Week 6 Response 'Story Time'

Link to Podcast of TD Magazine Article

I struggled wrapping the concept of story telling around corporate training. There was always a disconnect between the meaning I attributed to story telling and the courses I was assigned to develop.

Story Time, A case for storytelling beyond the classroom by Diane Senffner and published in TD magazine helped clarify that dilemma. The author cited The Leadership Engine by Noel M Tichy, whose research led him to write, “Winning leaders personalize their visions and ideas by telling stories that touch people’s minds and intellects. They drive their messages home with words and actions that engage and excite their followers.”

According to this article stories provide context for the learner to relate on a personal and emotional level to whatever the subject matter is. It is this concept of relevance that Malcom Knowles and John Keller refer to in their research into adult learning.

As a writer of case studies, the dreaded role-play, classroom, conference, and e-learning courses this article made me think about how I have used the elements of storytelling well and what I can do differently going forward.

While I had been incorporating storytelling elements to some degree, crouching the learning experience within the context of an over-arching story wasn’t something I tended to do often. This article changed how I will approach ISD.

The author gave an example of how she incorporated storytelling into a delegation course. The character created was a quirky mid-level manager who sipped coffee and energy drinks at the same time. He sat in his office buried under piles of work busily trying to get everything done while the piles got higher. Several people would offer to help, to which, he would decline. He was fixed on the idea that only he would do it right and besides, it’s my job. Ultimately, his manager helped him understand what delegation is, how it would help him, and how to do it.

This is a much different approach than this is delegation, this is why it is important, and this is what it is, now make an action plan.

Diane provides five basic tips training professionals can follow to create their own stories for e-learning programs:

• Wrap a story around your content

• Use story elements – (setting, characters, conflict/problem, action/response, climax/lessons learned)

• Use conversational dialogue

• Make it simple

• Use stories anywhere

This was an excellent article that validated by my own experiences with leaders who told great stories that engaged, inspired, and ultimately led the troops to victory. Story telling is relatively easy once I separated Hollywood productions from the simple constant elements of story telling we can all incorporate into communication.