“Storytelling is the single most powerful tool in a leader’s toolkit.”
From “Changing Minds” by Dr. Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University.
“Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either.”
Marshall McLuhan
What stories are being told in your organisation? If your response is “We are a place of work, we don’t waste time in telling stories”, then I say, “Think again.”
First, check out your branding and publicity. Look at what your marketing department is sending out. See how your products and services are described, what your customers and clients are saying. It all involves stories about your company.
Then look around your offices, and you will find people chatting over coffee, gossipping over the photocopier, speaking on the phone, helping and consulting each other over challenges. (If this is not the case where you work, if no-one is talking to anyone at all, then you really do have a serious problem!) The culture and ethos of an organisation actually spreads trhough conversation and stories, not mission statements and strategy documents. Stories are the oxygen of the working day.
All successful leaders use the power of stories to set out their vision and communicate their ideas for the future.