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Knowing how to tell stories can help you in many situations you will encounter in life, such as public speaking, job interviews, or talking to your children and relatives. It will also make you a better manager. The better you are at storytelling and the more successfully you can frame ideas into a story format, the more effective you will be at persuading, motivating and inspiring subordinates. The story format can be used in your daily communication with them. So let's take a look at how it is done.
These tips appeared in an article on the INSEAD Knowledge website.
Whenever you want to incorporate a story into your speech, it should always have four basic parts: an introduction in which you establish the initial situation, a description of the conflict or problem that has arisen, a solution to the problem, and finally a conclusion.
Whether you are telling your life story or describing to subordinates, for instance, how you were able to negotiate successfully a deal with an important client, you always need to focus primarily on emotions. Fear, tension, feelings of happiness or relief, curiosity: these are very powerful emotions that will help you achieve your aims.
Avoid stories that are too far removed from the everyday reality of the people you are telling the story to. Always try to tune in to your surroundings and reflect the experiences of your audience; tell stories they can relate to.
Do not try to tell overly complicated stories featuring lots of characters and numerous twists and turns. On the contrary: to be effective and interesting, your story should be as simple and straightforward as possible.
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