OTM - Storytelling for Internal Comms ebook

STORYTELLING IN
THE REAL WORLD
Internal Communications
techniques that can give
you the narrative edge

2 Storytelling in the Real World #OTMStories
STOP ME IF YOU THINK YOU’VE HEARD THIS BEFORE... / 3
WHERE DOES STORYTELLING FIT? / 4
RED BULL: A SYMPHONY OF STORIES / 5
CREATING STORIES THAT RESONATE INTERNALLY / 6
MAKE IT PERSONAL/ 7
TORTURE-TEST FOR INTEGRITY/ 8
FRAMING THE NARRATIVE: TAKING INSPIRATION FROM THE CLASSICS / 9
TENSION, ANTICIPATION AND RESOLUTION: THE BOX-SET APPROACH / 11
LET YOUR PEOPLE TELL YOUR STORY FOR YOU / 12
REPLACING ‘TOP-DOWN’ COMMUNICATIONS / 13
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND ADVOCACY / 14
ACHIEVING SUSTAINED DELIVERY / 16
THAT ALL-IMPORTANT HAPPY ENDING / 17
CONTENTS

It’s not exactly news that corporate
storytelling is big news.
It’s been a persistent buzzing sound beneath the marketing
industry’s bonnet for the best part of a decade now.
It refuses to go away.
Perhaps that’s because, despite all the books and articles
written on the subject, relatively few companies are
harnessing the full potential of the art. While it’s true that
successful consumer marketers have a boundless flair for
connecting with customers through story, there are lots of
others who don’t. One area where storytelling principles are
conspicuously underused is in internal communications.
For all the immense benefits of getting it right, Storytelling
isn’t always easy. Robert McKee, the überguru of Hollywood
screenwriting, called it “The hardest thing we do every day.”
It’s a telling description, not least because it reminds us
(paradoxically) how natural an instinct storytelling is.
We can’t help it. We do it every day.
Without even thinking.
Gossip, anecdotes, witness testimonies, jokes, news of
success or heroic failure. We all know how it feels to be in
the flow of a story, holding others in our thrall, watching
successive emotions animate their features:
delight; amazement; curiosity; outrage; anticipation.
Our brains are wired for story. It’s how we learn as children,
and as adults. It works on both a logical and emotional level,
locking content into our subconscious as well as our memory.
STOP ME IF YOU THINK YOU’VE
HEARD THIS BEFORE...
In business, much is made of
storytelling as a means to drive
better engagement. A constant
preoccupation for many internal
communications departments is the
need to find success stories –
real-life,relatable examples of just
how good their organisation can be.
Industry body Melcrum describes
storytelling as “the ‘it’ approach to
sharing information and shaping
attitudes and behaviours for good
reason: it works. Storytelling is a
narrative bridge for change – brand,
executive and manager communication
and more – boosting engagement,
authenticity and trust, by turning
corporate messages into meaningful
ones people connect with.”
Read more
The real question is, how can
storytelling become a truly usable
tool for internal communication?
What’s the upshot?
• Internal communications
teams can build trust and
increase engagement by
nurturing people’s innate
instinct for story.
• Because few companies are
currently getting this right,
first movers can gain the
edge.
• By harnessing the principles
of story, we present our
message in a coherent,
authentic narrative form
that sinks in more deeply
and is anchored by both
structure and emotion.

• The doyens of marketing agree that
their industry is redefining itself
in ways no one quite understands.
To quote novelist and screenwriter
William Goldman:“Nobody knows
anything”.
• In uncertain times, the applicability
of storytelling principles remains a
constant. It lies at the heart of how
we relate to each other and enables
robust communication.
Blogs and industry journals are full of articles about
“storytelling”, “content” and even the “demise” of marketing.
Hints and tips:
• Simply creating a story and delivering
it as a standard piece of corporate
information is a recipe for failure.
• Stories work because they root
their content in a relatable context.
The“why”of a decision is always more
likely to be successful than facts,
figures and disembodied“directives”,
because it gives a glimpse into your
organisation’s internal journey.
• Media consumption is varied and
audiences (including your employees)
frequently change the way they
access content. Be open-minded in
your choice of delivery mechanism.
Whatever your view on this, it’s clear that the
lexicon of marketing approaches is growing, and
that much of the new stuff comes at the expense
of what’s gone before. But if it’s all about what’s
shiny and new, how come the ancient art of
storytelling is gaining so much prominence?
Because storytelling isn’t so much ancient as
timeless. We’re wired to tell stories. It’s the way
we make sense of the world around us, as
individuals and as a group. It gives structure to
our understanding, helps us to discern patterns
and ready ourselves for action.
And at their heart, that’s what the stories are
about: action and result.
Prominent among the first soothsayers is
Seth Godin, pronouncing as early as 2008 that
“content is the only marketing left”.
Roberts goes on to suggest that
“Business is all about creating
a ‘movement’ of people with
shared values.” He continues:
“You do that by figuring out how
you add mystery, sensuality
and intimacy to a brand.”
More recently, Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide
of Saatchi & Saatchi, told the Guardian that
“Marketing is dead.
Strategy is dead.
Management is dead.”
Read more
WHERE DOES STORYTELLING FIT?

