Business storytelling

Have you ever been to a meeting where after 5 mins you have lost the interest? Let’s be honest, we have been to one of those meetings where we start watching your phone or do other work (multi-task as we call it 😉). Or more so have you delivered any presentation where you have struggled to keep audience engaged? It is sometime tricky to keep your audience glued to your presentation with all the data.

Business storytelling is one such skill which can help the presenter keep the narrative relatable for the audience. It is basically an art where you don’t bog down under the data you have, rather you connect with the audience to give a meaning to the data for the audience. I am sure you must have seen TEDx talks videos. The speakers in those do not come with fancy slides and talk just about numbers. In fact, what the speakers do is story tell their journey. It keeps you engaged for the whole time with the story, speaker is narrating with emotion. The whole point, summary or morale of the story is very simple or one liner. However, the impact of that one liner summary is realised through the story the speaker narrates. It’s in the same way Business storytelling is giving impact to the data, information, or product you are presenting to your audience

Storytelling is one of the oldest modes of communication. Remember, our grandmothers teaching our life lessons in the form of stories. Kids are not told 2+2=4 at the start rather as a scene where you and your friend have fruits and so on. When you hear “once upon a time…” your mind is automatically switched to the conversation. . That’s the power of storytelling. In a world where everyone is trying to sell something or similar product/service, storytelling is the key differentiator. TCS #PartOfYourStory is one such prime example of that.

Some might think that its for Sales or Marketing specifically. I believe its for anyone or everyone. Be it a developer or tester explaining or convincing their manager on their future roles or a team lead presenting data to stakeholders. Storytelling is a skill which will help all roles to communicate and connect effectively.

Now, enough of “gyaan”. So how can you learn about Business storytelling?! For this, there are many materials available on multiple learning platforms which brings out the story narrator in you. When you complete any course, you would be amazed to know that you had this skill you never knew of. Like I said, its an art so you need to practice it as much to master it. So, go one, enrol for any course and achieve what some say will be the game changer in near future!