Skip to main content
Commsy creative stuff straight to your inbox

Blog

Storytelling made simple: six practical tips for using stories at work

< Blog home

Storytelling made simple: six practical tips for using stories at work

There’s no doubt about it. Of all the latest leadership and communication trends, storytelling invites more than its fair share of scepticism. Telling stories at work? Really?… Yet there’s good science behind it. Research shows our brains are more active when we’re listening to stories. It even shows that our brains ‘couple up’ with the storyteller’s – temporarily mirroring their brain responses. We actually ‘feel’ the story in the same way they do.

So if storytelling is that powerful, why aren’t we doing more of it? Why aren’t our workplaces alive with stories illustrating concepts and selling ideas? What holds us back?

Perhaps it’s that storytelling – especially at work – is harder than it sounds. It takes a certain leap of faith to start telling stories in the workplace. Where do I start? What stories should I use? Will I look foolish?

Here are six tips from business storytelling experts to help address some of those nagging doubts…

Where do I find stories?

First things first. You need a clear purpose for every story. What’s the message you want to get across? Start there, then look for a story that illustrates your point.

You then have two options. Use your own personal stories, or use other people’s stories.

Using other people’s stories can be the simplest way to start increasing your storytelling at work. “Stories are everywhere,” writes Ian Harris in Hooked on You. “You just need to root them out.”

So become a story hawk. Ian suggests collecting short factual stories and keeping them in a ‘swipe file’ – either physically or online – so they’re ready for future use. “Biographies and autobiographies are particularly rich with interesting stories,” he writes. He also recommends websites like Quora and Reddit for engaging material.

What about personal stories?

Carmine Gallo, author of Talk Like Ted and The Storyteller’s Secret, notes that business professionals rarely tell personal stories – which is one reason why they make such an impact when they do.

According to Carmine, the most popular TED talks usually start with a personal story. So think about times when you’ve overcome a major challenge or learned a valuable lesson. Or reflect on when you were growing up, and the lessons you learned from your parents, grandparents or siblings. These will doubtless be experiences that many of your audience can identify with too.

When using personal stories, keep them positive and make them as rich and evocative as possible. And remember, the purpose of your story is to help inspire your audience and empower them to take action. “The stories you tell,” writes Nick Morgan in Power Cues, “should always make your followers, your audience, your listeners the heroes, not you.”

How do I structure my stories?

Popular advice has it that every story needs a beginning, a middle and an end. While that may be true, it’s not especially helpful.

Instead, take the advice of presentation expert Nancy Duarte, author of Resonate. She recommends taking a steer from Hollywood and thinking of your story as three acts: situation – complication – resolution.

In many popular films, and in classic story structures like the Hero’s Journey, this translates in simple terms as: likeable hero – encounters roadblocks – emerges transformed.

Even if the content of your story doesn’t always follow this exact pattern, the three-act approach is still an excellent framework on which to structure it.

How do I make them interesting?

Conflict or struggle is integral to the most absorbing stories, so look for examples that include these features.

Or incorporate another key storytelling tactic: unexpectedness. According to Chip and Dan Heath in Made to Stick: “the most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: break a pattern.” Creating curiosity or intrigue is a powerful way to make your stories interesting.

As the author John LeCarré once said: “‘The cat sat on the mat’ is not the beginning of a story. ‘The cat sat on the dog’s mat’ is.”

How do I make them relevant?

Sometimes your story may not, at first, seem relevant to your message. If this is the case, finish your story with a bridge.

A bridge, explain Gabrielle Dolan and Yamini Naidu in Hooked, is “what brings your audience back to the business context”.

Ian Harris gives a helpful list of possible bridges in Hooked on You. They include:

  • “I love this story because it shows…”
  • “Why am I sharing this?”
  • “Here’s the point.”
  • “It’s the same in our industry.”

The bridge connects your story to its business relevance – allowing you to finish with your key message.

How do I polish my stories?

There’s only one solution to this – practice. Write out your story following the three-act structure, keeping it as punchy as possible.

Follow the ‘goldilocks’ principle of story development: keep the amount of detail ‘just right’ – enough to allow your listener to visualise the scene, but not so much that their interest starts to waver.

Then practise delivering your story with confidence and passion.

Storytelling, done well, can be harder than it sounds. But it can also reap significant rewards, increasing your personal impact and setting you apart from your peers.

As the Canadian author Charles de Lint so aptly put it: “Don’t forget – no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.”

By Dave Wraith for Alive!

“I feel like they own and care for the project as much as we do! I would not use anyone else for my creative work and think Alive is ahead of the game.”

Jo Hobbs — Communications Manager

“Thanks for all your help. We are delighted with the campaign, both in terms of the creativity and messaging but also the thought taken over the rollout of the materials. All looks absolutely fabulous!”

Sarah Crowdy — Campaign and Media Officer Communications, South East Water

“We went to ‘Alive’ for ideas on how to run a specific employee program in Europe. Alan and his team were brilliant in coming up with fresh, creative and practical approaches. The team took charge and executed brilliantly. We are pleased with the progress made so far and hope to have the same level of partnership and commitment going forward.”

Sobha Varghese — Tata Consultancy Services

“Alive helped us create a video of our response to the floods of winter 2019. Our Chief Officer received messages from all round the country praising us for it and was really pleased with both the video and the response to it.”