RED BULL:
A SYMPHONY OF STORIES
Among global brands, Red Bull is arguably
the one that floats most freely, relatively
untethered to a particular product.
Sure, the eponymous energy drink with its
iconic container still form the end-point to any
communication, but the part they play is largely
passive*, a subordinate role to a powerful yet
nebulous “Red Bullness”. It’s brought to life
through direct participation in motorsport,extreme
sports, cutting-edge music and more – in short,
by facilitating and being part of a range of
incredible stories.
Some might describe Red Bull’s business as“pure
marketing”.That’s not meant cynically.The brand’s
strength lies in forging relationships with some
of the most driven, individualistic and hard-to-
impress subcultures out there,from base jumping
to the underground music scene. After all, if a
corporate brand can convince those audiences
of its authenticity, whom can’t it convince?
By becoming a part of these heroic narratives,
Red Bull ensures the right stories circulate
among those whose opinions matter.
Over the last few years, Karina Hollekim
has featured regularly in the press and
at speaker events like TEDx. In 2006, as
a Red Bull sponsored base jumper, she
suffered a near-fatal accident when her
parachute failed to open. While the story
of her recovery is told in the documentary
20 Seconds of Joy, much of the buzz
among base jumpers at the time concerned
Red Bull’s own response to the accident
– mobilising two helicopters to get Karina
from a remote part of Norway to a hospital
where her life could be saved, and beaming
her medical records direct from their state-
of-the-art Diagnostics and Training Centre.
Narratives like these transmit like wildfire
among those in the know, cementing Red
Bull’s reputation with notably hard-to-reach
groups of consumers, who are seen by the
mainstream as cultural trailblazers.
Another example is the Red Bull Culture
Clash, a yearly event that grew out of the
brand’s Music Academy. Red Bull brings
together long-standing music industry
innovators and cutting edge new acts,
enabling mentorship, the cross-fertilisation
of old and new ideas, plus a sense of each
person’s place in the wider story of music,
all with a genuinely tense competitive edge.
Surprisingly,verylittle ofthisismarketedabove
the line by Red Bull – a sure sign of a brand
that’s comfortable with its mastery of story.
*when was the last time you saw that quirky
animated “Red Bull gives you wings” spot?
• If you create the right story,
people will instinctively
tell it to others.That’s what
cements your brand message,
both internally and externally.
• As Red Bull shows, the best
stories often aren’t presented
as official narratives.
First and foremost,a
closeness is cultivated with
the audience (something most
internal communications
departments singularly fail to
do),creating an environment
where stories spread
naturally.
• Then, when a story breaks,
the audience accepts
it without cynicism and
transmits it naturally –
thus Karina Hollekim’s
rehabilitation becomes
part of Red Bull “folklore”.

CREATING STORIES THAT
RESONATE INTERNALLY
So… what constitutes a story?
It’s obvious, isn’t it?
Person A performs an action, with this result.
Repeat as necessary. That’s a story, right?
Well, not exactly. It’s a narrative, sure, but not
necessarily a story. To make it into a story,
you need one vital ingredient: emotion.
Problem is, emotion is something businesses can be a
little bit afraid of – especially when it comes to their own
people. It suggests a lack of control, a hint of vulnerability.
Emotion makes life messy, and surely for an organisation,
that’s something best avoided?
And yet without emotion, there is no engagement. Without
the right kind of positive emotion, there can be no real
advocacy among your people. No “shared movement”.
Successful consumer marketers know this already.
The best brands tell their customers stories day-in,
day-out: foundation stories, reasons to believe, stories
about how customers use a given product.
With internal communications, the story’s often different.
While a business might in theory want employees to
react with emotion, they still persist in sending rational
messages masquerading as emotional content.
The default remains talking about the “what” and not
the “why” – even if the intention is to engage people
and take them with you.
Comms have changed.
A “campaign” used to have a
start, a middle and an end.
These days it’s more like a game
of 3-dimensional chess, with
complex campaigns sustained
over time across numerous
channels. But in response, a
story can be framed and
reframed a number of different
ways, resonating variously
and at different times with our
increasingly diverse internal
audiences.
In the next few pages you’ll find
hints and tips based on tried-
and-true storytelling principles,
which can be applied to your
own internal communications
to develop engagement (caring)
and ultimately advocacy
(sharing). All this can be
achieved without taking the
extreme Red Bull route.
• Don’t fear emotion.
Welcome it and use it.
• Remember:narrative doesn’t
automatically equal story.
Emotion is essential.
• A message can be conveyed
in more than one way.
Analyse your intended
content to find the best story
angle(s) – i.e.those that
combine context,authenticity
and progression with emotion.

