How To Energize People and Culture with Authentic Storytelling
Some years ago, I worked for a senior living provider. In my first few weeks on the job, I met with Julie, the Director of Nursing. Although the purpose of our meeting was predominantly technical in nature, she took the time to tell me the story of how she originally joined the company. To summarize Julie’s story:
“I was working as a nurse at a competitor during a large power outage that affected the entire region and went on for days. I had been working virtually around the clock, as were many of my coworkers, partly due to the fact that our employer didn’t have a backup generator. A few weeks later, I was in the car with my husband and we happened to drive by [my current organization]. He noticed a generator next to the building, and said, ‘They have a generator. Why aren’t you working there?’ I immediately applied and have been working here for twenty years.”
From this short introduction, I was able to learn a lot about Julie, including factual information such as her tenure and her background before she joined the organization. But more importantly, I learned why she worked there – the generator is evidence of the company’s preparation, and maybe even superior approach to care, and the manager’s actions in the story makes it clear how much she values that. Within five minutes of meeting her, she was instantly relatable, credible, and authentic to me as a leader – and all because of a story.
Stories Shape Culture
Julie knew one of the best-kept secrets of leadership: storytelling. Storytelling is about sharing and empathy. Not only is the storyteller sharing information and events, she is sharing her perspective. As the audience listens, they are also empathizing and validating at once. When a story is shared, a human connection is made. In fact, it appears that we are wired to think and communicate in stories. Research suggests that people remember stories at much higher rates than they remember facts. You may not remember much, if any, of the last lecture you attended, but you likely remember stories that were told to you in your childhood. Linguists believe that humans have been sharing stories as long as we have had spoken language. Storytelling is part of the human experience – no matter what your cultural background, stories helped shape that culture. Consider these important cultural stories:
The nearly 5,000-year-old Mesopotamian flood story of Gilgamesh, widely accepted as the oldest known work of literature,
The Aztec story of the founding of Tenochtitlan, illustrated on the Mexican flag,
The Biblical story of Adam and Eve, and
Arabian Nights, arguably the most famous of the Arabic hakawati stories.
These stories provide more than facts and data; they give interpretation and meaning. They expand the Oral histories and stories are one of the main ways that cultures survive through generations, even without the written word. Important cultural stories like these often answer essential questions like, “Why are we here?” and, “What’s really important to us?” Often, societies or organizations are tasked with helping people from diverse backgrounds identify with one another. Two of my favorite stories from American culture exemplify the values that we as Americans hold near and dear: George Washington cutting down the cherry tree (“I cannot tell a lie,”), and Rosa Parks bravely refusing to give up her seat on the bus. These two stories bring people together by creating shared meaning around events (both true and folklore). The morals of these two stories give us insight into the values that American culture considers paramount: the power of the individual, and a commitment to justice.
Stories Shape Culture…at your Organization
Just as America has its distinct culture, so does your organization. Stories that employees share in your organization act like the little voice in your head that talks to you all day long: they form a substantial core of the employee experience. Newcomers are especially influenced by stories. Without past experience to rely on, new employees use work stories to cultivate and create expectations around their relationship with their new manager, other employees, clients, and customers. Based on the story about the generator that the Director of Nursing shared with me, I expected the company to invest in infrastructure and demonstrate a dedication to safety, preparedness and resident care. What other employees tell you to expect and experience powerfully frames your own experience. This means that stories can become self-fulfilling prophesies, in a way. Positive, mission-affirming stories can inspire and reinforce positive, mission-affirming behavior from your team. If a person wants to change the culture of their workplace, storytelling is a powerful tool in the toolbox. Think about it: how do YOU want to be communicated with? Memos, emails, charts, essays, lectures, PowerPoint slides…or stories? They are intimate, emotional, and important. Once we hear one story, we are hungry for another. When leaders of an organization are looking for ways to improve culture, engagement or morale, there’s often a misunderstanding that it will be an expensive and time-consuming proposition. Yet, often some of the most powerful (and free!) levers for controlling culture are overlooked: maybe your office doesn’t need a ping pong table to improve its culture, and instead it needs to be more intentional about the stories it tells.
How Are You Leading Your Organization’s Culture?
Through the stories they tell, everyone within an organization, regardless of position or authority, impacts the culture of the organization. The stories can be both major (“This is how we got our first customer…”) and minor (“Let me tell you what happened here yesterday…”). The question at hand is not whether you as a leader are telling stories, but what stories are you telling? (Remember, stories are one of our primal ways of communicating – it’s virtually impossible to avoid telling stories.) So, how might your stories be impacting the culture of your organization? There’s one type of organizational story that I like to call “war stories,” that typically center on a particularly challenging or grating customer. I’m sure you’ve witnessed them swapped between employees at some point or another in your career. While these “war stories” are mostly seen as a benign way of blowing off steam, they’re quite harmful to organizational culture. These stories frame the relationship between employees and customers as inherently antagonistic and encourage “us vs. them” thinking among the audience. Imagine a new employee hearing these stories on his or her first day at work. The new employee will likely leave with an understanding that the customer’s wants or needs are in opposition to his or her own needs, and it’s likely this person will bring those attitudes into his or her next encounter with a customer. I challenge you to listen with a fresh ear the stories that are told within your organization. Think critically about what values and behaviors they reinforce. Similarly, what impact are the stories you tell having on your company’s culture? Are your stories about employees achieving goals and fulfilling the company’s mission, or are they little more than complaining?
Telling Better Stories to Build a Better Culture
If you want to improve your company’s culture, one of the best places to start is with your own stories. Consider these helpful tips from The Moth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the art of live storytelling. While you may not always find yourself onstage in front of hundreds of people like the storytellers at a live Moth event, their storytelling principles that apply to the corporate storyteller just as much as the storyteller on stage:
Your story must be true. Nothing erodes credibility faster than telling an exaggerated, embellished, or just plain made up story.
Your story must have stakes. The events of Julie’s story are small: she’s driving around in her neighborhood with her husband, who spots a generator behind a building. However, the meaning behind the story was big. Because of the generator, she chooses to switch employers and ultimately reaffirms her commitment to quality care.
Your story must be yours to tell. Leadership isn’t related second or third hand: if it didn’t happen to you, it’s not your story to tell. If you can’t think of any good stories of your own, it’s time to get out, connect with others, and gain some experiences.
Great topics for stories include why you chose to work at your company, why your company is in business, or why you’ve invested your energy in a project. By sharing your experience and perspective, others can relate to you on an intellectual and emotional level, and a connection is made. Answering that essential question, “why are we here?” is a powerful leadership practice that shapes culture.