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Trying to Make a Point? Try Telling A Story
Sharing experiences is an effective tool when trying to help someone understand your point of view.
By Katherine E. Smith
Here's a quick quiz. You're delivering a performance review to one of your employees Friday at 9 a.m. Do you devote most of your creative energy to:
a) reviewing your notes about the person's achievements and trouble spots; b) reading the company manual on giving a review; c) thinking about your listener and how you can best convey your message?
If you're like most professionals, you'll spend most of your time on a and b--in other words, what you're going to say. Content is important all right, but don't ignore how you communicate. By adding a few effective communication techniques to your career toolbox, you'll stand out from the crowd, you'll help ensure people remember you, and--most importantly--you'll help others remember what it is you wanted to communicate in the first place.
Telling a story is often an effective way to help someone understand your point of view. Let's say you're managing an employee who continues to leave projects incomplete. This lack of follow-through has caused your design group to miss deadlines. Then someone else has to jump in and finish what wasn't done. You've told the employee several times about the importance of seeing tasks through to completion, but to no avail.
Before giving up, try telling a story that illustrates the consequences of failure to follow through. Share a real-life anecdote that shows what happens when someone drops the ball. Maybe it was the time that you "forgot" to make the ferry reservations to Martha's Vineyard in peak season. You and your three kids, husband, and mother-in-law had to wait four hours to get on the next boat. It was unbearably hot, the kids whined and everyone was cranky.
Or maybe a story about what happens when someone "neglected to remember" to get the car serviced will help drive your point home. Most people know they need to change the oil regularly. They know it doesn't cost much or take a lot of time. But ignoring it eventually means big trouble and huge service bills.
What these stories have in common is that most people can relate to them. Use anecdotes, if possible. They are often very memorable and have a personal tone that adds interest. Because visual information also enhances most people's ability to retain information, try adding a photo, chart, or drawing to underscore important points. In fact, bring in as many senses as possible. Talk about how the missed ferry made you feel, how loud the kids whined, how tired and bedraggled everyone looked like by the end of the day.
Lastly, tie the story back to the performance-related behavior deficiency. In the car maintenance story, for example, you'd finish by relating how missing deadlines is harming the department's performance.
Storytelling is yet another tool the creative manager will want to have in his or her professional toolbox. People often shy away from these techniques because they worry that they may seem unprofessional or silly. But if telling a story or relying on an instructional tape or cartoon will help you make a point more effectively, the long-term rewards will outweigh any short-lived discomfort.
Katherine Smith is president of 1st Management Services, Inc., Stamford, CT. She can be reached at (203) 329-0853.
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