In corporate terms, stories arise
where the professional and the
personal meet.
They reconcile the institutional and the individual,
the corporate and the human, the universal and
the specific.
For leaders, effective storytelling can make the
difference between a remote “command and
control” style that motivates through anxiety yet
doesn’t inspire, and a truly effective approach
that really engages.
Always look for the personal angle in any given
communication.
For example, if a new strategy is being launched,
give a sense of the quandries and dilemmas you
wrestled with during its formulation. Give your
audience an insight into why you personally feel
passionate about this chosen direction, and
how that sits with the kind of person you are
at heart.
If people feel they understand you, they’ll sense
the authenticity of the emotions you project,
and will tap into them.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Hints and tips:
• When seeking to make a piece
of content into a story, find the
most senior source and mine their
thoughts as to why this particular
message is so compelling.
• Don’t be afraid to mention grey
areas, or detail what didn’t work at
first. Admitting mistakes conveys
authenticity, while dealing with them
effectively, commands respect.
• Never let your audience forget that
their leaders are real people.

Outdoor equipment brand Patagonia has a compelling
foundation story.
Beginning with French Canadian founder Yvon Chouinard’s youthful obsession with
mountaineering and the tumbledown shed where he and his companions forged
their own climbing equipment – right through to today’s “slow company” philosophy,
environmental campaigning and the 1% For The Planet profit donation initiative.
TORTURE-TEST FOR INTEGRITY
Hints and tips:
• The greatest stories are often defined
by being part of a wider collection
(Greek and Norse mythology;
Kipling’s Jungle Books;The Thousand
and One Nights;Marvel and DC’s vast
comic universes).
• Readers of these stories are inspired
by the fact that each tale, while
complete in itself, is part of a wider,
overarching narrative.There’s a sense
of robustness, flow, and connection.
• In the same way, every story you tell
your people should be reflective of
your organisation’s overall vision –
even if the audience only picks up on
this at a subliminal level.
• Get this right and every story you
tell will reinforce feeling among
your staff that this is their story
too – giving them an ever greater
emotional stake in your business.
It’s a journey that’s compellingly recounted (in all its
highs and lows) in Chouinard’s business-book-cum-
memoir Let My People Go Surfing (Penguin 2005)
What sets Patagonia apart is the consistency of
its ethos, which runs right through from customer
marketing to back office. New recruits are taken
on trips to the back-country to experience for
themselves, the environment that inspired the
brand and hear the personal stories of its founders.
More iconic still is the company practice of downing
tools whenever the surf is good and… going surfing!
It’s a reminder that nothing is more important than
life (not even work!) and of the free spirit that dwells
at the heart of the brand.
The same goes for storytelling. A story only works
if it has its own integrity – a sense of structure,
internal logic, telling detail and consistency of
tone that makes the audience accept it (even if it’s
fictional). Achieve this integrity in your own (true)
story and your people will be far more ready to buy
into it, and feel its emotion.

