Improving

communications

Through Storytelling

10 November 2016

A presentation to the senior

management committee of

Saskatchewan Environment.

• We’re here until 4:45

• Let me know when you want a break.

• Exercises and me talking

Trigger warnings

• I come from a different culture.

• interactivity;

• vocabulary.

You don’t have to take

notes.

Learning objectives

Increase your appreciation for storytelling in the

context of strategic planning documents.

Learning Objectives

• Explain why it pays to make that extra effort.

Give you permission to stop writing like

a 1950’s bureaucrat.

Evaluate your Ministry’s current writing

and compare it to other ministries.

Set goals for future writing.

Thesis

• Storytelling is the key to getting a message across;

• You need a narrative structure.

My hidden agenda

• If you’re not telling a story, you’re doing anything.

Successful politicians

understand this.

National Post

27 Sept. 2016

National Post

27 Sept. 2016

We spend a lot of time in

government….

• speaking to people who aren’t listening;

• writing reports that are never read;

• …..because we haven't engaged people.

“Stories are the most powerful delivery tool

for information”.

The best way to unite an idea with an emotion is

by telling a story”.

It’s time to play…

Just A Minute !

• Divide into groups of 4 or 5 ;

• Figure out who has the best story ?

Pick a storyteller

• Help them craft their story;

• Must speak for one minute;

• No hesitation, deviation or repetition.

When you’re done

• Come to the front of the room.

Divide into

groups now.

A story about….

• You, a member of your family;

• A famous, unusual experience or person you met;

• An interesting event—

• Illegalities or police investigations.

Have you picked

a storyteller ?

Come to the front

of the room.

Your stories…

One minute.

How did you pick

a storyteller ?

How did you

craft the story ?

Ian, what the hell does

this have to do with my

job ?

The information editing

skills you need…

• allow you to get a point across;

• should be highly valued in complex organizations;

• Without a narrative, no one will hear you.

Stories need…

• Characters

• A plot

• A point of view

• Action (someone doing something because)

You have to

explain why.

The big story development

question…

• What to keep;

• What to pitch.

stories organized

information…

• to make a point

Nancy Duarte—Resonate.

• Every story needs a big idea;

• A unique point of view, rather than generalizations;

• Convey what’s at stake;

• Make people care about your perspective.

pg. 78

Point of view versus topic

• Governments write about topics;

• People write with a point-of-view;

• One builds a story, one doesn’t

The fate of the oceans is

a topic.

Climate change is killing

sea otters expresses a

point of view.

–Nancy Duarte, Resonate, pg. 16

“Stories link one person’s heart to

another. Values, beliefs and

norms become intertwined.”

“You can have piles of facts and

still fail to resonate. It’s not the

information itself that’s important,

but the emotional impact of that

information.”

–Nancy Duarte: Resonate, pg. 14

“Use plenty of facts, but

accompany them with emotional

appeal.”

The structure of

a good story.

“We begin with a pleasant

information dump.”

Derick Heathcoat-Amory

• Britain’s Chancellor the Exchequer, 1958 - 1960

• 1st Viscount Amory KG, GCMG

KG

KCMG

Operation Market Garden.

• Amory was wounded and captured in the battle

• September 1944

• Largest airborne military operation to that point.

39,620 troops delivered by

air

• 21,074 via parachute

• 18,546 by glider

What am I doing when

I’m telling you a story ?

I’m thinking about the

audience….

• think about what they need;

• What’s most relevant to the audience ?

• What context is needed to order choices ?

Hypothetically, the

fountain is falling apart:

• What story do we tell ?

• This symbol of our heritage must be saved !

• This symbol of colonial oppression must go !

Is it worth…

• Saving ?

• Reinvest in a different monument ?

• What info do you need to make a decision ?

Try to anticipate

responses.

• “I’d like to thank the province for getting rid of it.”

• “Thanks for dumping our heritage.”

Language and power are

inextricably linked.

• Information drives action;

• Action has to be explained;

• End result, inevitably, is a story we have to tell.

Structuring information;

tossing things overboard;

highlighting the important.

Using some kind of

logic

to structure a narrative.

Attempting to

evoke a response.

