Remember that time when…? You won’t believe this, but…. So, this woman called and said….
You’re listening, right? That’s because I am about to tell you a story, and everyone loves a good one. While you don’t know where mine might go, there’s a heartbeat in my words. The mere suggestion of a story has connected us.
When we think about work and about business, we typically focus on information, facts and data, and consider where we are in relation to standards, goals and targets, as in:
“Our service level last month was 96 percent, a .5% increase over the previous month, netting us an average year-to-date gain of .3%. Our ATT was 221 seconds and AHT came in at 298 seconds. Nice job, guys. Any questions?”
And you think: No, I guess that pretty much sums it up.
In fairness, facts and data are indispensable to life at work because they provide us with a measure of our progress, effectiveness and success. But, by themselves, they leave us wanting; for us, there is so much more to the story.
The Compelling Nature of Stories
What makes stories so compelling? Why do we seem to need to tell them? In the article Our Stories, Ourselves, Sadie F. Dingfelder writes:
“The tales we tell hold powerful sway over our memories, behaviors and even identities – we don’t just tell stories, stories tell us. They shape our thoughts and memories and even change how we live our lives.”
Think back to any time in your life, and you will find a story with a heartbeat. And, not just any story, according to John Holmes, PhD, a psychology professor at Waterloo University:
“For better or worse, stories are a very powerful source of self-persuasion, and they are highly internally consistent…evidence that doesn’t fit the story is going to be left behind.”
So, let’s say that you are a self-proclaimed animal lover. You delight in telling people stories about how you collected wild frogs in your backyard when you were three, paraded your mutt in the hope of winning “Best Dressed” when you were 10, and have rescued stray cats ever since. But, you might just leave out the part about how, on a dare, you flushed the fish down the toilet…because it doesn’t quite fit with the narrative. John Holmes explains:
“Storytelling isn’t just how we construct our identities, stories are our identities.” And, that is the clue to the other half of our story at work.
Organizations can’t just spout out numbers hoping that they will suffice in aligning and inspiring us to action. But, they can tell at least three different types of stories to draw us in with a heartbeat that goes beyond facts and figures.
- Legacy Stories help us to identify with an organization’s founder or a company’s deep roots. It makes us feel that we are part of a living history and that we are contributing to future chapters. It might center on a founder who, while building a multi-million-dollar insurance practice, carried his peanut butter and jelly sandwich to the office every day in a brown paper bag. Or, it may describe a Mom-and-Pop diner that never forgot its roots, establishing a tradition of community service and giving back.
- Purpose and Vision Stories inspire us by providing a “why” behind the numbers we produce. They elevate what we do by making it matter. These stories connect us to a larger reason for being such as protecting health, enhancing well being, promoting happiness or ensuring the rights of others. These stories compel us to contribute to a greater good.
- Teaching Stories instruct us by recounting experiences or situations that illustrate a company’s purpose, vision or values as they are lived by employees like you and me. These stories reflect who we are and for what we stand. They demonstrate our values in action, revealing our humanity and our humility, and speak to our courage in the face of adversity.
And, there is one more story going on at work. It’s a story with an utterly unique heartbeat: yours.
Check out “Putting Stories to Work” on page 72.
