Story-Driven Change for Employee Ownership

Why We Victimize During Change

Before we dive into why story-driven change is effective, have you ever asked yourself why change fails so often? Change alienates and confuses people, The Storytellers explain. It’s complex, ongoing, with many moving parts. Feelings of “this is outside of my control, why bother” turn people into passive bystanders, for understandable reasons.

Change-Fatigued from The Past 

People learned in the past that change happens for the betterment of their organizations’ economic value, but not for their benefit. Many were copy-pasted from one organizational box into another without being included in the contribution towards change. Increasingly, people are expected to care and involve themselves—to take ownership of change and drive it. I think, that’s a big ask. Cynicism towards change seems inevitable. How we invite people to change has to be rethought if we want employee ownership.

Believing in the Company Again

The Storytellers use story to inspire employees and convince them of their company’s ability to drive change. “Storytelling is a powerful leadership tool to inspire, engage, and penetrate all levels of the organization,” The Storytellers explain. Story invites people to participate in change, something fact-driven presentations can’t achieve.

Really? Don’t figures tell a story?

Our Brains Are Wired for Story

Perhaps hard facts tell a story, but only partially. “We either agree or disagree with facts. Facts provide a binary experience, but stories light up seven different sensory areas in our brains. We tell stories about our day at the dinner table; stories help us make sense of the world.” Alison, one of the co-founders of The Storytellers, explains. They translate complex data into simple, relatable narratives. Stories help connect people to the purpose of change, which increases their ability to own and drive change.

So, how do we create a relevant, simple narrative that every employee can relate to?

Creating a Relatable Change Narrative 

Story-driven change and creating a relatable narrative aims to achieve two things: to create an experience for people to process and learn about the change, and to adapt a mindset that allows them to cross the change threshold—deal with its challenges. This requires connecting the purpose for change to people’s reality and thereby considering all the organizations’ different levels of consciousness, Robert explains, The Storytellers’ Head of UK and International Development. There’s the story of the organization. There’s the team’s journey: “How do we contribute to the overall company purpose?” And there’s the individual experience: “If I commit to these changes, what does that mean for my future?” The top organizational layer must be inspiring, but it must connect to the teams’ goals. Strong alignment within the leadership team provides for a solid baseline from which the other stories can arise.

Leadership teams often fail to realize how much work it takes to attain consensus of a baseline. Robert stresses that alignment is not a nodding of heads on the journey, but real conviction of the challenges ahead. The Storytellers work through a long process, looking at every aspect of a story’s baseline. They consider purpose, vision, strategy, culture, depth of the challenge, and height of the opportunity.

As my podcast guests Alison and Robert share the technicalities of storytelling, they emphasize that a sticky narrative alone won’t produce change-ownership. Storytelling isn’t a fancy word for a communications campaign. It’s a leadership tool to engage people, even the impenetrable middle management.

Engaging The Frozen Middle Management for Change

Story-driven change penetrates the frozen middle. Engaging middle management is key to team-level engagement. Companies’ struggle the most with this part of the change. The Storytellers often see leaders presenting and distributing a high-level story on strategy who are then surprised when nothing happens. Many leaders fail to provide managers the resources needed to connect the story and strategy to their teams. On top of this, not all managers are great communicators. If they don’t see the relevancy of change, they won’t feel confident enough to convince their teams of the change. The Storytellers equip middle management with different tools to break down the narrative for the teams. Another way to reach teams is to include change ambassadors in the change process—check out my previous blog post on how Beat Knechtli leveraged change ambassadors for the story to work bottom-up at Baloise.

During my conversation with The Storytellers, I wondered, Is this all it takes to create “glow moments?” I asked them how confidence or body language influenced a leader’s ability to carry the story into the organization once created.

Opening up to Real Connection

The Storytellers explain that real connection happens when leaders open up to it. When they have the courage to be vulnerable and personal themselves. Leaders who speak with conviction are empathetic, which creates real connection. They embody the story, let go of polished speeches, and speak from the heart, being honest about the brutal reality of change.

What’s Your Personal Story?

Being personal and vulnerable can be confused with oversharing. It’s not the same thing–being vulnerable isn’t sharing how you were traumatized on your first day of school. It’s about engaging people in a way that connects them to the change through your story.

To find the right story, leaders can ask themselves and share: “Why do I personally believe in the organization? What does it mean for me to be on this change journey? How did I overcome my initial fear of a digital future?” Sharing different stories activates different feelings so people can connect to change personally. Obama, The Storytellers explain, is an amazing speaker, because his messages are always tied to a personal experience. He is a respected leader because of his human capacity. Collecting personal stories is also a lovely invitation for reflection.

Story-driven change and engaging people is hard work, but it drives employee ownership without resorting to telling them what to do. Story-driven change leads to empowered employees that participate and help leaders write the company’s next chapter. Perhaps this post sparks ideas on how you can invite people to participate in change, increase ownership and harmony—laying the foundation for your own “glow moments.” And, remember to have fun with the process.

If this post leaves you hungry for a deep dive on story-driven change, tune into episode #13 and visit The Storytellers, they also have a fantastic blog.