“I’ve learned that people will forget

what you said…

…people will forget what you did.

…but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

How do you feel after

reading most government

documents ?

How do we structure

information ?

Subordinating style

• Components in a narrative are linked by relationship

• causality

• temporality

• precedence

causal relationship

• One thing causes another

temporal relationship

• One thing comes before or after another

Precedence

• one thing is more important than another

Time for a shift

Temporal

Causal

Precedence

A tool to help you

structure information.

The positioning statement

• Emotional statement;

• Key Message;

• Two Facts;

• Action Statement (demand)

Positioning

statement exercise.

Positioning statement

exercise

• Go back into your groups;

• Use positioning statement to review release;

• Can it help you make things better?

Report back in

15 minutes.

Text analysis

• Why some stories are better than others.

two scores

• Flesch-Kincaid Read Ease score (1 - 100)

• North American Grade Level

Reading Ease score

Govt. of Sask. briefing note.

Average Score = 30-36

Grade Level

• Grade 6 - 8 is the goal.

Grade Six readability is hard to

achieve, but it’s not “dumbing

down”.

0

22.5

45

67.5

90

B. Obama

M. Obama

H. Clinton

D. Trump

Readability Scores

Major Convention Speeches

July, 2016

0

2.25

4.5

6.75

9

B. Obama

M. Obama

H. Clinton

D. Trump

Grade Level

Major Convention Speeches

July, 2016

Text Analysis of

Environment

Ministry.

12 -15

words per sentence

Reading Ease score:

50 or better.

Readability grade level

6 to 8

Using readability score

to improve writing.

Sasktel 2014 Annual

Report.

• Pg. 6

• Let’s re-write it.

20 minutes

• Can you do better ?

Let’s see how you did

My attempt

Using numbers

in stories

–Nate Silver

“The numbers have no way of

speaking for themselves; we

speak for them.”

–Silver: The Signal and the Noise

pg. 9

“Before we demand more of our

data, we need to demand more of

ourselves.”

Numbers need context

• Always

• Be

• Comparing

This is a number

• Saskatchewan posts a 2015 -16 deficit of $675 m.

This is a narrative

Another narrative

The US Federal Air Marshal Service spend $800 million annually.

That $800 million

represents

• 40% of what the US Secret Service spends;

• 10% of what the FBI spends annually.

Know the difference

between numbers and

stories.

Here’s some other

stories…

• Only 5% of US flights have an Air Marshal;

• Since 9/11, there have been no hijackings;

• There have been more arrests of Air Marshals

• than by Air Marshals since 9/11.

abstract to

concrete

The whole tendency of modern prose

is away from concreteness.

George Orwell

Politics and the English Language

1946

Concrete narratives use

superlatives to move

the story along.

fastest, newest, oldest,

strongest,

first-ever.

use of metaphor

make writing concrete

Why this worked..

• Clearly written, concrete language;

• Well organized;

• Articulates a point of view, with consequences;

• A simple, defining metaphor (car).

vernacular

eloquence

“If we read every sentence aloud carefully…and

if we then fiddle and adjust our words until they

feel right in the mouth and sound right in the

ear, the resulting sentence will be strong and

clear.”

–Prof. Peter Elbow

Questions

• Do you write multiple drafts ?

• Do you read them out loud to someone else ?

Parting thoughts

In your

documents/presentations

….

• convey a big idea;

• covey what’s at stake;

• Convince me I should care.

Exhibit a clarity of intent

• What problem am I trying to solve;

• What does ‘good’ look like;

• How will I know when I get there ?

Rejected opportunity cost

• What happens if I do nothing ?

An audience transformed

• The highest goal;

• Now that I’ve read this, I know this;

• Now, I have to do something.

A presentation

template

We had a big idea

• It’s important because—

• This idea came from—

• We talked to these people, and they said—

Here’s how our big idea

changed

• We were surprised to discover—

• New information created these new insights—

• Here’s why these insights are valuable—

The value proposition

• Our big idea will improve a process/save money/

• make life better for people in the following ways—

Rejected opportunity cost

• If we do nothing, here are the consequences—

• Here’s what they are doing on other jurisdictions—

Now that you now all this

• You must—

questions