CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Your Future As a Story Designer

An Exciting Future

Are you ready to flex your storytelling skills and connect with your audience? Are you convinced that designers are in the best position to tell the right story for their audience? Are you ready to convince resistant stakeholders and peers that stories make a measurable impact on business outcomes? If so, you’re on the edge of an exciting future.

Keeping Pace With Technology

The pursuit for more engaging, immersive training leads us to explore technology as a means of making that happen. One walk down the expo hall of any talent development conference is proof enough that the industry has grown exponentially. The advances in technology in the field continue to open new doors of opportunity for designers and developers of training to create amazing experiences for learners. As always, the technology itself is never the solution for a well-designed course. Just as a social media tool doesn’t ensure that a company collaborates, there isn’t a story-creation tool out there that can automatically make a good story for your audience. At the baseline, there has to be thoughtful design. Just as a culture of collaboration must be consciously built, a well-told story for training must be designed. And once it’s designed, bring on the technology.

Story Design is a competency that grows with you. Following are training delivery options that are made possible by technology. You are in a position to supercharge each of these delivery options with Story Design. Here’s how to use stories for:

• branching scenarios

• blended learning

• microlearning

• games

• immersive technologies.

Stories for Branching Scenarios

Branching scenarios are made possible by authoring tools that give the learner an experience in which the story unfolds according to the choices of the learner. The learner proceeds down the path of their choice, receives immediate feedback, then the story continues. Branching can be fairly simple, but if there are many decision points and several choices for each of those decision points, the storyboard can quickly become complex. This is choose-your-own-adventure for learning. If your e-learning design solution calls for a series of branching scenarios, you need to know Cathy Moore, internationally recognized training designer. She offers extensive insights into branching scenarios on her blog and in her book Map It (2017). Here is a summary of her process for creating the mechanics of branching scenarios:

1. Analyze (particularly in order to list observable actions).

2. Prototype one decision point (after working with the SME to make sure the decision point is real to life).

3. Test the prototype (on the SME, the client, or a group of learners).

4. Add more branches (by beginning with all the possible endings and then mapping what decision points are needed to reach all of those endings).

This is a great method for building the framework, but branching scenarios need a story. You can draw upon the strengths of Story Design to lead learners through each of those decision points that align with actions from the action list. Use chapter 4 to help unearth those actions during SME interviews. Create relatable characters using the guideposts from chapter 5. I recommend using a fictious character based on the learner profile as your main character rather than casting the learner in this role. Consult chapter 7 to map the plot from decision point to decision point and build a cohesive story with several endings, depending on the decision made. Story Design inside the framework of branching scenarios is a powerful learning experience.

Stories for Blended Learning

Blended learning allows for multiple delivery options, preferably housed in one central location, like an LMS or a webpage. It uses the diversity of technology to deliver the right solution for the right content.

In chapter 11 you read a case study about orientation for new managers. This webinar is one piece of a master training plan, which includes toolkits that support key behaviors. The toolkit for one behavior contains a video, an e-learning course, a webinar, a job aid, and a PowerPoint deck. You can design blended resources to support specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes, weaving them together with a story. Common characters and plot lines help managers connect the dots between all of the resources.

Pizza Hut’s leadership training also uses blended learning, with a combination of video, e-learning, coaching, a workshop, and even a journal for learners to keep track of their reflections on training. Stories permeated each of the delivery methods.

Technology makes all of these delivery modes accessible. If your ideal solution involves blended learning, make sure your action list is in good order. Then determine how to best support those actions. To affect attitude, a video or written story may meet that need. Certain skills may require in-person or virtual support. Organize the training according to sequence or complexity. Use Story Design to build a series of stories that relate to one another. Tap into the emotional connection you’ve made for one delivery method to feed into another one to create a truly blended learning experience.

Stories for Microlearning

Microlearning (learning one or two actions from the action list in a short amount of time) is not a new concept. But technology has increased access to short tutorials on everything from how to replace the door of a dishwasher to how to do an HTTP request in HTML. People can now find quick answers to their questions in online forums, videos, brief articles, and diagrams.

Microlearning is ideal for situations where the learner has limited time, and the knowledge and skills can reasonably be gained quickly. It is a flexible solution that can adapt to the learner’s specific needs. It can also be inserted in the process of the workflow, which can mean, when someone needs to learn—or refresh—a specific skill, the training is easy to find. However, the misconception that the attention span of humans is shrinking is never a good reason for designing microlearning.

