The Opening story
Since the dawn of civilization, humans have used stories as a mode of communication, amusement, feeling emotions, and sharing experiences. Storytelling is a great tool to visualize information through words.
Stories have been an attempt to say oracles, future predictions, and lifestyle patterns during the caveman times; it slowly progressed to become a children’s communication style to teach human values and morals. Today, we use storytelling at organizational levels and for various other purposes. The idea is that stories are everywhere and everything has a story behind it. Telling a story is however unstructured and depends on the audience who would listen to the story. The core story would not be changed but the narrative would be different when it comes to storytelling to different people.
Storytelling as a concept
Storytelling is in the DNA of Human beings as it connects events and the walks of life of other people. It becomes a tool to connect with people, enhance collaboration, and teamwork, and to an extent align with the higher purpose of an organization.
Storytelling is the art of using words and actions to put visuals on the reader’s or listeners’ mind to imagine. It also connects largely to the emotional aspect and the purpose of the story. Most stories are gripping, i.e. inciting curiosity for the reader. Characters and situations are intertwined to make the story better. A good story is defined by the delivery and narrative of what it is and as it is. That is where storytelling as a concept comes in.
Storytelling in Design Thinking?
Storytelling in Design Thinking involves creativity and understanding the audience. Designers typically use this to get insights on users and hear stories, to tell stories later. Rather than stating facts and data, stories allow designers to understand the “How” of a particular instance.
Storytelling is usually done in the first stage and the last stage of Design Thinking. First to introduce a problem as is, based on the current realities, context, and incidents that make the story-problem statement interesting to look into. Even math problems had stories before algebra was introduced! There is always a character, a Tom, or a Harry, who had done something, who had initially 5 sweets and had shared 2.
During the design process, storytelling is used to understand the underlying problems that consumers face when using a product or a service, and then use this knowledge in reflective practice to formulate the solution which is tested by the consumers.
Then the last stage is to introduce a solution. Storytelling in the last stage conveys how useful, beneficial, and the problems a solution would solve. It would involve creating positive emotions and curiosity building before revealing the solution. A surprise element, a twist, is usually the lasting feeling for the audience in understanding the solution to a problem. This feeling is close to solving a mathematical problem for 5 pages, just to arrive at 0 as the right answer, but the problem is solved!
The way Steve Jobs moved people:
Every storyteller has his or her way of telling a story. Take for example Steve Jobs, in his introduction of the iPhone. He has a hook to instantly attract the audience using powerful words, ‘A revolutionary product that changes everything’. Next, the context focuses on the current realities of the product and how it has been an improved version of the past.
A story is no good without a conflicting element, a hero would always need a villain, even the stories in our childhood always had an evil character to distinguish between black and white, good and bad. Similarly, Jobs would go to the extent of stating his competition in a subtle way and how they are less advanced than the iPhone. The emphasis on security features which stood out during that time made Jobs the hero, as other companies had issues that had less or no security.
Storytelling becomes a powerful tool for change as well. It could set visions, values, and agendas for the future. Storytelling moves people. Emotional connections and logical connections must be very important in a story in order for the story to talk to people.
Understanding the listeners
Being creative is alright, but being able to understand the audience is critical as well. Understanding the emotions, anticipation, and expectation is what exactly Jobs did for every launch. He understood the aspect of ‘What more’ of the customer. His positioning of an innovative company became possible only by understanding ‘what wows’ the customer. Steve Jobs is almost compared to Malcolm X, Gandhi, and other leaders who churned up the world for greatness.
But how do people come up with stories?
Empathy, Reliability, and Reality are three things to look out for in storytelling for Design Thinking. Reliability is how true the solution is to the customer- an angle one has to be mindful of when storytelling a solution. How persuasive could the solution be in balance with reliability is another angle.
Trust becomes essential, the truth in storytelling. A solution can’t be just for show off and not serve its purpose; people will eventually know and customers are fast to realize lies being propagated. Influencing the right way and influencing tomorrow is how storytelling is. Empathy for the customer is equally important as well. With emphasis on empathy, stories start to talk to people.
Making the story talk to people
Create an emotional bond between your story and the person listening to it. Notice that Jobs would use visual imagery in his presentation to show the progress of all Apple devices that had been launched. He could have simply put it as a timeline to show facts and advancements, but what he does is different. He spins the story out of it, talks about the struggles behind it, and the truth (to some extent), He talks about the legacy of Apple, and how the logo and the brand create an impact of owning a unique Innovative product. He makes the story talk to people.
Steve Jobs carefully selects words that are not too confusing or too heavy for the listener but also creates a feeling of owning a luxury brand in the buyer’s mind. In his presentations, he walks through the experience of using the product as he is describing, creating a live demonstration. His demos are contextual, which addresses the potential user’s most common problem.
Craft unique experiences that stay in the audience’s mind. An Apple launch event is an experience in itself. The storytelling part in it is appreciated by many individuals. People who did not attend the launch event got to view the event online. People who did not watch, at least heard that Apple would launch its product in mid-September. Such instances stay in the mind.
In conclusion, effective storytelling would build impressions of a stakeholder, provide the intensity of a situation, create urgency, and impress people. Storytelling could also unravel emotions and create a behavioural change in the community.
