Blog Detail

The power of narrative in influencing change

A few years’ ago researchers at Carnegie Mellon University conducted a study. The research team offered $5 to students to complete a survey on technology – although the survey was actually incidental to the real purpose of the study as we will see.

At the end of the study, each student was given five one-dollar bills and a letter asking them to donate some of their newly-gained money to the international charity Save the Children. There were two different versions of the letter. Half the students received one version and half the other one. One letter was packed with facts about food shortages in Malawi and statistics about the lack of rain and what that meant to the food crops. The other letter was a story of a seven-year-old girl called Rokia who lived a desperately poor life in Malawi. The students who received the letter filled with facts and statistics donated, on average, $1.14. The other group, who had read the story of Rokia gave $2.38 – more than double.

It is quite understandable that when people are attempting to change the way their organisation works that they focus on reasoned, rational and analytical thinking. Many change models encourage us to communicate the reasons for the change and we tend to think that this means providing facts that will appeal to people’s minds and that this will, therefore, convince them of the need for the change because it is logical and rational.

And facts are important. But, as Malcolm Gladwell once wrote, “People just aren’t that good at remembering facts.” Maybe that is because facts just do not engage people at a deeper level, an emotional level. And as my colleague, Patrick Mayfield says in his book on stakeholder engagement, “Feelings and Emotion trump reason”.

Stories, on the other hand, can engage people at that deeper level.

Interesting things happen when people hear stories. They are imaging what is happening within the stories; they are adding their own meaning to the story in order to connect, and they are analysing the content for information. Both the left and right sides of the brain are thus being satisfied.

Stories have the power to influence in a way that is actually quite difficult to beat.

Spend a few minutes in front of the television looking at the current crop of adverts and you will see story after story. The John Lewis model is now widely used and repeated across a range of adverts – hardly a fact in sight, just pure story.

Actually, facts can sometimes get in the way.

In the Carnegie Mellon study, the researchers used a third group of students, giving them both letters – facts and the story of Rokia. That group gave almost a dollar less than the people who just had the story!

This is a challenge for change managers and leaders who may like to deal in facts, in justification for the change. But we have to face up to the truth that facts do not engage, they do not influence. I recently watched a television documentary about food waste in the UK. There were many facts presented in the programme about how much food is discarded at various points in the supply chain. I can’t remember a single one. But I can remember the emotion I felt as I watched the stories being told throughout the programme and I still feel that emotion now as I recall the programme.

It has been said that facts are neutral until human beings add their own meanings to the facts. People make their decisions based on what the facts mean to them, not on the facts themselves. The meaning they add to the facts depends on their current story.

People don’t need new facts, they need a new story.

Blake Mycoskie is the founder of TOMS shoes and he recounts the moment that he realised that TOMS was a story as much as it was a business. He was checking in at New York airport after difficult sales trip in the early days of TOMS when he noticed the woman next to him in the queue was wearing a pair of red TOMS. This was the first person outside of his group of family and friends that he had encountered wearing a pair of their shoes. He said it was a significant moment for him. “I like your shoes, what are they?” he said. And then, in a completely unexpected way, the woman launched into a full description of the TOMS story. She became excited and very animated. “It’s incredible,” she said “When I bought this pair of shoes, they actually gave a pair of shoes to a child in Argentina … the company is wonderful. They do this every time someone buys a pair, they’ve already given away thousands of shoes!” He was amazed that this woman was so passionate about telling the TOMS story to a complete stranger (he did however then reveal who he was!).

But that is the power of a story.

Stories can prepare people for change

as they can both describe the future and begin to outline the way to get there. In fact, too much detail might be counter-productive as I have already mentioned – beware too many facts. We need to allow that space for the listener to be able to ‘step-in’ to the story and add their own meaning and make that connection, because they give people the permission to discover the implicit meaning of what’s being said, enabling them to learn, discover and own what they need to do for themselves.

Stories are also incredibly powerful as we move through a change, reinforcing the change messages.

The sharing of early successes – quick wins – can really help to build momentum and get us to that tipping point where the change is now unstoppable.  Stories are a great way of learning from others and can help shape the culture in an organisation. Storytelling is a great tool for leaders seeking new behaviours in their teams. Sharing emotive stories of a best practice inspires individuals and teams, helps them learn more quickly and helps organisations to become agiler.

After all, stories are possibly the most primitive yet the purest form of communication we have. It would seem that to be human is to use stories to capture our best ideas, to learn from them, and then to pass them on to others.

So how can we use them? Here are four simple ideas.

Show, don’t tell 

In the world of social media, you don’t need to tell people that you make your chef knives by hand, or that you know the farmers that produce the coffee you sell, you can show them. Sharing inspiring content can be the most effective way of winning over stakeholders and demonstrating that your story is authentic.

Let your stakeholders do the talking

They are as important in creating the story of a change as the business itself. Start a conversation with them, ask them to be part of the story. Think about Coca-Cola’s personalised cans – the customers did the hard work here, Coke just produced the product.

Bring it to life

Live events and experiences can take your story to the next level. So, if you’re telling a story about being adventurous, then you should be engaging with customers in a way that shows them that you are. Demonstration trumps argument every time.

Be authentic and consistent 

No matter what, your story has to be true and you need to make sure you are committed to it. Whilst it can be tempting to take every opportunity to communicate your change and influence your stakeholders, ask yourself each time whether it fits in with your story and vision. Make sure it all fits together because good stories do.