The Hindu Business Line : Tell a corporate tale

When a story rings true for a corporate audience, it induces the employees to generate a new framework of action that is far more effective and purposive.

Storytelling is a powerful medium of conveying the maxims of management to students of this science. Stories carry the hopes, dreams and values of employees. They arouse their curiosity and make them identify and align with the characters figuring in the story. When narrated well, a story and its moral stick on in the minds of the employees forever. But the principle of teaching management by telling stories may not sound very businesslike.

Companies are accustomed to an abstract analysis of their people and their needs, development of corporate systems and, then, overall reengineering of the process and the product accordingly.

Everything is laid out on a graph or a chart, or what is even more contemporary — programmed into a spreadsheet. So when most companies employ this typical method of looking at their people, their needs and other business issues through the rigid paradigms of abstract and analytical thinking, storytelling seems to be the odd one at the party.

Clutter and complexity

The disadvantage, however, is that these analytical presentations do not deal competently with the clutter and complexity of reality and the experiences of people. A statistics-based tool or a PowerPoint presentation through the "mousetrap" is woefully inadequate to express the many and myriad elements that comprise human needs and wants.

Whereas stories speak about the human experience in a language that is different from corporate lingo.

Storytelling is an integral part of human communication. Everything that people do and exchange with one another — their daily experiences - are all in the form of stories. The incidents and happenings in the lives of people turn into the form and idiom of a short story, which has the capability of creating a tremendous impact when transmitted to employees — the message goes home complete and direct.

Art of storytelling

The silver screen and the small screen are so successful as visual media only because the kingpin in their communication toolkit is the art of storytelling.

In newspaper parlance, the actual and factual depiction of an event is often described as a "story". Stories serve the purpose of enabling people to understand and interpret information in the context of their personal experience. Great stories turn into myths when they resonate with the audience rather deeply and emotionally. Historically, also, stories have been the most significant source for society to store its vital and crucial information.

Likewise, companies retain and relive their cultural landmarks and milestones through the stories that are told and retold in their hallways and corridors.

They are the means and mechanism to transmit the values and principles of the organisation from one generation of employees to another. One of the reasons why corporate stories are so powerful and successful is that they reflect and relate to the ideas and thoughts in the minds of the workforce.

Unbeatable technique

It is essential that stories always have a happy ending. This positive aspect makes it easier for employees to make the leap from the explicit to the implicit and derive the moral from the story, which will propel and compel the company to move forward.

The reality is that most strategic issues are so big that people are flabbergasted by their sheer size. Storytelling is an unbeatable technique of dealing with the immensity of such strategic items on the agenda.

Indeed, a good story can weld and hold together the disparate aspects of a major strategic issue long enough to sustain the energy and enthusiasm of the people involved.

When a story rings true for a corporate audience, it induces the employees to generate a new framework of action that is far more effective and purposive. A powerful story can give them the ability and tenacity to continue with their work, even while their personal and domestic circumstances may be most trying and disconcerting.

The story must be such that people can identify themselves fully and faithfully with its elements and participate in the journey towards the corporate objectives by putting their best foot forward.

As a story is being told, the employees not only feel connected to its substance and structure, but also begin to play the characters in the story. Momentarily, they are transported to perceive the world through the eyes of the dramatis personae of the story.

In contrast, when they listen to a presentation based on statistics and built on analysis, they have no opportunity to call on their individual background or experience. While a story has the advantage of putting into context the experiences of an employee, an arid analysis can in no way create such an impact.

Stories are more efficient as a tool of communication because people need to expend less mental energy to assimilate their message. The narrative way of thinking that is typical of storytelling facilitates the process of internalisation.

A story provides an employee with enough space to superimpose his own experience on the events and incidents that occur in the story.

The meaning of a story is usually not in its content. Instead, it is in the image that it conjures up in the mind of an employee. It enables an employee to forget himself and proceed on a journey to discover the corporate centre of gravity.

In contrast, the characteristic corporate presentation, loaded with bare facts and findings, leaves an employee at the periphery of the process. It seems as though he is witnessing a presentation on the other side of a glass wall.

(The writer, a former HR director of a well-known auto components group, is a management consultant)

Readers may mail us their feedback, queries and suggestions to thenewmanager@thehindu.co.in

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