Microlearning has some pitfalls. I participated in a concurrent session with Karl Kapp at a conference (read more about him in Stories for Games). I took notes as Karl outlined four pitfalls of microlearning. If a curriculum contains a series of microlearning modules, participation may suffer when learners:

• Forget about completing all the modules.

• Get bored with it.

• Feel disconnected from the big picture.

• Get lost.

As he spoke, I wrote in the margin of my notes, “Stories can help tie this together.” Then he added, “Games can help tie this together.”

Games are discussed next, but here’s how Story Design can help tie together microlearning. Take a look at your action list. Can these actions be learned independently from one another? Do they build upon one another in sequence? Are the actions trainable in a short amount of time? If so, microlearning may be a good solution. If the actions are more dependent upon one another or the time it takes to reasonably train someone to do them is more than fifteen minutes, a different solution, like blended learning, may better serve your learners.

Since microlearning is short and concentrated, focus on one to three actions from the list and plan on an abbreviated time for training. Ask time-specific questions during stakeholder and SME interviews to build an audience profile that includes how long learners may have to interact with a microlearning course or asset. Microlearning may be ideal for an audience who works in production, or an audience of executives who have little time outside of meetings, or for audiences that have a wide range of knowledge and skills and want to pick which module will meet their needs.

So, if microlearning is short, do you have time to tell a story? Yes. There is always time for a well-designed story. Remember, stories are efficient. They can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. A two-minute story can cover eight or more of the actions on your list, plus it can demonstrate the nuances of human interaction. You may design one overarching story for the entire curriculum and keep referring back to the story in each of the microlearning modules. Or divide the story according to the action and interject the story at the beginning of a new series of actions. Or create mini stories within each module.

Like blended learning, microlearning can take any form: an e-learning course, a video, a short check-in with a mentor, a standalone quiz, a job aid, a chat bot, or an in-application tutorial. Technology helps make all of these solutions trackable. Flex microlearning’s adaptability to meet learners right where they are. Hold all the pieces together with Story Design.

Stories for Games

One of my family’s rituals almost every evening, even on school nights, is playing a game. Cards, dominoes, board games, dice games, word games, it doesn’t matter. Games are fun! Part of what makes games so fun, and challenging, is the common constraints that everyone must adhere to and respect. You have to think. There’s strategy involved. There are tactics. There’s luck. And, of course, the thrill of a well-played queen of spades in the game of Hearts.

Many games are not guided by an internal story, but no one around that table would deny that something unexpected is unfolding with every round, similar to the plot of a story. No one knows what their opponent has in their head or in their hand. You make educated guesses. During play, you are constantly making choices and receiving immediate feedback on those choices (just like during a well-designed learning course). You hold your breath, hoping you don’t get sent to jail. You rejoice when you roll doubles. You moan when you land on Boardwalk, which is already owned by an opponent, along with Park Place and two houses. The plot thickens. Emotions run high.

For all these reasons, games, instruction, and stories are perfect companions. If you are considering gamification for your learning solution, there are some great books, like Play to Learn by Karl Kapp and Sharon Boller (2017), that will guide you through the steps of designing a game for learning.

The complexity of gamification may vary greatly depending on the centrality of the game to the learning experience. Technology might be available to easily add interactions within a course that includes common game elements, like point systems, badges, and timers. But these game mechanics on their own do not equal gamification—or good instructional design. There must be a solid design behind the game. Gamified learning, similar to instructional design, brings the learner to decision points where the learner can practice a skill, based on knowledge they’ve gained from playing the game. They receive immediate feedback. They learn from their mistakes. They tackle another problem. They level up. They compete against themselves or others or the clock. They easily track their progress on the leaderboard or by how far they’ve advanced in the game.

Karl Kapp is an expert on the convergence of learning, technology, and business with a focus on game-thinking, games, and gamification for learning. He says in his book The Gamification of Learning and Instruction (2012), “storytelling is an essential part of the gamification of learning and instruction. The element of ‘story’ provides relevance and meaning to the experience. It provides context for the application of tasks.” It’s interesting that Dr. Kapp points out relevance, meaning, and context as the storytelling elements that influence gamification. Let’s look at each of these attributes.

Relevance implies that the characters in the game are relatable. They are also in similar situations as the audience’s work environment or an environment that serves as an equivalent metaphor of their workplace. Use the audience profile questionnaire (chapter 3) to formulate characters that mirror the feelings and circumstances of your audience. Pay special attention to external pressures, like deadlines, interpersonal conflict, high turnover, or burdensome duties like fulfilling requests for an external audit. External pressures at work will inform the constraints of the game.