FRAMING THE NARRATIVE: TAKING
INSPIRATION FROM THE CLASSICS
There are almost as many theories
of storytelling as there are stories.
Archetypes
Debates rage over the number of basic story
types (seven is an oft-quoted number), the
ideal number of “acts” within a film or play, the
relative importance of plot versus character,
and more.
One line of enquiry that internal
communicators can use is the theory of
archetypes. Story gurus like John Truby (author
of The Anatomy of Story and inventor of the
32-Point Story Structure) and psychologists
like Carl Jung have identified various character
archetypes that can exist within stories.
A kind of “dynamic tension” occurs naturally
between different combinations of archetypes
– and their arrangement within a given
narrative can have a significant effect on a
story’s direction and impact. Whatever you’re
trying to communicate to your people, it’s worth
viewing the story through the “archetype” lens.
Depending on how you assign the players in
your story to different archetypes,you’ll find
audiences engage with your story in radically
different ways.
For example, who is the “hero” of your
story? Is it the company itself? Your brand?
A specific employee or team? Or the
employee who happens to be reading the
communication at that particular time?
Having your company or brand as the hero
presents both challenges and opportunities.
To pull it off, you’ll need to have a strong
handle on the essence, values and
personality of your brand, as well as its vision
and goals (in short, its “human” qualities)
as well as the features that set it apart.
A common feature among literary heroes
is their commitment, through thick and
thin, to a code or a vision they believe in.
It’s from there that they derive the authenticity
audiences respond to.
Basic archetypes include:
The Hero/Protagonist;
The Opponent/Anatagonist;
The Ally;
The Mentor and more
There may even be:
False Opponents and
False Allies.
More complex archetypes
might include:
The Male Ruler, the Female Ruler, the
Enchanter/Enchantress/Shaman and
the Trickster or Mischief Maker, all of
whom can be embodied by characters
in a naturalistic, everyday story.

Hints and tips
• The quest or goal:Having a purpose, or being
part of something “greater than yourself”, is
often cited as a key ingredient of individual
happiness. After all, your people are looking
to be part of an organisation they can be
proud of. Give them that, and they’ll share it
with others. Having a clear and laudable goal
is key to achieving this.
• The obstacle:Who, or what, is stopping the
goal from being achieved.
• The journey: How will we get around the
obstacle, and how will we be transformed as
a result (Stronger? Wiser? More respected?
More stable? Richer?)
• The thesis or moral:What are the key things
we want the audience to take away from the
story, as well as the associated emotions
and actions?
FRAMING THE NARRATIVE: TAKING
INSPIRATION FROM THE CLASSICS
Conversely, who is the opponent? Is it a
competitor brand, or perhaps a government
that’s just passed inconvenient legislation?
What is our relationship to them? Reluctant
conflict? Grudging cooperation? Outright
hostility?
It’s worth mentioning here that even your
beloved customers could be the opponent.
In boy-meets-girl romantic comedies, for
example, the opponent is often the hero/
heroine’s own love interest. While both of them
might want the same thing (to be together
in a blissful relationship), there may be a
fundamental misunderstanding that prevents
them from achieving that.The hero’s desire
to overcome his girlfriend’s resistance to true
love might act as the central quest – as might
your company’s wish to convey certain brand
messages to customers, in a way they’ll accept.

The ground-breaking TV series routinely created by
Netflix and HBO are a virtual shorthand these days
for storytelling excellence.
TENSION, ANTICIPATION
AND RESOLUTION:
THE BOX-SET APPROACH
Aside from creating complex, nuanced narratives
that unapologetically make demands on their
audience’s intelligence and concentration, they are
also experts in structure and pacing.
After first hooking its viewers, a successful TV
series knows how to ensure they remain engaged
and committed to the story right to the end –
committed enough to endure the agonising wait
for the next episode, or stay up for 48 hours on a
box-set binge.
If your business is embarking on a large-scale
project, be it brand migration, the launch of a
new division or a revision of its core strategy, the
techniques employed by TV’s top showrunners
will inspire. The use of major and minor story arcs
for example, create anticipation and satisfaction
within individual episodes and across the series as
a whole – each instalment furthering the overall
story while functioning as a coherent unit in its own
right. Certain sub-plots may also differ tonally from
the main plot – have more humour perhaps, or a
focus on good-news stories that might otherwise
Hints and tips
• When planning a complex internal campaign,
it’s not just a case of formulating a workable
sequence of messages.It’s about giving those
messages a cumulative power – to create,as
Kevin Roberts said,a“movement”– and one
with a sense of coherence and integrity.
• In the initial stages of a campaign,consider
your first messages in the light of your overall
journey,and of the end-point you hope to reach.
What can you say now that your audience will
remember – and appreciate – when execution
is complete?
• Think in terms of major plots (principal
workstreams) and discrete episodes (more
task-based requirements).How does each
episode advance the main plot,whilst leaving
the audience in a state of healthy anticipation
for the next set of developments?
• Remember context.The more effectively you
introduce your characters (leaders,customers,
frontline staff etc) and their personal,emotional
stake in the story,the more effectively you’ll
convey an understanding of the big picture,
while stimulating curiosity and engagement.
have been missed. They can also echo (and
thus reinforce) ideas that have already been
presented by the main plot, or foreshadow
major news to come.
Communicating information to your
people in an “episodic” way can be a
useful technique, as long as you avoid
the pitfalls. Only end with a cliffhanger
or a “watch this space” if you genuinely
know you can deliver in the next
instalment. If you don’t, people will
switch off.The thrill of anticipation can
easily become a growl of frustration.
Get the balance right, though, and your
people will sense they’re in the hands
of a competent storyteller, becoming
more and more receptive with each
communication.