Alexander Mills, Communications Manager — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“We had the privilege to work with the Alive team. It was our first time to be involved in creating an animation for our patients within paediatrics. The team were approachable, friendly, creative and very accommodating. Your vision for what you want to create, is at all times acknowledged, appreciated and accommodated by the team. They worked effectively and with great passion towards our project and worked not only alongside health professionals but also our patients who really enjoyed the experience of working with the Alive team. It has given our team the confidence and inspiration to do further projects in the future. We highly recommend Alive and their exceptional team.”

DR ELENI ATHANASAKOS, Lead Paediatric Clinical Scientist — NHS Barts Health

“‘The short animation developed in co-production with clinicians and young people is outstanding! Informative, developmentally appropriate, vitally fun and engaging. We are really grateful for the expertise of the Alive with Ideas team for their innovative approach in building children’s health literacy.'”

Kath Evans — Director of Children’s Nursing at Barts Health

“Our mission was to update our brand visuals to better reflect our innovative and forward-thinking organisation. After receiving numerous pitches from different branding agencies, Alive stood out with their clear passion and understanding of our identity and goals. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Alive Team to create an engaging new brand that we are immensely proud of.”

Lianne Springer — Communications and Engagement Lead

“Alive wowed us during the pitch process and they didn’t stop wowing us throughout the whole project. Every person we worked with at Alive were so friendly, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. They have worked with us to really understand what we do and have created a new brand and website that really stands out from our competitors. Thank you!”

Louise Burnard, Head of Marketing and Communications UK — Be | Shaping the Future

“I think the team have done such a brilliant job, particularly with responding to our requests. It's one of the best mental health videos I've ever seen. Very proud to be associated with your exemplary work. Thank you so much.”

Dr Anna Batho — Clinical Psychologist – Critical Care, UCLH

“We have worked with Alan, Caroline and the wider Alive With Ideas team for many years. In that time, they have provided a dedicated service that is second to none. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to bringing our brand, communications and stories to life. And would recommend them to anyone looking for creative communications support.”

Georgia Beech — Internal Communications Specialist, Ocado Group

“This is brilliant. I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all of the team who worked on this. You all understood exactly what we wanted to communicate and why, and then managed to do it in a way that was far better than anything I could have imagined. I’m a bit choked up to be honest!”

Sarah Wright, Head of Communications and Campaigns — NEA

“Each time I work with the team, I am always stunned at the effort and creativity that goes into each detail and am always eager for the end result. The team is extremely accommodating and always provide a fresh approach to our projects that elevates our communications materials!”

Alana Khaytin, Communications Specialist — Braskem America

“What I really appreciate about Alive is that they work with us as partners, and care as much about getting it right for our patients as we do.”

Sara Langston, Patient Engagement & Marketing Manager — italk

“Alive are unique in how much they deeply listen and invest in you and your ideas. I have not come across a company that listens as much as they do to ensure your needs are understood and met (actually - they always exceed my needs and expectations). Everyone I recommend Alive to has an equally brilliant experience. When you work with Alive, you are not only getting some genius creativity brought into your life, you are also hanging out with some of the best examples of human beings I’ve ever known.”

Steph Tranter, Hybrid Exec Coach & Psychologist — StephTranter.com

“The (Alive) team were able to creatively pull together and document (in just over 2minutes) everything our service has achieved over the last few months, from thousands of prescriptions deliveries to hundreds of phone calls made to the vulnerable. The final product was so powerful and reflective of what our service has and continues to achieve. It couldn’t have been better received within the service – thanks Alive for once again helping us to communicate our vision!’”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire & Rescue

“We worked with the team at Alive to create our staff recognition video.
At a time like this, its never been more important to share the amazing work that our staff have done and continue to do on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances. We wanted to shout about this and recognise that when the time came, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue stepped up to the plate. We didn’t want an ordinary thank you post on social media or a basic email sent out internally, we wanted something special. Enter Alive. ”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications — KP Snacks

“Boom!
Thank you so much. Incredible work done at incredible speed by incredible people.
Outstanding work as ever and what a turnaround. As for the concepts – wow. These are that good it would be an insult to describe them as just good. It’s a joke, quite frankly. This is exactly the Alive effect I was after. Right now I feel like I am living in an Alive With Ideas wonderland. Thank you!”

Jack Grasby, Campaigns Manager — SYFR

“If you are looking to improve creativity and build teamwork, I highly recommend a session like this for your team. No matter where you are in your creativity journey, a workshop like this can give your team a boost of energy and ideas to invigorate their creative thinking.”

Amy Lilja, IC Manager — Hennepin Healthcare

“Alive were there to help when we were working every hour to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They gave us the creativity, ideas and support we needed to deliver campaigns which empowered our residents in the most difficult time most of us have ever seen, personally and professionally. The team understood what we needed, worked closely with us and delivered fast without any compromise on quality. Working with Alive has been a joy in the darkest of times and I have no doubt will have helped to save lives. Thanks team x”

Julie Odams, Assistant Director of Communications & Customers — Derbyshire County Council

“We got 'Alive' involved to help us shift mindsets across our organisation and they delivered! Using simple, clear and creative ideas the team have delivered us a campaign which has seen a dramatic increase in idea sharing and development. They’ve also played a significant role in creating a culture of shared success. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again, in fact, we already are!”

Gavin Buckle — B&Q
Alive logo