14.6 Tools: Telling Sticky Stories

Storytelling has always been a powerful way to influence—and yes, teach—others. Long before people began keeping written records, storytelling was the way families, tribes, and nations preserved their lineages, histories, and traditions. Master storytellers were often the most honored members of the community. Today, effective storytellers—from film and song writers to politicians—continue to have immense influence on society. The most popular bloggers and YouTubers—i.e., content creators—are called influencers. If you want to be an influencer, consider learning how to become an effective storyteller.

The Power of Sticky Stories

To encourage you to invest in your own storytelling capabilities, let’s briefly review why you need to tell powerful stories. You tell stories to achieve the following.

Get People on the Same Page

Until you help people understand why they should care about what you are asking, they won’t. Stories help you share context and communicate expectations. What does the decision-making environment look like? What actions do you need other people to take?

Generate Buy-in

To build momentum for your lean six sigma initiatives, you need to remember WIIFTOP—i.e., what’s in it for the other person. Make sure your story communicates how your initiatives will affect members of your audience—i.e., how your initiatives will make their lives better or easier.

Obtain Resources

To get almost anything done, you need resources. You need a powerful story to convince decision makers to give you the resources you need. You need to be clear about what resources you need. You also need to clearly communicate how your initiative will generate a positive return. Key decision makers are always thinking, “Show me the money!”

Drive Action and Execution

Finally, you need to remember that nothing gets done until people act. Your stories need to motivate action. Tell your audience what needs to happen to get started and what the journey will look like. Be realistic, identify potential roadblocks, and invite your team to identify ways to overcome them.

Now, let’s apply this discussion to your role as a change leader. How does storytelling help you achieve key goals across the Cycle of Change? Figure 14.6 implies that you need to tell powerful stories across all five steps of the cycle. Table 14.3 summarizes what you are trying to achieve at each step.

Simply put, sticky stories help you generate buy-in to acquire the scarce resources you need to execute your plans. They also help you inspire a group of diverse employees to bring passion to work and to work with each other. A well-crafted story can help you transform vision into reality.

The Nature of a Sticky Story

You may be thinking, “I see the value of storytelling, but how do I tell a powerful story?” Don’t worry, by nature and nurture, you’re not alone. Most people struggle with storytelling. Here’s a little good news, Dan and Chip Heath wrote a bestselling book called Made to Stick to help you learn how to tell sticky stories. They developed a simple mnemonic device to share their formula for a sticky story: SUCCES.

• Simple

• Unexpected

• Concrete

• Credible

• Emotional

• Storytelling

To illustrate how you might use SUCCES, let’s talk through an example:

Now, imagine you are Theresa. How would you use SUCCES to influence Sebastian to sign up for this project? Take a moment to consider how you would proceed. Then compare your ideas to the roadmap below.

Simple

Perhaps the first thing you learn in journalism school is, “Don’t bury the lead.” What does this mean? You want to communicate your core idea quickly and clearly—that is, what is truly important? As you talk with Sebastian, make sure you share the company’s goal of building future capabilities across the supply base and how lean six sigma will help. Be sure to highlight the benefits of lean six sigma in non-technical terms and why you think Poland is a great place to prove the power of lean. The KISS principle applies.

Unexpected

You can effectively grab people’s attention by surprising them. Ask, “What makes your story unique?” Specifically, what is unique about your approach to lean six sigma and how it will improve Sebastian’s manufacturing—and other—operations? Share the tried-and-true benefits from the Canadian implementation (i.e., higher productivity, shorter lead times, better quality). Then share unexpected or serendipitous results (e.g., better employee engagement, lower turnover, more process and product innovation). As you prepare to meet with Sebastian, be sure to consider cultural differences that might affect how you should communicate.

Concrete

Make your idea easy to grasp and remember. Ask, “What grounds your ideas in meaningful reality?” Avoid abstraction. Sebastian has undoubtedly heard about lean six sigma, both good and bad. After all, some people oversell and then under-deliver on lean six sigma implementations. Don’t make promises you can’t back up. That is, keep your discussion tangible and keep it real. If your Canadian supplier agrees, share the real data from the Canadian implementation.

Credible

Ask, “Why should people believe you? Why should they believe your message?” People really aren’t interested in your opinion. They want evidence. At Intel, senior leaders warn, “If you don’t have the numbers, it’s just your opinion.” Bringing a solid blend of quantitative and qualitative analysis—i.e., number crunching and reasoning—helps you build credibility. You need to be authentic. Build a reputation for walking the walk. One step in this direction is to communicate how the implementation in Poland will be different from what happened in Canada.

Emotional

Ask, “So, what? Why should Sebastian care?” This is WIIFS—what’s in it for Sebastian? Sebastian really wants to know how lean six sigma will make his life better. He’s the plant manager, not necessarily an operations guy. You’ve done your homework—part of concrete and credibility—so you can tell Sebastian how lean six sigma will not just reduce costs but more importantly improve customer service and remove pain points. Can you make Sebastian and the Polish operations look good in the eyes of other parts of the company?

Storytelling

Storytelling helps you bring your ideas to life. Storytelling is a right-brain skill that helps break through the clutter of an information-saturated world. A good story helps you motivate action and provides a path forward. A good story will pique Sebastian’s curiosity and help him envision solutions to problems he is facing.

Grounding your communication in SUCCES will help you engage others and influence the decision-making process. After all, don’t you prefer an interesting and engaging story to death by PowerPoint? Let’s conclude with a reminder and an invitation.

• Reminder. A sticky story is built around concreteness and credibility. It blends great analysis with imagination and creativity.

• Invitation. We invite you not just to give it a try but to practice storytelling every chance you get. Great storytelling can help you become a leader that gets things done.