In B2C marketing right now, the buzz is all
about a paradigm shift (okay, when isn’t it?).
LET YOUR PEOPLE TELL
YOUR STORY FOR YOU
Let them eat cake
The story we hear repeatedly is this:because
of social media, brands have less control of
their narrative. It’s no longer the case that a
brand can simply decide on its essence and
values and communicate these wholesale
to consumers, via the usual channels.
A single pungent Tweet from a disgruntled,
well-connected customer can light a spark
that incinerates several thousand people’s
relationship with your brand.
We’re in the process of moving (goes the
story) to a place where it is consumers who
decide what a brand is about, and share those
perceptions among themselves to create a
dominant, if somewhat fluid “macro-meme”.
Those perceptions tend to come in the form
of stories:“this is what Brand X did for me.”
Brands have to listen, reflect and find ever
more creative ways to inject their voice into the
conversation.
It doesn’t really matter how much you
agree with this.The fact is, when it comes
to internal communications, it’s always
been like that.Your people’s perception of
your company, and their willingness to do
what you want them to, are formed through
an ongoing conversation across desks,
over coffees, in back offices and during
the morning commute – far more than via
memos, video updates, internal newsletters
or even team “Town Hall” meetings.
If B2C brands need to own the conversation
down the pub, internal comms
departments need to own the conversation
round the watercooler (and everywhere
else). A cliché sure enough, but it’s a cliché
for a reason.
And what’s the communication currency in
both the above places?
Yep. Stories.

Hints and tips
• Research shows that far
more information flows
through informal rather than
formal networks Read more
• Encourage natural networks
to establish themselves
• Allow networks to arrange
themselves around topics
or problems
• Identify the “natural”
leaders or linchpins within
the networks
• Consider how information
can be disseminated
sideways as well as
top-down
It was 1943 when Stamford associate professor
Alex Heron wrote Sharing of Information with Employees
REPLACING ‘TOP-DOWN’
COMMUNICATIONS
But the principles of internal communications
have been developing steadily since then,
gathering particular pace from the 70s onwards.
There are many familiar theories on how
to organise the function, but these are
increasingly punctuated by concerns as to the
level of engagement achieved by employees,
and a particular lack of engagement by
business leaders. Ketchum’s leadership
Communication Monitor describes the
situation as “The Leadership Crisis”.
Adding to concerns now is “Employee
Advocacy”, set to grow in prominence in the
next couple of years but currently centred
on internal branding and the use of social
networks by employees. A common concern
with all of these is that they focus on the
outcome without any meaningful appraisal
of what we can reasonably expect the
internal communications to achieve.
Can we change the way we go about delivering
these messages to achieve better results?
Seth Godin characterised it like this:
“Forget top-down. Connections and
change happens sideways.”
“The demise of the top-down corporate
regime means the most powerful way
we can now change things is side-ways.
From one person to another – that’s how
we build tribes of like-minded people
and importantly, culture.”
Melcrum describes the process as
“Smarter Internal
Communications”.

