the intention is positive. \u00a0I remember a CFO wanting to shake his peers up and confront the arrogance he saw within his organization head on. He knew he wanted his listeners to leave with a sense of humility.\u00a0 Once he had identified this, he quickly found his story. I still remember his presentation years later. He showed an actual cutting from a newspaper with the photo of a farmer saying, \u201cIf they\u2019d asked us locals, we would have told them that this area floods heavily every few years. So why did they build a motorway here?\u201d. Once he had got their attention, he could then talk more about how he wanted things to be going forward.<\/p>\n I often use this \u201cfarmer\u201d story when training storytelling because it really does reinforce the importance of starting with the emotion, and being honest with yourself about which emotion you want, when you are choosing and building a story.<\/p>\n Gary<\/strong>: Yes, this can be tricky because there are some people who feel that they just don\u2019t have it in them. If that\u2019s the case, we have prepared training aids with \u201cclassic stories\u201d that managers need in their pockets. For example, you need the story of when you overestimated yourself, when you failed to prepare, what you stand for, what is important to you when working with new hires, a story of vulnerability, a story \u00a0of learning from your mistakes etc etc.\u00a0 There are similar \u201ctemplates\u201d for sales professionals, service desks, L&D managers etc.\u00a0 I find that this \u201ccookie-cutter\u201d approach helps people get going, but I also find that very quickly they begin to leave the \u201ctemplate\u201d and they make things real and personal. \u00a0The aid just gets them going.\u00a0 Stories that follow a template are a safe place to start and then we push people to tap into their own experiences \u2026. And everything becomes far more powerful.<\/p>\n Scott: <\/strong>Absolutely, \u201ctypical stories that you need in your pocket\u201d\u00a0 help get people past staring at a blank piece of paper. Even the process of just asking \u201cWhat about this one? Have you got that one?\u201d gets them thinking.\u00a0 And then its all about delivery, and here is where we bring in LOTS, which means \u201clanguage of the senses\u201d. Using plenty of language of the senses such as \u201cheard, saw, sensed, touched, felt\u201d brings your listeners into your story. Speed and pace is important too. Getting them to slow down, speed up, use pauses for effect. \u00a0But the key is to live the story and see the story as you tell it. To tap into your emotional memory. We\u2019ll expand on this in another blog post.<\/p>\nSo what do you do if somebody can\u2019t think of a story?\u00a0 In every training group there\u2019ll often be a few participants still struggling.<\/h3>\n