A story told in a business or organisational context has to have a reason, a purpose, a clear objective and a deliberate intent to evoke a particular emotion or response. It is often created to persuade an audience / group that has become blunted to conventional communication. Story is also used to make a difficult change easier to understand, integrate and accept. Story can also be used to sell a dramatically new idea to stakeholders, investors or prospective business partners.
Stories don’t drop fully-formed out of creative space. Pulling together a story doesn’t take place in an arbitrary manner. Stories are developed around a solid factual skeleton or launched from a solid, factual springboard. Before creative thinking there must be rational preparation to set agreed upon parameters and guidelines, almost like defining the necessary arena in which creative play can take place.
To develop a potent story requires great honesty, sincerity and courage from everybody involved. It requires understanding of what constitutes a concept (which takes time to develop), as distinct from easily-changed details.
Developing a story is made almost impossibly difficult if there is poor feedback, ego issues, dissent and muddled strategic thinking. Knowing exactly what you want and what you want to say creates a magnet which attracts and guides a powerful story onto the page.
Some questions to ask when constructing a organisational story:
Who is the story for?
- Employees
- Customers
- Stakeholders
- Donors
- Partners
- Suppliers
- Other (specify)
Cultural boundaries
- Place in society
- Current mind-set
- Desired mind-set
- Age group
- Are there particular audience concerns that have to be addressed?
- Aesthetic and stylistic considerations eg Sophisticated / Charming / Homegrown / Radical / Provocative / Original / Classical / Contemporary / Conservative
How different is this from the normal style of telling stories in the organisation?
- Does the story honestly reflect what is going on here?
- INTENTION – What do we want this story to create for us?
- What do we hope it will do for us?
Subject
What is the story about eg.
- Brand
- Company
- Results
- Teamwork
- Product launch
- Cultural diversity
- Change (specify)
- Restructuring
Theme
A theme is not the same as the subject of a work. For example, the subject of Green Eggs and Ham is “green eggs and ham are well worth eating, no matter the location”. The theme might be “have an open mind” (Wikipedia).
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a work. Themes are usually implied rather than explicitly stated. A theme can be co-operation, joyful diversity. What is the theme of this story?
Genre
What is(are) the genre(s) of this story?
- Fairytale
- Fable
- Myth
- Reality
- Science Fiction
- Inspirational
- Spiritual
- Saga
- Human interest
- Romance
Metaphors
What metaphors and symbols that are currently in use within the organisation or in external communications that have to live in the story?
Point Of View
Is there any particular person who has to tell the story? Is there any particular person who should not tell the story? Why?
Through which window are we looking?
An essential ingredient of a story is that it gives an audience an unusual or different look at something familiar. This window is constructed with a very particular view in mind. What do we want them to see? (visuals) What do we want them to ‘see’? (A point of view, a plight, a problem, a way out, an unusual solution)
Purpose
- What purpose will the story serve?
- What does the story need to convey?
- What do we hope to achieve in the long-term?
- What is the immediate desired outcome?
Which characters do we want in our story?
- How does audience relate to them currently?
- How do we want the audience to relate to them?
- Do we want the audience to change their minds about the characters in the story?
- Describe the change – from what to what?
What else has to be considered?
(e.g. Brand, Communications Strategy, Advertising, good/bad press, changes in company, changes in top management, etc.
Reason
What is the rational message the story has to convey? It may help to think of it in terms of how movies are described. For example, this is a story about a private detective who’s hired by the wife of a prominent man to find out who he’s having an affair with. In the process, he becomes involved in several murders and uncovers a major water scandal. Chinatown. What factual information has to be contained in the story? What else has to be considered (e.g. Brand, Communications Strategy, Advertising Platform) What do we want the audience to THINK? What do we want the audience to DO? What actions do we want to see and how are they reinforced?
Values
What values should permeate the story? Which values do we need to embed and reinforce?
What do we want the audience to feel? e.g.
- Uplifted
- Amused
- Surprised
- Reassured
- Enlightened
- Impressed
- Compassionate
- Inspired
- Energised
- Intrigued
What responses do we want to hear about the story?
- Do you want them to believe something? If so, what?
- Do you want them to do something? If so, what?
- Are you looking to change behaviour? If so, what and in which way?
Who is developing this story?
It is important to consider those who will be involved in the creation of the story
- Who will be directly involved in this project?
- If more that one person, is there consensus?
- Who has the final right of approval?
History
Is there a history to this project? If yes, continue:
- What other methods have been tried?
- What were the outcomes?
- What is the official truth?
- What is the ground truth (what’s really going on)?
(c)opyright material www.storytelling.co.za
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