Making the shift from slides to stories – how the best communicators leverage storytelling in the workplace

What do the best communicators in your workplace have in common? It's likely they can read the room, share the right amount of detail/context for the audience, and illustrate their points with stories.

Storytelling is one of the most effective tools in your communication toolkit. When telling a story, you share a little about your beliefs or worldview, engage people’s emotions, and build a bridge to the audience. Stories help us connect in ways slides and data cannot.

In this month’s CliffsNotes Book Club, Sonia Checchia presented the book How to Tell a Story from the creators and staff of The Moth (check out the portal to read the notes). As the title suggests, this is a ‘how to’ guide full of tips for telling better stories. In addition to practical tips, the authors also share perspective on the community that is built around storytelling and the lasting impact on the audience.

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Your brain on stories

​Research by Uri Hasson, professor of psychology and neuroscience, illustrates how stories impact the listener on an emotional level. In his research, Hasson provides evidence for the phenomenon called ‘neural coupling,’ how brain activity is shared or mirrored between the storyteller and the listeners. And if you feel it, you will remember it. Telling a good story creates shared memories with the listener. Stories leave a lasting impression that no slide presentation or graphs can compare!

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Stories in the workplace

While the book is focused on Moth-style stories—true personal stories that are told in first person on stage during the Moth event series, the techniques and tips will help on stage or in any setting, including conference rooms or Zoom meetings.

The book includes a few specific illustrations of effective storytelling in a work setting. Here are three:

• Career journey: When interviewing for a new position, or when mentoring junior staff, you may have an opportunity to share details about your career journey. Instead of recounting your roles in chronological order or highlighting promotions and job changes, think of your career through a story lens. What is the ‘story arc’ of your career—who were you at the start, middle, and now? Also, what did you learn in one role that led you to the next?
• Selling points: When presenting a data-heavy set of information, sharing a story can help the audience remember your key points or the compelling aspects of your pitch. In the book, the Moth team shares an example of a tech company that had to plan their experiments around the schedule of a train station that was located two miles from the office. Their equipment was so sensitive that the train vibrations impacted the data. Sharing this anecdote helped the company illustrate how precise their equipment is.
• Company culture: In the book, the Moth team shares an example of a woman who received negative feedback about her performance, and was able to turn it around with support from her team, a 360 assessment, and a great coach. She not only demonstrated tremendous personal growth; she also began recounting her personal story in the company’s new hire orientation sessions. She wanted staff to hear about it on Day 1! Her courage and candor illustrated the company’s commitment to supporting staff and a culture of learning.

​I have always been a fan of a well-placed story in a work setting, but this book has pushed me to up my storytelling game. As you think about the best storytellers you know, what do they do well? What can we learn from them?