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Who doesn’t want to hear a great story from a friend at the end of the day? Stories are probably as old as language, and we seem to be deeply attached to them. They proved to be efficient in every field of life, whether it is used in learning, entertainment or so on. Let’s discover together how it can be used in business related situations to engage our audience.
What is storylining?
To understand the importance of storylining in business, it is vital to understand the difference between storylining and storytelling first:
Storytelling is passing your message through a story, which people will vividly remember. It is an effective tool, yet as you have most likely experienced, not every business message can be delivered through storytelling. Imagine communicating the decision of cutting down a department throughout a story; yes, it would deliver the wrong impression.
On the other hand, every message and decision can be delivered through building the strongest fitting storyline(s). The biggest difference is that storylining can be used irrespective of the context. Be it business world or private life, you can grasp your audiences with the right storylining assuring that you receive their full buy-in to your decision or proposal. It will assure that your audience gets the message you want to transfer and draws the same conclusions all at the same time.
Storylining is a skill in the Communicate constellation of Case Solvers’ skill universe and is defined:
“Lining of messages in logical order to make the entire story easy to grasp and understand while using only the relevant messages avoiding unnecessary noise.”
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Why is it important in the business world?
A story has a stronger impact on your audience, it is a fact proved by science. A story will actually engage your brain in a deeper way than facts alone. Your brain will react in a whole other way and simultaneously activate up to seven areas at once. Including the zones that process images and trigger emotions, or that command our other senses: touch, hear, taste, and even smell.
In the business world, the messages are usually stand-alone facts and figures, thus storylining has its advantages:
Business and creative briefs all in one. They give total clarity on what needs to be communicated, complete with a specific outcome. Also, they link the message in a creative way that helps the audience engage.
Create purpose and drive action. Based on the storyline of the presentation, you can transfer the key message in a quicker, smarter and more creative way which will motivate the audience to take action.
Emotionally connect people and create loyalty. It helps to maintain the audience's attention, while they get emotionally attached to the outcome of your story.
Sort out irrelevant information. By using action titles on the slides, only the information that supports the main message will be put in each slide, helping to sort out any additional noise and find data faster.
How to build a great storyline?
First of all, it is extremely important to determine your goal and understand your audience to be able to set communication objectives.Then you can concentrate on how to craft the key message in a logical, well-structured argument that will drive the audience through their decision-making journey towards the desired outcome.
The ACCA framework gives you a hand in developing messages for your audience. These four steps ensure you cover all the behavioural influencing stages: knowing, feeling and doing, which are required to truly persuade an audience.
Awareness: First help the audience become aware of the challenge you are tackling
Comprehension: Then you help to understand the audience the solution you propose Commitment: In this part you provide the proof that the given solution is the right one Action: Lastly you craft a clear call to action that lets the audience know what to do nextStructuring the messages in a logical way is crucial to get consistency and clarity throughout all four stages in order to shape the information into a coherent structure.
How to improve in storylining?
Developing the storylining skill starts with understanding the main message you want to transfer to your audience. Never forget to explain the situation and why it's relevant to your audience to engage their attention, concentrate on how you develop your points and highlight only the crucial information. You can also line the main message by adding action titles that guide your audience through your story. Do not forget to avoid irrelevant information that can distract your audience, only focus on the points that bolster your message. At the end, always conclude your solution and make sure your audience knows exactly what to do next, why your story is relevant for them.
You got interested in improving your organization’s storylining skills? Luckily, Case Solvers has a complete solution for you. With Spartafy, our competency mapping tool you can test your employees’ storylining skill via a situational judgement test. If it turns out that they need some improvement, the Deliver! training from our portfolio concentrates on how to deliver a message successfully via developing presentation and PPT skills. Do not hesitate, contact us at support@case-solvers.com!
Further readings on the topic: