Story-Telling

What is Story?

Stories are all around us, evident in all of the obvious places, TV, movies, books, and also in most of our conversations and personal experiences. Stories are not just facts; they contain facts and feelings and senses and colors and metaphors and associations. They are the dynamic, robust way in which human beings communicate meaning. In fact, Jerome Bruner says simply that, story is meaning. How we narrate facts determines how we will remember and integrate them. And that's what learning is.

Who Wants to Tell Stories?

If we simply say everyone, we wouldn't be telling you the whole story. But essentially, that is true. We have clients who have used stories in the following ways:

• Managers have used our storytelling tools for coaching and mentoring of their teams, enabling them to build more cohesive relationships and stronger performing groups;
• Trainers have used these techniques in technical training, new hire orientations, leadership development, communication skills, team development, etc;

• Facilitators use storytelling in meetings as a way of introducing the topic for the meeting, thus setting the tone and context;

• Distance Learning Administrators use stories as a way of maximizing interactivity in a virtual world that by its very nature inhibits personal interactions;

• Instructional Designers incorporate storytelling activities into their programs in order to increase retention and build fun, consistent methods for improving the learning experience;

• Speakers use stories as their most important tools, creating interest, clarifying concepts and deepening emotional impact.

What Stories Do?

First, stories bridge the gap between the speaker and the listener -the leader and follower, the trainer and learner. Storytelling is an interactive process. The listener plays as active a role in the communication as the storyteller. Therefore, stories enhance investment.

Second, stories are fun! A wise person once said, (ok, it was us) "Fun is going to increase motivation, because people don't feel incompetent (a key demotivator) when they are having fun." Throwing a story into a discussion anytime, anywhere can change the energy and provide entertainment, which is valuable in and of itself.

We use stories in numerous training, consulting, and learning scenarios:

• Business Process Improvement;
• Coaching & Mentoring;
• Communication;
• Customer Service;
• Decision Making;
• Human Performance Technology;
• Leadership Development;
• Management Development;
• Negotiation Skills;
• Problem Solving;
• Sales Training;
• Strategic Planning;
• Supervisory Skills Development;
• Team Building;
• Technology Based Training;
• Visioning.

Applications to Meetings

There are a myriad of specific ways stories can be used in training sessions:

• At the beginning of a session. A story placed here can break the ice and allow the participants to get settled, establish credibility and empathy, or frame the intention of the meeting;
• As a method of participant introductions. This method allows for individual expression and will be more memorable than a list of stats (birthday, favorite color, and favorite food);
• As a method for enhancing participant retention and content review;
• As a team-building activity;
• As a way to increase creativity and provide a safe environment for idea generation.

Story-Telling

We work with an organization called StoryNet to make your meetings more effective. Here's what the folks at StoryNet have to say about stories: