Using Storytelling to Move Your People
Leadership in 180 Seconds: 14 Secrets of Influential Leaders
Do you ever feel stuck because you don’t have formal authority? Influence isn’t always about titles or seniority; often, it’s about your ability to inspire action through compelling stories. Facts might inform, but it’s stories that truly move people. In this episode, discover why storytelling is your greatest untapped leadership tool, and how mastering it can dramatically boost your influence—even without formal authority.
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Think about the last time someone really inspired you. Chances are, they didn’t just list off facts and figures. They told you a story—one that captured your imagination and motivated you to act.
Facts and data are important—they provide credibility—but it’s stories that truly inspire and motivate. And as I spend time with leaders I have come to realise that many have forgotten the art and power of inspiration and motivation. Storytelling really is a secret worth learning if you wish to influence your people.
The majority of my leadership was learnt whilst leading in churches.
I still regularly tell the story of a boy I will call Ben. Ben was 12 when I first met him. Dragged along to church by his Mum, he was sitting slouched after church playing his Gameboy and trying not to be noticed. He didn’t connect with anyone and he didn’t want to. I went to Ben and started asking some questions. And every question was met with a one word answer. Then I asked him what he loved. He said, computers. ‘Ah ok, great’, I said. ‘Tell me about that, do you love gaming?’
‘Well yes’, he said, ‘but more than that. I like building computers’. Ben ordered parts of computers so he could build and rebuild them himself. Ben was a smart kid.
Overtime, I would say that I started mentoring Ben.
Then one day, I got a phone call. Ben was a mess. I could barely understand a word. He was crying, something was really wrong. I told him I was coming to pick him up. I picked Ben up out the front of his house. Took him back to church, gave him a hot chocolate and once he had settled down, he explained. He had just walked into his Mum’s room whilst she was having an affair. It was a picture no kid wants to have playing in their head. Ben was devastated.
I caught up with Ben about 8 years after that event. And Ben reminded me about that time. He thanked me, and he recounted what he was studying at Uni, his excellent grades, a relationship with a new girlfriend and his continued relationship with God. And he said, ‘I don’t where I would be if you hadn’t been there for me. Your mentoring changed my life.’
When we ensure that our leadership is people focussed. When we use stories to inspire and motivate, we find that our results are not just measured in the addition of the completed task in front of us, but in the exponential influence of the empowered people we have influenced.
If you want to dramatically enhance your influence, start incorporating storytelling into your leadership toolkit. Remember, facts inform—but stories inspire.Description text goes here