The next episode of our “Storytelling and Narrative for Business Podcast” is ready for you!
Episode Four: “Storytelling is Not a ‘Soft Skill’: Sure Looked Easy”
Sean brings you some tough-love this week to help you understand that storytelling is a “hard skill” for your business. Fail that understanding and things can go bad. Get real coaching and training to sharpen your skills.
Listen in: Episode Four
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Posted 1 year ago at 5:29 pm. Add a comment
Press Release
Avondale, AZ- National storytelling expert and speaking coach, K. Sean Buvala, reviews Bobby Jindal’s “Republican Response” speech and offers four public-speaking tips gleaned from the Governor’s presentation.
Buvala, the director of the national storytelling resource site at Storyteller.net, says, “Regardless of anyone’s political preferences, the Governor’s speech illustrates that stories and storytelling can be used in any type of important speech. As a corporate storyteller, I was happy to see yet another national figure make use of story in their presentation. I also think that any person using stories can learn four things from Mr. Jindal’s speech.”
Use intentional hand gestures. Buvala says, “The Governor uses frequent, choppy hand gestures that are synchronous with the syllables of the words he speaks. It looks as if he is conducting an orchestra or cutting onions to the rhythm of his words. Speakers should plan the gestures that they will use with their stories. These intentional movements can then enhance the stories being told instead of being a distraction.”
Be careful when using “Me too” stories. Mr. Buvala continues, “While I appreciate and respect the Governor’s family story of struggling immigrants, his narrative immediately following his comments regarding the president’s family history both lessens and distracts from the power of the Governor’s background story. In order to seem less like a ’me too’ attempt at connection, the story might have served better at the end of the story. While it is a good thing that the Governor used stories, the placement of those stories must be carefully considered. ”
Use tone and pacing appropriate for your audience. Buvala notes that, “Bobby Jindal’s pacing, tone and inflection during his speech reminded me of a school teacher giving a motivational speech to young children rather than a thoughtful reaction intended for thinking adults. The constant head nodding, the sharp intake of breath between sentences and the higher pitch of his speaking took power away from his stories, perhaps making his narratives sound childish. I’d suggest that the Governor concentrate on slowing his pace, intentionally speak with a lower pitch and allow himself to breath deeply by using longer pauses more often.
Use stories to “frame” your presentation. “Finally,” says Sean Buvala, “although Mr. Jindal’s family history story might have been better placed in the speech, he does refer back to his opening story at the end of his presentation, when speaking again of his father’s words. This process, called ’framing,’ reminds the listeners of the central point of a talk, giving them a virtual ’frame’ in which to see the ideas painted with the speaker’s words.”
Buvala, who teaches monthly public workshops for business storytelling, knows that stories used in national conversations help unify listening audiences. “Governor Jindal’s use of personal stories allows the audience to understand the speaker as a human being rather than just a ’talking head’ for an ideology.”
For more information about group or private coaching in the art of storytelling for corporate or business use, please contact Sean Buvala via his website at www.seantells.net.
Contact Information:
K. Sean Buvala
www.seantells.net
(623) 298-4548
sean@storyteller.net
PO Box 392
Tolleson AZ 85353
“EXPERT CONSULTANT for the Press, Television and Radio”
Storytelling (both traditional and digital), performing artists, public speaking, corporate training, business coaching, non-profit organizations.
PROMOTIONAL PHOTOS
Promotional photos of Sean Buvala are available for download at:
http://www.seantells.com/seanbuvala_1.jpg
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Posted 1 year ago at 4:00 am. Add a comment
(Submitted by K. Sean Buvala)
There are three essential stones needed to build a strong foundation of storytelling in business. Are you practicing them?
1. Corporate and Non Profit Storytelling must be gathered in an organic manner. The imperative of “come to the meeting with three stories to share” is always destined to fail. It is a very popular teaching right now to have company meetings where employees are required to share stories. Mandatory story sharing does not work. Most people, unless they are trained in the process of gathering stories as they happen, cannot produce stories on demand. It is much like the old game-show experiences where contestants say they can play the game great at home, but when they are there in the television studio, they cannot remember anything at all.
To gather stories from your employees and volunteers, immerse them in the techniques of story gathering. I teach several different methods including Trigger Words™ and Intentionality™. As people become more comfortable with finding stories, they will be better able to submit these story ideas via Email or perhaps in employee gatherings where storytelling is optional and fun. These types of stories, gathered in a natural and organic manner, make a much stronger foundation upon which to build programming and marketing.
