Storytelling

My great grandfather sat down next to me and talked of why it is worth putting your faith and trust in God.  I cannot remember how old I was then, but I remember I asked him what faith or trust meant.  He told me a story that I remember to this day.  The story was about a man who was driving and his car met with an accident. He was alone on a hill, it was pitch dark and he had been thrown out of the car and was hanging on a tree.  His mind raced back and he remembered seeing a tree at the edge of  cliff with its branches overlooking the cliff.  He realised that he must be hanging on one of those branches and if he let go, it would be over a 3000 feet drop.  He prayed to God, "Please ensure I do not sleep. Please give me the strength in my arms to hold me up till I get help.  Please, please don't let the branch break."  God replied to him, "Why don't you just trust me and let go of the branch.  You will fall on my lap safely."  The man said, "Are you crazy God? I want to live to see my family again.  I am not yet ready to come to your lap in heaven."  He spent the next few hours hanging from the tree branch. Those were the worst moments of his life.  His arms ached and he was desperate to get off the tree.  The man was thrilled to see the first signs of light.  As he looked down, he could see earth just a foot below his feet.  He had been hanging on one of the branches that was on the other side of the cliff and if he had let go the branch, he would landed safely.  As he let go, he kicked himself for not trusting God and letting go. 

Our ancestors in India realised the importance of storytelling years ago.  The Panchatantra Stories, The Jataka Tales, Chandamama Stories are few examples of how concepts and values were passed through generations.  I always loved reading these story books.  Enid Blyton's Noddy Stories were among the best on passing on values through generations.

For years, students of the top business schools have said that the best learnings have come from examples shared by professors, other students and case studies.  These are all, nothing but stories.  The best of our learnings are always from life experiences of ourselves or others.  What remains etched in our minds are these stories and the morals/values that we got out of them.

Most corporates today have started asking their leaders to develop the next generation of leaders and one of the most important methods suggested is storytelling.  Most leaders have started sharing stories of various experiences to coach and this is leading to the creation of better leaders.

Storytelling creates a lively atmosphere. It creates a bonding. It electrifies because it brings with it the emotions.  These could be happy, sad, fear, anxiety, laughter... anything...but it brings through emotions and, therefore, lets the audience experience the moments.  It helps the audience to relate to the speaker at a more personal level.  I have said this in my earlier blog, "You may forget his words but you will never forget how he made you feel."  Stories are etched because they create an emotion that you will always remember and relate to.

When I started working in a large back office, I realised that my biggest problem was conveying what I wanted across different layers in an organization and for it to be understood in the same way.  What I wanted to convey may not create an impact because it gets lost in translation as it percolates across the various levels in the organization.  So, I started using storytelling.  This created the necessary impact and I regard impact as the most important part of communication.  With that came the bonding, the excitement and the relationships.

Like most of you reading this blog, I decided not to wait to become a grandfather to communicate through stories... there are so many who would love to learn from your experiences...as they say, "Experience is one of our best teachers."