why innovation!
  • Services
  • Training
  • Who We Are
  • Reach Out
  • Join Why Team
  • Buzz
    • Y Community

Storytelling – An Important Skill that Most Business Leaders Have Ignored

7/24/2019

0 Comments

 
Storytelling | why innovation! | Alice Yu YueboPicture
by Alice Yu, Marketing Manager at why innovation!
We all tell stories all the time – whether it’s a night-time fairy tale for our children, or a presentation in front of our potential clients. However, as reckoned by the best-selling author J.K. Rowling, “No story lives unless someone wants to listen.”

In my previous role as a newspaper reporter, the first thing I learnt was that the key points of writing a good article are the same as telling a good story. Besides capturing the essential information “5W + 1H”, namely, “who, what, when, where, why and how”, we have to capture the reader’s attention through an attractive header and opening, maintain their attention through well knitted sentences, provide an exciting climax, and finally make a powerful CTA (Call-To-Action).

I soon realised that these guidelines don’t only apply to journalism, but also every aspect of our life. I will share some examples below:
Storytelling for Product Teams: Develop Great User Stories

Ever since joining why innovation!, I have been meeting and interacting with the highest volume of technology professionals in my career. Their skills range from Agile Coaches, to IT/Product Managers, to Software Developers, to Cybersecurity Specialists, to Tech Startup Founders. I used to think that they were familiar with only coding and technical talk, but was surprised to find out that the word “story” is also very familiar to them – usually in the form of “user stories”. In comparison to a creativity-driven story, the user story in product management is usually based off a specific format:

“As a [role] I can [function] so that [rationale].” (User Stories Applied, by Mike Cohn)

The user story allows Product Managers/Owners and Team Members to set clear goals and work towards them effectively. “Writing good user stories are essential for building successful products,” said my colleague Lam Vu, an experienced Agile Trainer, “as a bad user story can make people feel lost.”

Read "The Key to Product Owner Success in an Agile World" by why innovation!

By thinking about the essence of storytelling, we can also use these to improve the way user stories are written in product management. The main purposes are:
  • Presenting ideas clearly, concisely and confidently to specific audience
  • Inspiring and compelling the target audience to take desired action

​We can then effectively identify that

“design a brochure”

is a user story that addresses no business value, no specific expectation and is hard to implement. There is much more value to write it in the following style:

“as a sourcing specialist,
 I want to find a range of vendor products and services on the brochure
so that I can evaluate if they are right partner for my company’s needs”


which is more goal-oriented and can spar immediate action.
Defining User Stories | why innovation! | Alice Yu Yuebo
why innovation! consultants Pedro and Humble are helping clients design user stories with post-it
This is just the tip-of-the-iceberg about nailing storytelling skills for professionals.

Storytelling for Project Owners: Get Leadership Buy-in

One day, I was standing in the basement garage of our office building, trying to persuade my Managing Director to speak at a conference, when he just about to head to the airport in five minutes. I knew it was a rare opportunity, and the registration window was about to close within 24 hours. The problem was – how would I get my MD to feel the same importance and urgency?

We all encounter circumstances like these where we need support from our managers, be it a company-sponsored training, additional project funding, extra team capacity, or the green light to proceed with a new initiative. 
Design Thinking for Product Owners | why innovation! | Alice Yu Yuebo
Getting leadership buy-in through effective storytelling
Felix, my colleague in Hong Kong, shared a real-life example from his days as a senior Software Engineer in a large airline company. “When I was to present ideas to my senior management, I often felt nervous about the pressing time and wondered if I was giving them the right amount of information. Even if I could describe my ideas completely, it was more important get them ‘into’ the context of my intentions.” Felix was empowered by the power of storytelling to:

  • Get his managers’ attention
  • Engage with them
  • Connect with them
  • Stay relevant
  • Inspire them to act

To put it into practice, Felix had to: build a roadmap for his story, clarify his end goal, stay concise and focused, find strong evidence and use a little bit more “future backwards” thinking. 
60s to Ask Y! | why innovation! | Alice Yu Yuebo
We have recently launched “60s to Ask Y!” – a video interview series telling the Y! Story
Oh, by the way, I did successfully catch the attention of my MD – we ended up finding a time to sit down and develop a pitch together…and we ended up winning the speaking opportunity! As a result, he spoke to over 500 people at the conference and walked away with at least 10 potential business inquiries – not bad for a basement garage idea. 😉

Download Yann Hamon’s Speech at the Chief Digital Officer Summit 2019

How to Uplift Your Storytelling Skills

We all tell stories all the time. Now, it’s time for all of us to start telling better ones, be it the next email you write, or elevator conversation you start.

There are several prominent platforms where you can watch speeches from powerful storytellers, such as TED.com. I love one especially - Tim Urban’s talk about procrastination – where he perfectly blends humor and insights to encourage people to rethink their waiting habit. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend you to do so!

If you’re looking for tips to improve your own storytelling skills, do join the “Why, How, What, & the Power of Storytelling”
webinar by my colleague Kalyani Mehendale, who is an excellent storyteller with over 12 years of experience in enterprise innovation and human centered design. She will share a range of powerful tools for telling impactful stories that could resonate with any group of audience and drive desired actions.

I would wish I have learnt them earlier back when I was a young journalist – to help me tell more compelling stories! But it’s never too late to improve oneself…so don’t procrastinate, enroll now!

Storytelling Webinar | why innovation! | Alice Yu Yuebo
The “The Why, How, What, & the Power of Storytelling” webinar by why innovation! is FREE and will come soon in October 2019. Pre-register your seat here: https://www.why-innovation.com/storytelling-webinar.htm

    Interested in our thoughts and case studies in digital transformation? ​Subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn!
Subscribe to Newsletter
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    Categories

    All
    2017
    2018
    2019
    Ability
    Adatability
    Adoption
    Agile
    Agile Beer
    Agile Leadership
    Agile Transformation
    Asia
    Asian
    Australia
    Blog
    Business Modeling
    Business Model Innovation
    Buzz
    Challenge
    Change Management
    China
    CIO
    Coaching
    Community
    Compatibility
    Conference
    Congress
    Culture
    Cybersecurity
    Delivery
    Design Thinking
    Developers
    Digital Transformation
    Education
    Enterprise
    Entrepreneur
    Event
    Experts
    Flexibility
    Gala
    HongKong
    Hong Kong
    Human Resources
    Implementation
    Innovation
    InsurTech
    International
    Interview
    IT Consulting
    IT Leadership
    January
    Leading SAFe 4.0
    Lean Agile
    Lean-Agile
    Lean Startup
    Learning
    Lego
    Malaysia
    Management
    Manifesto
    Meetup
    One-size-fits-all
    Organizational Change
    PMI
    Press Release
    Product Owner
    Product-Owner
    Professional
    PSD
    PSM
    PSPO
    Red Dot Innovation
    Red Dot Innovation!
    Red-Dot Innovation!
    Risk
    SAFe
    Scaledagile
    Scrum
    Scrum Master
    Scrum-Master
    September
    Service Design HK
    Singapore
    Software
    Storytelling
    Success
    Teaching
    Totem Dance
    Trainer
    Training
    Transformation
    USA
    UX
    Values
    Vietnam
    #WeAreWhyers
    Western
    Why Innovation!
    Workshop
    YOW

    RSS Feed

Singapore

​#08-06/07 ARC 380
380 Jalan Besar
​Singapore 209000

Hong Kong

Unit D, 11/F, Splendid Centre
94-108 Larch Street,
​Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon

ShangHai

#1107,1602 Zhong Shan Road (W)
​Shanghai 200235
CONTACT US
  • Services
  • Training
  • Who We Are
  • Reach Out
  • Join Why Team
  • Buzz
    • Y Community