Did you know that by telling stories of encouragement you can increase the level of engagement of those you lead? Everyone likes to hear a story that they can relate to, something that gives them hope for the future or excites them. It is especially meaningful if they can personally connect to what is being told – say a story about their organization or one of their team members. When we hear how others overcame problems or situations, ideas begin to fill our heads, inspiration fills our hearts, and actions begin to create the stories that will be shared tomorrow.
Telling a story well takes thought and artful planning. In the article 7 Simple Ways to Tell a Compelling Story, Alison Davis walks us through the steps needed to tell stories of encouragement that will inspire others and make an impact. She teaches us that stories need to focus on the audience, have a single message, create characters that are compelling and develop dramatic tension.
Modern-day researcher, Keith Quesenberry, also probes into the impact of a good story—this time focused on how brand marketers (cars, environment, beer, for example) structure their commercials with plot development techniques to successfully sell products. What he and his co-researcher found was that the structure of the content predicted its success to get people to respond, to buy the product—regardless of the content of the ad itself. In an article for Story Science, Quesenberry shares that full story development includes characters, settings, events, conflict, tension, and resolution (yes – all this to sell a Volkswagen!). This article includes some great videos that show how this is all possible in a commercial.
