Friday, October 24, 2014

Business Stories - They're Everywhere

Recently a friend finished an intensive 9-month leadership training course.  Her comment was "Every speaker talked about the importance of stories for communication.  It was stressed that all leaders need to find compelling stories and be able to tell them."  It's good to see courses designed to help leaders that include storytelling. 

Yes, speaking is an important skill for leaders but if they just learn to deliver facts and figures without stories they are missing an opportunity to truly engage and educate.  Learning skills of finding the important stories to support your point is the first step.  Crafting the story to include the important facts and figures is the next step.  Finally, learning to deliver the story in an engaging manner is the third step.

Delivering a good story is easiest if the story is authentic to the leader.  That means it is something he/she believes in or has experienced first hand.  It is easiest to tell your own story but others' will work if the tale resonates. 

There are books to help, but the best way to learn is by doing.  Try telling some stories around the dinner table, then maybe weave stories into your next speech and then look for when stories are appropriate at your next C-level meetings or board meetings.  Done right, they are time savers not digressions. 

No comments: