CHAPTER ONE

Storytelling at Warp Speed

What’s Your Assignment?

You may not design training for compliance. You may design safety training or leadership development programs or new hire onboarding. No matter what the content is, you care about making people better at what they do. That’s why you are in this industry. But often, you are asked to churn out courses at lightning speed to keep up with the pace of business. And you find yourself checking boxes.

Who has time to write a story that makes people stop and think and immerse themselves in learning something new? The creative process can be a long and thoughtful one for those who are sculpting a marble statue or writing a novel. That’s not you, though. You’re developing talent. But believe it or not, you already have everything you need to start writing the best story for your audience.

We Like Stories

Your training initiatives take many forms—instructor-led, microlearning, gamification, branching scenarios, virtual reality—and underneath all of it is a solid foundation of instructional design. So why do you need stories? There are three great answers to that question.

Stories Are Memorable

When you hear the words, “So, the other day I saw this girl … ” or “You won’t believe what just happened to me!” or “Once upon a time …”, your mind is programed to listen for a story. It knows the patterns of conflict and resolution. It pictures the characters. It puts you right in the middle of the action, as if it were your own story. You feel what the people in the story feel when they encounter something that makes them frustrated or content. And all of this happens beginning with the very first words of a story. Then, after you’ve heard the story, you are able to repeat it, recalling details with accuracy. Generations of oral history, teaching, and skill building can be attributed to the tradition of repeating stories.

But there’s a tendency to avoid the language of stories when it comes to training. Somewhere along the way, we strayed from the tried and true. We abandoned storytelling as an instructional design skill. One of the repercussions of moving away from stories is that people remember less of what they are trained to do. With the memorable framework of stories and the brain’s recognition of story patterns, instructional designers can significantly increase immediate engagement and lasting retention.

In her book, Design for How People Learn, Julie Dirksen puts it succinctly: “We like stories. We learn a lot from them. A well-told story can stick with us for years, even if we’ve only heard it once.”

Stories Are Actionable

“A story is powerful because it provides the context missing from abstract prose … putting knowledge into a framework that is more lifelike, more true to our day-to-day existence. More like a flight simulator. Being the audience for a story isn’t so passive, after all. Inside, we’re getting ready to act.” —Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Made to Stick

Flight simulation is among one of the most powerful training tools in existence. Simulator training qualifies a pilot to fly a new airplane for the first time on a revenue flight. Undoubtedly, it is the most affordable and effective way to train pilots without having to be in the air. Why does this work? They aren’t in a real airplane that’s really hurtling towards the earth in an ice storm over the ocean. So, how does sitting in a machine that simulates this situation prepare them for the real deal? The pilot is living out the situation as if it were real. All of the controls that would be in the plane are there, responding to the pilot’s actions. If those actions are performed accurately in the correct order, he saves the plane. If they aren’t, he crashes.

Stories have a similar effect. Studies of the brain and the body have made the connection between storytelling and the chemical phenomena happening inside of us. One of the most fascinating responses is that of mirror neurons, in which the brain activity of the story-listener begins to align with the story. These neurons fire not only when you perform an action, but when you observe someone else perform it. Fictional things in the story become real in your body. As the plot unfolds, you put yourself in the shoes of the characters, living out their experiences in your mind as if they were your own. Watching the story prepares you to act. Think of the goal of training: to take action on new skills, new knowledge, and new attitudes. Stories are the flight simulator to make this happen.

Stories Are Emotional

The reason stories are memorable and actionable is because they touch our emotions. This is also the at the root of much of the resistance against stories for training. Business stakeholders who shirk at emotional language would rather appeal to the learner’s intellect.

Jonathan Haidt wrote a book called The Happiness Hypothesis, in which the brain is compared to a rider on an elephant. The rider is rational and the elephant is emotional. Both of them influence behavior. So, when it comes to training, the rider may say, “I really should read this screen of text so I can learn something in this course.” But the elephant is saying, “Are you kidding me? Order pizza!” If you only speak to the intellect and ignore the emotions of a person in training, you are missing an enormous opportunity to fully engage them. But when you speak to the rider and the elephant, you help both of them to stay on course, and they learn together.

Once, I was asked to design a live training experience for a group of employees who were struggling with effective teamwork. The problems this team had included an array of issues like favoritism, gossip, bickering, and withholding information, stemming from a root of misunderstanding. Individuals were becoming entrenched in their cliques. It resulted in low productivity and poor decision making. The department became a hotbed of compliance issues. Appealing to this group’s intellect wasn’t going to change anything. Instead, I designed a story that formed the centerpiece of the hour-long session. It was developed simply, in PowerPoint with stick figure characters. This story of four coffeeshop employees followed the repercussions of a careless remark and a misunderstanding that resulted in a fallout between the characters. It ended unresolved. But afterward, attendees were asked a series of open-ended questions to identify some solutions for the characters. Then they participated in activities that were designed to flesh out these solutions. Each activity referred back to the story. Because the training was closely tied to the story’s emotional attributes, the learning objectives became memorable and actionable.

We know that the training was memorable and actionable because behaviors on the team changed drastically and productivity increased. We found out later that the team had adopted an easy way to remind one another when behaviors started to creep back to the way things had been before. They simply said, “Remember the coffeeshop!” They did not say, “Remember point number five on the list of healthy teamwork behaviors.” They didn’t need to do that because remembering the story was enough to recall everything they had learned. Why? The story touched them emotionally and made them think. It made their elephant and rider happy.

Our Common Language

Your brain is constantly making sense of the world around you, both intellectually and emotionally. It is processing life and forming stories. Think back on your week. How many times did you encounter a story? You read a news article, watched a video, saw a commercial. A co-worker told you about his harrowing commute and the lady who cut him off. Your kids told you about their day. The number of times you encounter stories throughout the week are innumerable.

Now think about the times you’ve created a story this week. Yes, created one. Perhaps you thought ahead to a difficult conversation you were going to have with someone and rehearsed it in your mind. You just created dialogue. What about the homeless person you saw on the street? You wondered how they got there in life. In a nanosecond, your brain created a mini backstory for that person. You just created a character. Someone you care about was supposed to meet you and they didn’t arrive on time. You thought of every possible scenario that could be delaying them, including some far-fetched awful ones. You just created conflict. We are wired to the core for stories! It’s our common language.

Stories in Talent Development

Here’s what stories in talent development may look like for your learners. Your audience comes into the classroom, joins the virtual session, or opens the e-learning module. They are immediately engaged by a story involving characters they completely relate to. Your audience may laugh at something a character says or furrow their brow as a character takes action that seems inappropriate or out of place. But the entire time they are listening to the story, they are right there with the characters, living out their story vicariously, wading through conflict and thinking of how to solve their problems. Then the story ends. There are conflicts left unresolved. There’s a feeling that change needs to take place. Each learner feels an instinctive desire to resolve and repair. They want to know how the story ends.

That’s when the instruction takes the learners seamlessly into activities that give them a chance to explore possible solutions or offer their own solutions, followed by feedback that gives them clear guidance. On-the-job resources are available for them to consult as they make choices that advance the instruction and the story. When the training is done, they are still thinking about it, not because of the attractive bullet points but because of the story. And when they go to do their job and encounter a situation where they were trained to perform differently, they remember the story. They remember the consequences of doing things the wrong way. They remember how they felt. And they change.

Wouldn’t you like to create an experience like that? There’s good news! You aren’t starting with a blank canvas. As a talent development professional, you are already collecting the right information. Think of the essentials you need to create training. Once you’ve determined that training is the best solution, there are two questions you need to answer:

• Who is my audience?

• What do they need to do as a result of training?

The answers to these questions provide the structure of your learning solution. This is also the heart of your story. This is Story Design.

Where Instructional Design and Story Design Meet

Before plunging into the Story Design model that will form the backbone of this book, it’s important to emphasize that what you are already doing during the instructional design process directly supports Story Design. Let’s continue the comparison between instructional design and Story Design using the ADDIE model as a frame of reference. The instructional design process involves analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE). Used iteratively or sequentially, ADDIE is a methodology for creating effective training. There is a mirror process of Story Design that is equally methodical and effective (Figure 1-1).

Discover

When a stakeholder comes to you or your team requesting training, you ask them questions to figure out what the root problem is and identify what the business outcome will be as a result of training. If training is the right solution, you interview subject matter experts (SMEs) to flesh out the actions learners need to take in order to meet that business outcome and alleviate the root problem. Every training initiative begins with questions, followed by analysis of the answers. Everything you design and evaluate hinges on proper analysis. You wouldn’t think of designing a course if you didn’t know who the audience was or what they needed to do.

As you form an audience profile and develop an action list for them, you are discovering material for characters and conflict, the essentials for storytelling and for Story Design. The intelligence you gather that is good for instruction is also good for stories.

Design

Think about how you approach the design of a course. Once you’ve done the analysis—you know who you are designing this course for and you know what they need to do as a result of training—what is your go-to for starting the design of instruction? Do you start a development list? Do you jump into an authoring tool? Do you storyboard? Do you write a script? Do you spend hours crafting formal learning objectives? Whether your approach to design is strictly academic, somewhat haphazard, or somewhere in between, Story Design asks you to begin your design by thinking immediately about story. In this phase, you design the characters and the conflict based on the information you’ve collected during the analysis and discovery phase. You write the script and determine how the story will be produced. For training, you will, of course, apply sound instructional design, including definitions, descriptions, examples, demonstrations, and practice as needed, but the story itself will set the stage for even more powerful instruction and open up innovative options for interacting with your audience.

Deliver

You’ve designed the course and now it’s time to develop it. If you’re creating training for a live audience, you may start building a slide deck based on the script and a look-and-feel you’ve designed. If you’re developing an e-learning course, you’re probably going to use an authoring tool that contains branching capabilities and built-in interactions. But hold on just a moment. You also have a story, and that needs to be developed as well. It needs to be compatible with the development and implementation of instruction. It needs to be integrated in a way that seamlessly leads the learner through the instruction. Stories are powerful no matter how they are delivered to their audience. From simple text to professional videos, a well-crafted story evokes the memorable, actionable, and emotional response you’re looking for.

Evaluate

Story Design does not differ from instructional design in the realm of evaluation and, other than this paragraph, evaluating effectiveness won’t be addressed in this book for the following reasons: We already know that stories have the impact we need for training. It’s an established best practice, as you’ve read in this chapter. Implement Story Design, and skills, knowledge, and attitudes will be enhanced. Your evaluations will prove it. Business objectives will be met, and root problems conquered.

What this book will tackle is evaluating the design of the story itself. How do you know when you’ve got a winner? What are the red flags of ineffective stories? There are some key indicators that will help you determine the answers to these questions and ensure that your story has the maximum impact on your audience.

The Story Design Model

This book is structured to help you discover, design, and deliver stories for training, with a closing section on how to overcome common barriers to implementing Story Design. Throughout each of these sections, the Story Design model is fleshed out in detail, giving you practice with each step. To see all the parts in context, let’s take a look at the Story Design model, the heart of this book. Appendix 1 contains an at-a-glance version of the Story Design model. (Visit needastory.comook-resources to download a copy of the Story Design model and many other resources and tools used in this book.)

Connecting Story to Action

Figure 1-2 shows where you stand right now. You know you want to include stories in training to equip and empower your audience to take action. There’s a business outcome at stake and there’s a root problem getting in the way. You want to fill the gap between telling a story for training that leads to action. Let’s fill that gap.

Relatable Characters in Strong Conflict

There are two essential story elements that must be present in order to tell a powerful story for training. You need characters and conflict (Figure 1-3). Not just any characters and not just any conflict. First, you need characters that your audience is going to relate to, connect with, identify with. Think of a course you recently designed. Can you think of a character that the audience of that course could relate to? If you can, you know your audience well. If you struggled to do that, you will need to collect more information on your audience. This book will show you how to do that more effectively.

The second element of the story is strong conflict. The word “strong” is used to indicate that the conflict needs to be intense enough to trigger a significant emotional response. If you think back to stories you’ve watched or read or listened to, the ones with the strongest conflict rise to the top as the most memorable. Think about lessons you’ve learned in your personal life. In which of those experiences did everything go right? Most likely, you made some mistakes when you learned those lessons. And mistakes create conflict. But where does conflict come from for stories in training? Take a look at the list of actions you’re asking learners to do. Put your relatable characters in strong conflict with those actions and you have a tailormade plot for your audience.

Desire for Resolution

There is a wonderful by-product of combining relatable characters with strong conflict—learners want resolution! Their natural response is to figure out how to fix the problem (Figure 1-4). Whether or not they have a solution, they are hooked. You have their full attention. And that leads to the last piece of the model that completes the gap between story and action.

Training

Now that you have their attention and their desire to resolve, train them (Figure 1-5). The story has opened your audience up to receive new ideas, new ways of doing things, and new perspectives. Now share that new knowledge and those new skills and use the power of the story to motivate them to carry it through at work. We will spend a good deal of time in this book exploring how to integrate your story with training after you’ve gone through the Story Design process.

Storytelling Is a Competency

The Story Design model is simple enough to comprehend quickly because we all speak in stories. Storytelling for training has its specific challenges, but you’re starting on the right foot. Like any skill, it requires the kind of in-depth study and practice you will receive in this book. Start applying the methodology for projects at work right away. Immediately, you will begin to see instructional design in a completely different light, using creative venues you’ve never thought of before. You’ll start thinking like an Instructional Story Designer!

Training trends come and go, but storytelling has always been and will always be. Storytelling is a competency. It is foundational to the human experience and, therefore, should be a foundational skill for anyone who trains people. The more solidly you can craft a story, the better equipped you will be to adapt to the high demands placed on talent development in a world and a workforce that is constantly changing. Once you’ve seen Story Design’s power, you’ll use it everywhere. Business isn’t slowing down any time soon. Don’t worry, Story Design can keep up. Master the principles in this book and you’ll be storytelling at warp speed.

Dayna’s Story, and Yours

You’ll continue to follow Dayna’s journey at the top of each chapter. You’ll learn from Dayna’s experiences and have a chance to help her along the way. Starting with chapter 2, you will have the opportunity to put the principles you learn about to work in the closing section. In these practice sections, you are the designer. You’ll meet the owner of a chiropractic clinic and use the chapter’s tools and resources to discover, design, and develop a story for training his staff. The tools used in the practice sessions are compiled in a comprehensive toolkit in the appendix, including a collection of worksheets that support each stage of the Story Design process (appendix 1), an Instructional Story Design Plan Template (appendix 2), and a completed Instructional Story Design Plan with suggested outcomes for the chiropractic clinic practice sessions (appendix 3). The Instructional Story Design Plan and worksheets are also available as downloadable tools at needastory.com/book-resources; you can also view sample story solutions on the website.