Storytelling Tips – a Trainer’s Perspective

In this post I share storytelling tips that I learned in my work as a global Trainer.

Because the right story can transform how people learn, connect and remember.

Storytelling is a powerful skill that you can get better at. And use to transform your own workplace presentations.

After a recent training session, a Participant told me that she loved the stories I told in the course

After that nice compliment, she then asked me how she could improve her own storytelling skills.

And rer question got me thinking about what makes storytelling so impactful, especially in a professional setting.

So I came up with three tips I’ve learned as a Trainer that anyone can use to tell a story at work.

Step 1: Have some stories to tell

Don’t put the cart before the horse.

You can’t be a good storyteller – or any kind of storyteller – without having stories to tell.

I like what film actress Rene Zellweger is quote as saying – “You cannot be a good storyteller if you don’t have life experiences.”

And these life experiences don’t have to be extraordinary ones.

Even small everyday moments can be the source material for a great story.

There is a classic storytelling framework out there that can help

Here is a classic storytelling framework that can help you uncover stories to tell –

Take a likeable hero (that’s you)
Introduce a trial or challenge that you faced
Show how you emerged changed or wiser on the other side

I use this framework when I tell the story of how I became a Trainer.

My likeable hero story starts with my promotion to the role of VP of Contact Center Operations from an earlier role as VP of Finance.

The challenge I faced in my new role was the feeling that I didn’t know what I was doing — even though my bosses were happy with my performance.

Determined to improve, I invested significant time, effort, and money to master industry know-how.

That journey led me to become a professional Trainer.

Trusted to help and inspire people working in the Customer domain — individuals who, like I once did, may wonder how they can do better work.

Step 2: Ask yourself, what is my intention in telling this story?

I’m a Trainer. So Clients bring me in to help their people do better at work.

I don’t get hired to just stand around and tell stories all day.

So every story I tell in training has to have a clear purpose and place.

In the language of Customer Experience, every story I tell in training was designed – with intention – into the overall learning journey.

When I tell the story about my former boss with her green Jaguar car, my intention is to show how even senior people don’t know what they don’t know.

https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/contact-centre-kpis-the-green-jaguar/

Or when I tell the story of how Contact Center Agents were hanging up on Customers to get more calls per hour, my intention is to show how Employees do what they’re measured on – whether that’s good, bad or ugly.

And when I tell the story of observing the Kung Fu Panda character at the theme park, my intention is to share how ethnographic research can improve a child’s life.

Each story I tell serves a specific purpose and occurs at a certain place.

Step 3: So now I have a story. And I know my intention for the story. Now I must figure out how I want to tell it.

I think when people hear he term ‘storytelling’ they think mostly about the telling part.

Just remember you should have a story and have an intention for telling that story first.

Now you’re ready to tell your story – which involves how you plan to layout the story and the way you’re going to tell it.

And the good news is that the ‘how’ of great storytelling can be learned.

It’s a skill that you can develop – though like developing any skill, it takes effort and commitment.

You can take a formal storytelling class.

I took one with Bernadette Jiwa that helped me refine my own storytelling skill – especially storytelling structure.

And there are good books out there on the art and science of storytelling.

One book I found userful was Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath — it taught me how to make ideas more engaging and memorable.

Good storytelling has the power to influence hearts and minds.

No matter where you work or what you do, that’s a skill that’s worth developing.

Here’s an example of a story I tell

Since I give a lot of presentations, I look for where in that presentation a story can help highlight an idea or simply get my audience to feel a certain way.

And then I start to write what that story will be.

I might use a storytelling framework like the one we saw earlier.

Take a likeable hero (that’s you)
Introduce a trial or challenge that you faced
Show how you emerged changed or wiser on the other side

Then I think about the best ‘way’ to tell the story.

For example, my personal style of storytelling is often kinetic.

Meaning it involves movement or motion.

My story of my former boss with the green Jaguar car dropping in to tour our Contact Center would be boring in a pure narrative style.

But when I share how she walked into our Contact Center and then ask the Participants, “Now tell me what she saw when she walked in?” I’ve established a visual scene in people’s minds.

They see her standing there – and imagine what it is that she sees.

Then I raise my arms in the air and ask “So what went up?” They all answer “Occupancy”.

Then I flap my arms downwards and ask “And what went down?” And they all answer “Service Level”.

Arms up, arms down, arms up, arms down (and on and on).

Together the group joins in the The Chicken Dance. My way of teaching metric relationships.

And which makes everybody laugh.

Though more importantly (perhaps), it helps reinforce learnings around metrics.

https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/why-manners-will-always-matter/