Annette Simmons

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October 30, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

Episode 3: The Art of Storytelling – Karen Dietz Part 2

Karen Dietz…storytelling has become extraordinarily popular.

Karen Dietz and I discuss how storytelling has become extraordinarily popular. It is good that people realize  story is how we think and communicate but a lot of people are confused about how to get started. People who promise to teach storytelling but have not been trained in oral storytelling miss key ingredients.  In the same way that we can all write, but we aren’t all novelists: we are all storytellers, but that doesn’t mean we can tell a compelling story.  It is important for practitioners to study storytelling in its natural state.

Expecting storytelling consultants to study with performance tellers is not about keeping the bloodlines pure, but about ensuring new applications of story retain the magic that keeps oral storytelling alive.  Karen points out that one aspect of storytelling that gets lost is that “storytelling is deep play.” Karen says, “It’s really fun!…I lose control of the room…and that’s perfect.” Once people get permission to tell stories, that’s all they want to do.

websitepodcastgfxThose untrained in oral storytelling produce laundry lists of components or a best structure for a “good story.”

Karen points out that those untrained in oral storytelling produce laundry lists of components or a best structure for a “good story.” Things that are nice to know but don’t make you a better storyteller.  Leaders demand, “Tell me the structure of a good story?” She gives the what they want: “The structure of a story is: Problem/Resolution. That is it’s most simple form. Now …do you know how  to tell a compelling story?” Of course they don’t. It doesn’t help.  Having this information, is nice, but not helpful.

…stories are “living breathing beings that reside in us.”

Oral storyteller Ron Evans taught Karen stories are “living breathing beings that reside in us.” Moving an oral story to written form or other media means we lose the co-created aspect of the story. It “becomes concretized in a way that doesn’t allow flexibility” and “creates a relationship not with the teller but with the media” being used.

If someone thinks they can record a story “and be done with it,” they are missing the most effective use of story.  Tell your story face to face whenever possible.  If you need to create a video, invite members of your audience to listen when you create a video and be responsive to the future time, place and context of your listeners as they view the video in the future.

If someone thinks they can record a story “and be done with it,” they are missing the most effective use of story.

Karen encourages leaders to walk around, listen for stories and learn story evoking techniques before they spend time learning to tell stories. One of the things we both learned by studying oral storytelling is to ask ourselves “Have I earned the right to tell this story?” It keeps things ethical, but in terms of creating quality business stories this step is a constraint that ensures your story is authentic to the emotions of your audience. Adding “touches of authenticity” down the line don’t help an “unearned” story sound more authentic. The fastest and most convenient way to be authentic is to be authentic.

 “brings pleasure and liveliness back to work”

Studying oral storytelling shows us how to stay a part of the equation in a way that develops our personal creative process, talents and habits that anchor our stories in authenticity.

Karen concludes by saying that she would like to see storytelling become a core leadership competency. If only because it “brings pleasure and liveliness back to work.”

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Feed link:  http://archive.org/download/StoryFactorPodcast003/StoryFactorPodcast003.mp3

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Annette Simmons, business storytelling, engagement, influence, interview, interview techniques narrative, narrative, podcast, story, storytelling, true stories

October 23, 2013 by Annette Simmons 2 Comments

Episode #2: Karen Dietz

Karen DietzKaren is the best curator of articles about successful storytelling I know.  We go back a long way.  She and I met in the world of traditional tellers “back in the day.”  Today she has a finger on the pulse of business storytelling.  In fact, Karen Dietz and Lori Silverman have written a new book: Business Storytelling for Dummies that comes out November of 2013.

Karen suggests we forget the word “storytelling” and think instead in terms of story-sharing.

Because then, it “becomes a process of thinking, listening, understanding and meaning-making.” We talk about the practice of storytelling and how this practice changes the teller once you add reflection to your process. She isn’t interested in clients who just want a jolt of storytelling by investing in a workshop without any follow up work because when a client is ready to invest in story “for the long haul” they get the full benefit.

Listen to the podcast now!

Karen points out that when we create a culture of story sharing we help an organization reap the returns that come from a network of rich information and meaning that fills in the blanks created by statistics and measurements.  She causes me to reflect that I am the worst when it comes to offering a “jolt of storytelling” by agreeing to do one workshop and moving on.  I am not telling the whole  story when I do that.  Karen is good – that’s valuable information for me!  It is a pain in my neck to deal with, but that’s what learning feels like sometimes.

We discuss a quote from Karen’s excellent website www.JustStoryIt.com:

“People don’t resist change, they resist being changed.”               Peter Senge

She explains how one story consultant managed to botch the process to the point executives referred to the process by saying “We’ve been storied.”  Introducing story to an organization is a multi-faceted application with results that can improve every point of communication as well as enrich the creative problem solving capacity of work groups.

“We’ve been storied.”

When story sharing is collaborative and constant we create a more mindful organization embedding reflection and awareness that helps find opportunities and avoid problems.

Karen uses art to capture and remind people of the art part of our stories she describes as “art in the air.”

Best tool: Don’t ask for a story, but ask “Tell me about a time when…”

Look for Karen Dietz on ScoopIt.com who profiled her recently in their “Lord of Curation” series. You can see her interview about curation here.

Part two of my converstaion with Karen Dietz will be published on October 30, 2013. If you sign up below I’ll send you this and future episodes of The Story Factor Podcast.

