Types of strategic stories
In our article on strategic storytelling, we shared a simple but effective formula for creating a strategic story. But what type of story is best to use for the outcome you want, or the topic you’re covering? Here’s four common story types and how you can use them in your communication.
1 The Hypothetical
These stories usually start with: ‘Imagine if…’ They’re great stories to tell to describe a vision of the future. For example: “Imagine it’s the year 2028, and you’re a customer walking into one of our stores … this is what you’d see…” This type of story helps people envisage the future you want to build.
Alternatively, you can use a hypothetical to describe a current state that needs to change. For example: “Imagine you’re a person with a disability that prevents you from communicating verbally. You make your way into one of our stores, and straight away you’re asked questions by one of our team, and they can’t understand why you won’t respond…”. This type of story can help people understand challenges and issues, but also inspire action.
2 Analogies
Stories based on analogies are very useful for helping to explain complex ideas or data, like scientific research or financial concepts. They centre around the concept of ‘this is like that’. For example, you could use the analogy of making a cake to explain different ‘ingredients’ that go into an accounting method. Or you could use other, familiar objects to explain something technical. For example: “Imagine you have a handful of Lego and there are three red blocks…”. This type of story helps people to visualise something complex in a way that is familiar to them.
3 The Classic
The classic story format involves a hero, a villain, and a victim. Think Coke versus Pepsi, or McDonald’s versus Hungry Jacks. From one side of the story, one of those companies is the hero, the other is the villain (or the threat), and the potential victim might be their customers or supply chain.
These types of stories are useful for demonstrating competitive threats, and inspiring people to change in order to address the issues and continue to grow and thrive. There is a line though - be careful not to create too much of an ‘us versus them’ mentality - that can drive a culture that’s too competitive, rather than innovative and collaborative.
4 Personal Stories
These stories often begin with words like, “I remember when…”. Personal stories work well for leaders who need to build connections with their audiences. By opening up and sharing some of their experiences authentically (and perhaps showing some vulnerability), they begin to build rapport and a sense of trust.
Personal stories can also be used to demonstrate why something is important to a leader, or can be used in a similar way to analogies. For example, you might talk about an experience you had as a child that helped you think more critically about the world around you, and now you apply that thinking to the corporate world.
Or you could talk about a similar situation you’d been in at another company or in a previous role to demonstrate how people have the capability to overcome challenges. For example, “I remember when this team developed a new digital playbook a couple of years ago. People were skeptical but we persevered and look how far we’ve come. We’ve done this before so I know we can do this again.”
As long as the stories you tell are relevant, help to demonstrate the importance of your strategy, and are related in an engaging and inspiring way, you’ll be on the right track, no matter what type of story you tell!
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