storytelling and leadership
Telling a story is the most powerful way of creating an emotional connection with your audience. In a business context a leader will always need to motivate people to take action, to reach goals. Typically this process happens intellectually: a case is built by using reason supported by facts and statistics. The audience may agree or disagree but this is still an intellectual exchange.
Motivating people does not happen through reason alone. What happens when you unite the reasoned case to a feeling? When you combine information with emotion you engage your audience’s energy and their excitement.
And what effect might you have on your organisation’s vision and strategy if you reframe it as a story? For example, re-telling the history of your organisation as the story of a journey might do more to motivate your people to follow you. It might also give you a clearer view of how to achieve your strategy.
We will examine the structural elements that make a strong story in a practical and interactive way. What is the narrative arc? Who is the protagonist? Who or what are the antagonists? What is the inciting event which provokes the drama and the emotional response? And how does this event change the protagonist? What does he learn? What does he do differently as a consequence? We’ll explore ways to find the right guiding metaphor for your story and ways of re-energising your language to bring more colour and texture and to avoid cliches and over worn phrases.
This workshop will also explore why stories are such powerful vehicles of communication, how current research in neuroscience demonstrates that parts of our brains are hardwired to respond to stories and how, by building a compelling narrative pattern, we convey meaning and as a consequence, genuine understanding and engagement.