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Feed link:  http://ia801003.us.archive.org/35/items/StoryFactorPodcast002/StoryFactorPodcast002.mp3

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Annette Simmons, business storytelling, influence, interview, interview techniques narrative, JustStoryIt, karen dietz, leadership, narrative, organizational development, podcast, story, Story Factor podcast, story-sharing, storytelling, true stories

October 16, 2013 by admin 2 Comments

Episode 1: Storytelling – What is working?

This is the first of at least ten Story Factor Podcasts. In this one, my audio guy Jay makes me explain what I want to do and I just talk… doing what I do: butchering metaphors and discovering what I am thinking by hearing what comes out of my mouth. I have no 3 second delay.  It is one of my charms. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Annette Simmons, engagement, influence, interview, karen dietz, michael margolis, narrative, podcast, story, storytelling

September 25, 2013 by Annette Simmons 2 Comments

More Experiments!

I think we spend  too much time looking for the “right” story. We can’t know a story is effective until we try it out because stories are co-created. I have suggested we expect a 30% fail rate – a percentage I made up – so people won’t craft a story to death before they try it out.  I thought increasing tolerance for failure might lighten things up.

 

How can we know a story is effective until we try it out? Stories are co-created.

 

Now I see  at least one corporate giant has found there is no substitute for experiments. They have completely removed qualitative research in favor of telling new stories straight to consumers to see what flies.

Coke found, according to their Content Strategy Video (at 4:28), that recently their best stories were not pre-tested (ex: Old Spice Man). Coke  shifted 30% of their money away from conducting research on customers to support hanging out with customers for inspiration.

Steam

 Qualitative research can evaporate ideas!

Coke killed qualitative research on story ideas altogether because it “evaporates” ideas or solidifies them too soon.  They put their money behind generating lots of ideas and taking these story ideas straight to consumers to see what catches their imagination. Coke cut their budget for link testing (eye movement tracking, likert scale ranking, etc) in half from 60% to 30%. Twenty five percent of their money is now used for real time testing and adapting stories as they are co-created with real live Coke drinkers.

Stories arise from unpredictable experiences.

 

I may be jumping to conclusions but I think this validates the idea that we can’t research our way into great stories. Stories arise from unpredictable experiences in real time with live people and grow when given space and protected from reductive scientific research. It is about experience, not examination and feelings, not facts.

 

Speaking of experience, I have been interviewing people with practical storytelling experience to tell me: Who is using storytelling? to do what? and how do they measure success? You can hear edited podcasts (about 20 minutes) starting next week.  I’ll send you more info, then.

Filed Under: Q & A Tagged With: Annette Simmons, brand story, business storytelling, coca-cola, Coke, global marketing strategy, interview, marketing, narrative, story, storytelling

July 30, 2013 by admin 11 Comments

Two Line Stories – Examples

From Sheila on Easing a Story into your job interview #

Dear Annette,

Would love some examples of two line stories you have used in a business meeting.

Sheila

Dear Sheila,

Business meetings are a great place for two sentence stories. I even have some one sentence stories!

“An Ethiopian taxi driver in NYC once shared his grandfather’s favorite saying with me: A man who beats his horse will soon be walking.”

When I see someone who uses punitive measures to control behavior, I sometimes find a way to tell this tiny story.  It requires a very light tone and I choose to present it as an indictment on my own behavior when I was younger.  I might even add: “By the time I was thirty I was surrounded by dead horses,” and follow with “You might be interested in something I learned in grad school”… or from my mentor….”

In a meeting with a pretty hip client (otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned sex) I told this quick story:

“When I worked at JWT – we used to say it’s “a great place to work if your parents could afford to send you there!” We did a weekend training at the beach full of sex, drugs and rock and roll but I still learned the most important concept I’ve ever learned about marketing – the Key Response.”

After that story I usually have permission to talk about using a Key Response to guide communication design.  I like to focus on what/how we want a listener to think/feel and after experiencing a communication rather than starting from the point: “What do we want to communicate?” The sex, drugs and rock and roll on the beach usually lowers inhibitions paving the way for better communication!

One more?

First, let me say that events and anecdotes about people close to the project usually provide your most powerful stories.

First, let me say that events and anecdotes about people close to the project usually provide your most powerful stories.  For instance, I volunteer to support local food and local community gardens.  I am also on my local Artists Directory.  Last Saturday I attended a planning day for artists who among many other things want to run a month-long focus on the culinary arts with a focus on local food. They mentioned community gardens. I wanted to build enthusiasm and share a contact name. I shared this short story:

“Grace XX our county ag person, already holds events when kids cook what they grow in the Allendale Community Garden. Last time I helped, all my kids competed for the privilege to grate carrots and apples until they realized it was work … and dangerous! Most of our knuckles survived.”

Everyone there knows where Allendale is.  I wanted to build a visual image for an already successful community garden with images of the garden, maybe a big kitchen area, lots of kids, smells of the apples cooking, etc.  My secondary purpose was to establish myself as a resource.  I can put them in touch with the person who will best coordinate events.  And finally I was acknowledging that there is hard labor involved.  Too many people already approach Grace with ideas but lack the discipline to help make things happen.

I could have said, “I know the people at Allendale, call me if you need a contact. But don’t call if you just want to swoosh in and swoosh out.”

But I don’t think it would have had the same effect.

So Sheila, does this help? Does anyone else have a two-line story?

Disclaimer: This isn’t like a haiku where you can only have only so many syllables and literally X number of lines. A “two-line” story is merely a concept so we remember just how tiny a story can be.

Filed Under: Q & A Tagged With: Annette Simmons, inspiration, interview, leadership, narrative, story, storytelling, true stories

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