“You can’t always get what you want,” sang
Mick Jagger, but he went on to hail “But if you try
sometimes, well you might get what you need.”
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
AND ADVOCACY
Shiny, shiny
More than any others, the Technology and
Marketing sectors are consumed by the search
for the “next big thing”, looking over the horizon
for the shiny “it”. But in doing so, we sometimes
forget why or what we were searching for in the
first place.
Take “engagement”.That was pretty tough to
achieve amongst employees but we’ve already
moved on to “advocacy” and the point is getting
lost. How can we hope to achieve the latter
without first improving the former?
Employee Advocacy (EA) is currently focused
on giving staff the means to comment freely
on social media channels, but we’re assuming
that they care, and that they want to. For EA to
really mean something, we have to first engage
with people, and we can do this by having an
honest debate in many varied ways. Involve
staff in an exploration of ideas and issues,
giving them several differently-framed stories
that they will feel compelled to share.
Not facts and features, but stories that
explain “why”.
One current example of “extreme
engagement” is in fiction publishing.
For successful authors in the
Young Adult (YA) genre like John Green
(The Fault in our Stars), actually writing
and marketing their novel is the easy
bit. A young, enthusiastic, social-
media-savvy readership now expect a
more or less ongoing dialogue with the
author via online channels: dissecting
characters and plotlines, plugging
narrative gaps, sharing opinions and
speculating on what happens next.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
AND ADVOCACY
Hints and tips
• “Clicks” and “Opens” do
not prove engagement by
employees
• Understand what value each
channel is delivering... what
do people use it to access?
• Consider how the channels
are perceived.The most
obvious may not be the most
effective.
• A better indicator of
engagement are outcomes
– what’s changed in the
business?
• If you’re not measuring any
of your channels... START!
• Consider exploring the
principles of “Slash
Fiction” in your internal
communications.
How would your own
people choose to write the
organisation’s story if they
had the chance? Of course,
the aim here is not so much
to solicit information as to
promote engagement.*
Get creative
The growing trend for “Slash Fiction” shows how
today’s fiction fans routinely take ownership and
“run with” the characters and universes created
by their favourite authors, creating clandestine
sequels and alternative (often outrageous)
storylines – occasionally with substantial
literary flair.
Bottom line:stories inspire and motivate people
to do things.The consuming of stories is itself a
creative act, and the right kind of networks can
allow that creativity and motivation to spread.
And who doesn’t want more creativity in their
organisation?
*It’s often suggested that the best way to gain someone’s trust is not to give them something but to ask them
for something – once the request is granted, they subconsciously feel they’ve invested in you, and are willing
to do more!

Content marketing may well be the
darling of the marketing industry
ACHIEVING SUSTAINED
DELIVERY
But we have a strange inertia at the moment which
has content marketers devising content marketing
strategies about how to devise content marketing
strategies… even its definition is disputed.
The Content Marketing Institute
describes it as:
“Content Marketing is a strategic
marketing approach focused on
creating and distributing valuable,
relevant and consistent content to
attract and retain a clearly-defined
audience – and ultimately, to drive
profitable customer action.”
We hope that any marketer understands
the audience they’re attempting to attract,
and so we believe that the crucial word here
is “consistent”. Arguably, this presents the
biggest challenge… how to keep the story
going in so many interesting ways?

THAT ALL-IMPORTANT
HAPPY ENDING
Conclusion
We’re agreed then, we all think stories are a
good thing. The evidence is compelling isn’t it?
Evolution has wired our brains for storytelling.
We think and talk in narratives all of the time.
But the reality is, it’s hard. It’s difficult to create
something that’s compelling, interesting and
readable at the best of times – but is business
afraid of something else – the ‘E’ word?
Emotion.
As we’ve explored, we’re told that we respond
to information ‘rationally’ or ‘emotionally’.
Businesses want their employees to become
advocates but still persist in sending rational
messages masquerading as emotional content.
Businesses continue talking about the ‘what’
and not the ‘why’, even if it’s called employee or
leadership engagement comms.
So, try framing the story using the Hints
and Tips throughout this Ebook, or the quick
framing examples on this page, and see
how a compelling narrative can revolutionise
Internal Communications for better
employee engagement, with a greater chance
to gain advocacy.
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#OTMStories
Framing the Story 1
• Information:Here’s what happened
• Analysis:This is what it means
• Assistance:Here’s how you can do the same
• Entertainment:Here’s something funny or
enjoyable
Melcrum/Guy Kawasaki
Framing the Story 2 –
Classic components
• A Hero:The employee
• A Goal:They’re looking to be part of an
organisation that they’re proud of – proud
to be involved with and proud to share with
others
• An Obstacle:What’s stopping the goal being
achieved?
• A Mentor:Who’s helping our employees
along the way?
• A Moral:What should our audience take
away from our story?
References
Melcrum: Storytelling round-up: Top resources and advice
The Guardian/Simon Goodley 2015: Marketing is dead.
Mckinsey/Lowell L. Bryan, Eric Matson, and Leigh M. Weiss 2007: Harnessing the power of informal employee networks
Melcrum/Guy Kawasaki 2015: The year of the organizational connector – and the future of Smarter Internal Communication
Buffer Social/Leo Widrich 2012: The Science of Storytelling: What listening to a story does to our brains

Simpler Routes to Smarter Places
© OTM 2015
45 Whitfield Street
London W1T 4HD
otmcreate.com
timsennitt@otmcreate.com
THE
END

OTM - Storytelling for Internal Comms ebook

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