“Let’s get our community development story out,” said a client of mine, shoving at me a thick booklet loaded with climbing graphs and warm pictures. I am consulting them on their petroleum project and somewhere in the heartlands of Northern India there is hidden a great story!
“Why don’t we tell a story?” I suggested hoping to give a turn to the usual communication exercise. To which came the reply, “When we have the numbers to talk for us, why I need spin to let the world know of our achievements?”
Although the perception is changing fast, there still seems to be a lingering mindset about the difference between a “corporate story” and “corporate storytelling”. While the former is considered an essential but a “clinical” exercise with facts and numbers, ‘Spin/Myth/Fiction/ Window-dressing/Tinkering’ are some of the words associated with the latter! Nothing can be far from reality!
The other day I stumbled upon this amazing story about GE’s Adventure series of body scanners – a high-end, sophisticated medical imaging devise. The only difference being that, this is purely meant for pediatric patients! The idea came to Doug Dietz, a GE old hand, when he witnessed small children petrified of being in a scanner. As a result, hospitals had to anesthetize 80% of pediatric patients before taking them through this experience. The incident touched Doug so much that it triggered a process resulting in this amazing product. To know what I am talking about you must read this story here.
A Story on Innovation
Truth be told, I was looking for examples of innovation and this story really touched a chord of how such creativity can improve bottom lines. But when I think about it, I would have totally overlooked this example, had I been confined only to the success data that surrounds this machine. It was the story that got me to pay attention and then remember it as one of my favorite examples of innovation!
A Design Change That Changed The Product Story
No surprise therefore that “storytellers and storytelling” are fast becoming corporate functions directly supervised by the CEO and the top management. A quick glance at job sites underlines this growing trend!
So What’s The Point?
That’s exactly what Storytelling is all about! It must be driven by a clear Purpose and MUST make a point. Whether it is about building the corporate image OR retaining and attracting talent OR building your brand, stories make the difference between what your audiences “think” about you” to what they “feel” ABOUT YOU. Any day I am a sucker for the soft power!
Everyone Is Looking For A Storyteller…the point is, are you?
To say the least, a powerful and well thought out structure of corporate storytelling is an honest exercise of dipping into your experiences, people and product journeys and putting them out in a manner that they become more about “Passion” than mere “Processes”.
Everyone Needs To Tell Stories!
Here are a few thought tips.
- At a corporate level: Just think about your corporate social achievements that talk volumes about your social and environmental contributions. Would they sound better in a report with great numbers and charts? Or would they be better told through testimonials of people and communities you have touched and their life stories? While numbers lend CREDIBILITY, the stories build “CONVICTION”.
- At a brand level: If you are making a great watch or chocolate, a beer can or a fishing net, clothing from waste or travel bags, the story is got to be about the passion beyond the creation. It’s the movement beyond a mere “FOLLOWING” to “FAN FOLLOWING”.
- At an employee level: The retention and attraction challenges cannot be dealt with only by topping the charts in the Best Employer Surveys. In fact the word of mouth is a very powerful tool that manifests itself by the stories employees have to tell about their lives with the company they spend their days in. A lot has to do about what the company does for them. So you can choose between “INFORMING” them or “INSPIRING” them. And stories have a big role to play in the latter. Look up Rituparna’s blog on how HCL converted their Ideas into Stories – Part 1 & Part 2.
In India the start-ups are already teeming with great stories of innovation and inspiration. It’s time bigger corporations spend more time thinking about adding a dash of “feeling” to the “substance”.