Another attribute of stories as applied to gamification is that stories provide meaning. It’s imperative that the decision points in the game align to actions from the action list and that all of the choices are plausible. Distinguishing with the SME what should be done and what is being done will help create meaningful decision moments.

Lastly, context. A story boosts the emotional connection with the audience in a gamified learning experience. If designed well, the story triggers similar emotions that the audience feels at work. The story also unites the independent tasks in the game. As learners complete the tasks, the story unfolds to show how their actions affect the bigger picture. Consult “Start with the story premise” in chapter 7 for guidance on how to construct the story premise—fiction, nonfiction, or metaphor—that will provide the best context.

Gamified learning is powerful. Story-based gamified learning is relevant, meaningful, and contextual. In other words, awesome!

Stories for Immersive Technologies

I remember the first time I put on a virtual reality (VR) headset. Instantly, I was standing on top of a building. I slowly turned around and took in the scene. I could see the sky above, the streets below, the tops of other buildings around me. I looked down at myself. I was wearing work boots and jeans. My mission was to inspect the roof for possible safety hazards and fix them. With the help of a clicker, I put on a safety harness, climbed a tower, used a wrench, took notes on a clipboard. I learned what to look for. I discovered the process for how to fix a leak in the air conditioning unit. I felt what it was like to do this job—to be on top of a roof—without ever stepping foot outside.

The experience had story elements. I was the main character and there were problems that I needed to fix. I tried and failed sometimes. Ultimately, I succeeded in my mission. Thanks to VR, I was transported to a setting that mirrored reality. There’s no doubt that it was a powerful learning moment. It was a physical and intellectual experience. But what if Story Design was applied to this scenario? What if there was an emotional component? Clearly, I was role-playing, but other than the fact that my character was a roof inspector, I didn’t know much else about him. What are the current circumstances at work? How has he reacted to those current circumstances? What does he fear? What’s at stake if he doesn’t perform correctly? And what are the external pressures associated with this job? What if, before he goes to the roof, his boss chews him out for botching the last job? What if he has a narrow window of time to complete the inspection before an approaching thunderstorm hits? What if the building is a hospital out of power? The effectiveness of this VR experience would increase exponentially.

Many companies have started to use stories in their VR training. They craft relatable characters and put them in strong conflict. A retail store prepares their cashiers for the holiday rush by recreating the scene in VR. A corporate leadership course places leaders in a virtual reality meeting to confront an employee for misconduct. Another retail company prepares their employees for armed robberies. The employee must make choices at gun point. Talk about strong conflict.

Similar to VR is augmented reality (AR). AR’s ability to superimpose three-dimensional images on top of real-world scenes is widely adopted by talent development for training in healthcare, science, space, military, manufacturing, and onboarding programs. Its usefulness for hands-on practice, especially in situations where safety is a concern, increases learning transfer. AR is similar to microlearning in that many times each individual AR component is a self-contained task, while a series of AR learning moments can benefit from a story that connects the pieces with the whole. The story can also propel the learner to the next interaction and keep the learner focused on completing and absorbing all of the content. See the Stories for Microlearning section in this chapter for more on the benefits of Story Design for situations like this one.

Technology is rapidly pushing the limits of how we can learn, but storytelling has no problem keeping pace. Developers of AR, VR, and future immersive technologies who apply Story Design will give their audience a full experience—mind, body, and emotions.

Your Future With Story Design

The world of work is always changing. New skills need to be learned. From artificial intelligence to machine learning to data analytics and the Internet of Things, the future of learning is for those who embrace their role as storytellers. No matter how digitally disrupted our world becomes, or how technologically advanced our training resources are, there’s always time for a well-designed story.

You’ve heard a lot about action in this book. Now that you’ve made it through, experienced Story Design for yourself, and completed the exercises, it’s time for you to take action and make it a reality for your audience. Join the growing community of designers who are transforming their company’s training one story at a time through Story Design.

PRACTICE STORY DESIGN:

The Future

Think of the stories you created for Well Adjusted, the chiropractic clinic. Would they benefit from a training method represented in this chapter? Can you imagine it as part of a blended learning or microlearning program? Can you picture the story as the plot for a game or an immersive learning experience through VR or AR? Stories have a wonderful attribute: flexibility. They will serve you no matter what technology is used to create the course. Take a moment to write down ideas you have in mind that exercise the power of stories for the future of learning technologies.