3 Top Tips to Inspire & Connect Through Storytelling
If you want to shape stories, you need to let those stories shape you.
We all need to tell and be told stories. It’s a basic human need. Life and work can be confusing at times, it can be challenging and changeable and the more we get lost, the more we need stories to remind us of who we are, why we are, where we come from, and what might be possible.
The good news is that you are certainly part of a great story already, whether it is as part of your business, your family or yourself. Of course, there are many more great stories still to discover, but unless you take the time to learn how to recognise and apply them, they could be passing you by right now.
Knowing your story and sharing it with others is one of the most powerful ways to inspire and connect with people. Stories delight, teach, amuse, motivate, trigger imagination and enrich lives. The greatest stories move people emotionally and intellectually.
Stories can also galvanise a team way more than data ever can. Goals, facts, and targets are without doubt necessary in understanding what needs to be done and perhaps for some, they provide a degree of motivation. Yet, in order to truly mobilise people to act – firing up the imagination and moving the soul is key. The hearts and minds of your teams respond to good storytelling.
Every leader and every team must have a great story; a vision, a purpose, a journey or a learning experience.
So here are 3 tips from writer, author and storytelling expert, Bob Cryer to help you start yours:
Tip 1: Storytelling should feel like a conversation, not a rant. Connect with your audience by making them feel part of the journey. You should be talking with them, not at them.
Tip 2: Start your story at a moment of change, right in the middle of the action, and highlight what was was at stake for you. Paint your picture with images and emotions that illustrate how important that moment of change was for you.
Tip 3: Don’t speak like you write – keep language simple, human and accessible. The honest and more emotive you are, the better.
So, dig out your creative genius and get ready to inspire and connect to your people powerfully with your own great storytelling.
