It is easy to remember stories that inspired us, fictional or not. At work, however, it is not so frequent to remember change experiences that were sold to us with engaging narratives that captured us by the heart. Good narratives are the essence of good stories, and they have the power to inspire and engage.
In this post, I would like to invite you to reflect on 3 aspects of good stories that will help you to build successful narratives to convince and engage people in the change processes promoted by you.
Emotional triggers:
I remember my emotional reaction when I read the book “Blindness” by José Saramago. The narrative was so well written that I developed a disgusting feeling against the evil character that oppressed the women in the story. Good stories hit emotional triggers on us, and they seem to have the power of feeding personal dreams, make us angry or make us feel related to the characters in the story.
1“Public Narrative is more than just telling stories. It’s about telling stories that matter. Stories that involve the heart. We develop our values through the experiences of our emotions and our emotions tell us what to do.” Marshal Ganz from The Art of Change Making
In order to inspire and engage people towards a common purpose, it is important to review carefully our narratives to tell the story of change. If they are too cerebral, we will not reach hearts and souls. Our narrative will sound like cold words incapable to attract people’s attention and interest. Take in mind that evidence rarely gets viral.
Turning Point:
2“Notice what moves a story along. It’s change, conflict, tension, discontinuity. What hooks us in a movie or novel is the turning point, the break with the past, the fact that the world has changed in some intriguing and fascinating way that will force the protagonist to discover and reveal who he truly is.” Herminia Ibarra and Kent Lineback
Change is usually poorly sold in the work environments because the narratives created to sell the experience of change have no clear turning point. In a tentative to make the processes run smoothly, agents of change fail to show when is the transformational moment of the story.
A shift can be for the better as new paths bring new possibilities, however, in the lack of a turning point, change is perceived as a dangerous threat that comes with unpredictable outcomes. If we are building a narrative to sell change, we need to make sure that our story has clear indications about the precise moment in which the shift begins.
Coherence
2“All good stories have a characteristic so basic and necessary it´s often assumed. That quality is coherence…”Herminia Ibarra and Kent Lineback
A good narrative of change needs to help people to connect the foundation built in the past with the vision that we are selling for the future. With a clear indication of where the trajectory is leading us, it will be easier to engage more people with the project in the present to make real the aspirations for the future.
“I have now attained the true art of letter-writing, which we are always told, is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth…” Jane Austen
Letters were instruments used to tell stories in the past. We don´t write many letters anymore, but we still tell stories in our personal and professional experiences, so it is pivotal to build relatable and vivid narratives capable to inspire, engage and promote collaboration. Focus on narratives matter because we will accomplish better outcomes telling stories that reach people by their hearts.
1. Systems Leadership Steering Group, 2015, The Art of Change Making, ISBN 978-0-9931400-9-9, The Leadership Centre
2.Ibarra, H, Lineback, K, January 2005, What’s Your Story, Harvard Business Review, Managing Yourself, Harvard Business School Publishing corporation
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