Leader’s Guide to StorytellingMastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative

Slide and Presentation by: Arry Rahmawan

System Engineering, Modeling, and Simulation (SEMS) Lab

Agenda

• Introduction• The Role of Story in Organization• Eight Narrative Patterns• Putting it All Together

Part 1:

INTRODUCTION

Different World of Leadership and Storytelling

Introduction

Storytelling is necessary for trying to

communicate new idea to a

skeptical audience

Introduction

The Role of Storytelling:A good example may make something easier to understand and easier to remember

Introduction

Leadership is essentially a task of persuasion – of

winning people’s minds and hearts. The principal task of

leadership is to create a new consensus about

the goals to be pursued and how to achieve them.

The Nature of Leadership

Part 2:

The Role of Story in Organization

Story of Malaria in Zambia

Telling the Right Story

Do stories really have a role to play in the business world?

Yes!but leaders need to employ a variety of

narrative patterns for different aims

Narratives that spark action

Stories that communicate who you are

Using narrative to enhance the brand

Sharing knowledge through compelling stories

Transmitting values through narrative

Taming the grapevine

Future stories and scenarios

Learning to perform the story

Telling the Right Story

8 narrative patterns for 8 different business purposes:

Telling the Story Right

Delivery:7% meanings from Words,

93% Non-Verbal

Four Key Elements of Storytelling Performance

Style: raconteur, stand-up comedian, orator, reflexive, romantic

Truth: Proceed on the basis That

is Possible to Tell the Truth, accept, certain,

fearless, and relentless.Tell the Truth as You See It

Preparation:Be rehearsed But

SpontaneousChoose the Shape of Your Story and

Stick to It

Part 3:

8 Narrative Patterns

Pattern #1:

Sparkling Action(springboard stories)

Describe how a successful changewas implemented in the past, butallows listeners to imagine how itmight work in their situation

TIPS: Avoid exessive detail that willtake audience’s mind off its ownchallenge

Pattern #2

Communicating who You Are

Provides audience-engaging drama and reveals some strength or vulnerability from your past

TIPS: Provide meaningful details but also make sure the audience has time and inclination to hear your story

Pattern #3:

Transmitting Values

Feels familiar to the audience and will prompt discussion about issues raised by the value being promoted.

TIPS: Use believable (though perhaps hypothetical) characters and situations, and never forget that the story must be

consistent with your own actions.

Pattern #4:

Communicating who the firm is - branding

Is usually told by the product or service itself, or by customer word-of-mouth or by a credible third party

TIPS: Be sure that the firm is actually delivering on the brand promise

Pattern #5:

Fostering

Movingly recounts a situation that listeners have also experienced and that prompts them to share their own stories about the topic

TIPS: Ensure that a set agenda doesn’t squelch this swapping of stories – and that you have an action plan ready to tap the energy unleashed by this narrative chain reaction. Share similar values.

Pattern #6:

Taming the Grapevine

Highlights, often through the use of gentle humor, some aspect of a rumor that reveals it to be untrue or unreasonable

TIPS: Avoid the temptation to be mean-spirited –and be sure that the rumor is indeed false!

Pattern #7:

Sharing Knowledge

Focuses on mistakes made and shows, in some detail, how they were corrected, with an explanation of why the solution worked

TIPS: Solicit alternative – and possibly better solutions.

Pattern #8:

Leading people into the Future

Evokes the future you want to create without providing excessive detail that will only turn out to be wrong.

TIPS: Be sure of your storytelling skills. (Otherwise, use a story in which the past can serve as a springboard to the future).

Eight Narrative Patterns

Eight Narrative Patterns (con’t)

Part 4:

Putting it All Together

Using Narrative to Transform Your Organization

Storytelling underlies key aspects of continuous innovation because

interactive human-based relationship between organization’s leadership, the people doing the work (employee), and the people for whom the work is being done are the engines of productivity and innovation.

“Through story, we learn to see each other and

ourselves, and come to love what we see as well as acquire the power to change it. In this way we come to terms with our past, our present, and our future.”