This week is the 19^th anniversary of National Storytelling Week, which was started back in 2001 by The Society for Storytelling in the UK.

There is no escaping the rise in popularity when it comes to storytelling in business. More and more companies and leaders have realised the powerful impact stories can have on employee engagement and communication.

The Pros and Cons of Popularity

On the one hand, the rise in popularity brings me such joy. I have been teaching business leaders for the last 15 years how to share stories more effectively in business. Yet with the growing appeal to use stories in business, I also see an increasing number of companies and individuals making the same, common mistakes.

Common Mistakes

The three most common mistakes I see companies make as they start to introduce storytelling are:

1. Thinking they can come up with one company story that all their leaders can share. I have never seen this work effectively.
2. Not training the people they are expecting to tell stories. It’s a skill that needs to be taught. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it well …and they are not.
3. Only training the senior leaders and expecting all the other leaders to learn by role modelling. It’s like watching a virtuoso play the piano and then expecting you will be able to do the same.

Mistakes by Individuals

As a result of points 2 and 3, I also see individuals making the following errors:

1. Going too long. It does not matter how interesting you think your story is, in business you need to be succinct.
2. Not being clear on the message you want to get across or having too many messages in one story.
3. Only sharing work related stories and not being aware of the power of personal stories.

National Storytelling Week

So, during National Storytelling Week, I encourage you to think about the stories you can share in business. Also observe people around you and whether they share stories or not.

Obviously, if you need to learn how to tell effective stories in business (which is very different from sharing stories in your personal life) then you know where I am.

What’s more, if you are thinking about implementing storytelling into your organisation, then feel free to give me a call (+61 3 8383 2128) or flick me an email. You may even find my two white papers of value: The Science of Storytelling and Business Storytelling.

Public Workshops 2019

Melbourne – 1st March

New York – 20th March