2. Stories used in business storytelling must be used in an ethical manner. When you find a story, either from an employee or customer, you must get permission to tell that story. It is never ethical to tell someone else’s story as your own, as if it happened to you.
Several years ago, I was teaching at a corporate event. At the end of the session, members of the class began to share their stories that they had worked on all day. One participant began to tell a story about eating cookies while seated at the gate of an airport. As she spoke, I began to recognize clearly that her story was taken directly from one of those collections of sappy stories printed in mass market books. When she finished her tale, I asked her how it felt to have had that story published in a very popular book. After several moments of go-around, she admitted that it was not her story but one she found. Of course, her integrity with the group dropped a notch or two. What would the fallout be when caught telling lies with real customers?
In the non-profit world, the use of stories must be approached with special concern and sensitivity. Always have permission to use a story and never tell a story that did not happen unless you have clearly identified it as an amalgamation of the “typical” stories of your company.
3. Storytelling must be practiced from the “top down.” If the CEO and other senior staff members refuse to use storytelling, then you cannot expect the sales staff on the floor to embrace story. Unlike many management fads and ideas, story as a communication tool has been proven successful for centuries. Yet, many employees may find storytelling initially uncomfortable. To be successful in your organization, the most senior members of your staff must be the first to tell stories in meetings and events. As a trainer, I know that the first group I must train for storytelling are the folks in the corner offices.
Knowing these three essential stones to storytelling will improve your experiences in corporate communications.
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About the Author: K. Sean Buvala
“I help entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders utilize the power of storytelling to increase their bottom line, secure funding, and recruit/retain staff and volunteers.” He is the founder and director of the “Executive Speaker Training” workshop, with focused, small-group training in the art and techniques of business storytelling.
Posted 1 year ago at 5:41 pm. Add a comment
A good company story is worthless if you do not have the product or service to back it up. Welcome to the world of the dangerous “lure story.”
I have been teaching and training storytelling for several decades. I have come to know that storytelling should be the most-used tool in your metaphorical toolbox when you want to communicate anything to anyone about any subject.
A story is powerful except when you can not back up the story with excellent service or product. Is your company living up to your story?
The following applies to any organization, whether it is a for-profit or non-profit group.
Recently, I worked with a company that has a great story. I was their customer for a big event I was hosting. Customer service was what I needed from this organization.
They had a great story to share, a story that the news media was very excited about. The owners shared their story on television and in print media more than once. With just a little polish, they could have presented a story that would probably lock in more business than they were already getting.
I thought that with their powerful and attractive story, the company would be delivering fantastic service that I would be able to gush about. Afterwards, I would be ready to write one of those raving-fan letters that every company would like to get. How exciting it would be to see a good story connected to a good product.
The company did deliver, but it was not what their story promised.
I ended up with a company that simply did not communicate. The leadership may have been excited to share their story, but their employees were not delivering. Maybe the employees did not even know the story. If they did, they did not care about living up to the story. I doubt that the employees were ever allowed to even participate in the company legend and that they were only there to do the job. The employees I worked with, the few I actually saw, told me several times, “I don’t know anything about that,” when asked even the most rudimentary of questions.
Their company story was great. Their services were poor. I did not write any raving fan letter. I did not even write a letter of dissatisfaction. I simply will not use their services again. I do not want to be part of their story any longer.
In my storytelling workshops, we call this the “Lure Story” of a company. Customers are lured into a sense of the greatness of your company with your fantastic story, only to discover that the lure has a painful hook attached to it. Like a fish that escapes, a customer will bite once but not ever again.
How do you avoid the “lure story,” that causes your customers to vanish?
1. Be sure that your company story and the product or service you offer are growing together concurrently. Good press is not a substitute for shoddy service. Do your employees or peers feel a part of the ongoing story?
2. Actively seek out the stories, both positive and negative, from your staff. Use our “Trigger Words” or “Intentionality” methods to get to the heart of what your employees are feeling and experiencing. Make storytelling a part of every company meeting. This is a risk-taking process, but well worth every moment you spend doing it.
3. Allow your story to change. Like any good story throughout history, a story changes as it encounters new people. What you did five years ago is already outdated. How has your story changed in the last year or even six months?
4. Follow up with customers, inviting them into your story. You might, for example, write to a customer. “At XYZ Organization, we believe that our company story is all about (fill in the blank.) Please tell us how we did living up to that story.”
You may have a company story, but it might not be the real story. Your customers and your staff are speaking your true story every day in every encounter.
What are they telling about you? Back up your great story with great service and you will be unbeatable.
Posted 1 year ago at 4:19 pm. Add a comment
