Stories are meant to make an emotional connection with your audience. However, you cannot do so by telling people how great or special your company is. Interesting stories are always about people in the first place. Great stories focus on the future and on what is important to the hearer. They pull people into a dialogue… and are being shared.
I could go on for hours on the topic, but I will not. Why? Because storytelling does not necessarily work the way we intend it to.
Let me explain: over the last five years, since the startup of Galland.be, we have been giving quite a few training sessions on storytelling. I saw many managers craft beautiful and believable stories about their companies. Very customer-centric too… And being picked up and spread by social media.
Mission accomplished, right?
Only partially, I am afraid. Why? After a training or workshop, people go back to work, inspired by new fresh ideas, but their organizations often stay in “business as usual” mode. They do not always live up to the great stories that are being written, told and shared. And a great story quickly becomes useless when you do not walk the talk. It can even become counterproductive. That is why I would say: “stop storytelling, start storywalking”.
So, walk the talk, practice what you preach, and make your customers happy by showing them how much you care, instead of just telling them”.
May 2014 become your year of STORYWALKING !
