storyCRAFT: How to Turn Your Biggest Challenges into Success Stories
(Part 1 of 4)
Why do we feel inspired when a company executive turns a moment of vulnerability into a clear message for action? How does a coworker use the experience of a past mistake to coach their teammate through a tough customer call? What motivates hundreds of thousands of people to adopt a new mentality in the workplace after watching the same TedTalk about the transformative power of personal struggle? The answer: a story. And you’re in luck! With the right perspective, anyone has the ability to shape attitude and inspire action…it’s called storyCRAFT.
Science overwhelmingly supports the power of story. Through the study of fMRIs, stories have been shown to have the capacity to activate all sensory areas of a listener’s brain - a far cry from the brain activation that occurs when listening to data and facts alone.
The brain activated by story:
What’s more, the brain activity stimulated by an engaging story can release hormones like cortisol, dopamine, and oxytocin, which lead to increased trust towards and empathy for the storyteller. In fact, an immersive story even increases the likelihood the listener will act upon the story, such as by buying a book written by that TedTalk speaker or by donating to a cancer non-profit after hearing a story about a child suffering from the disease. With compelling results like these, it’s no wonder that storytelling has been a hot-topic in business for decades. Intuitively, we “get that stories matter,” but how often do you recognize the opportunity to craft compelling stories in your own life?
The truth is, we’re surrounded by a wealth of story opportunity – in both our personal and professional lives - and simply have to train our minds to recognize it. In Part 1 of this four-part blog post, you’ll learn how to identify these moments by working through a series of brainstorming exercises used in The Brookeside Group’s storyCRAFT workshop.
So, let’s dive in!
Part 1 Identify Your Story Opportunity
- Think of moments that made, or are currently making you feel:
- Embarrassed or Disappointed
- Worried or Frightened
- Angry or Frustrated
- Sad or Sympathetic
- Inspired or Excited
- Happy or Hopeful
- Write down a few sentences about the details of the situation that resulted in that emotion.
- What elements of the situation most impacted you and how did they make you feel?
- What happened? Describe the context and parties involved.
- What details stand out to you the most?
For brainstorming help, download the Impactful Moments Brainstorming Guide from
The Brookeside Group’s storyCRAFT Journal
If you still find yourself wondering, “how would anyone find my life inspirational?”
Remember, there is TRULY no more interesting, challenging, and trying time than now. Living through COVID-19, every day carries ups and downs. With that comes opportunity to show perseverance, adaptability, loyalty, and so much more. Start writing these experiences down and refer back to the Impactful Moments Brainstorming Guide. storyCRAFT makes those moments matter!
In Part 1 of this blogpost, you assembled a list of impactful moments that you’ve already experienced and began training your brain to notice the story opportunities ahead. In Parts 2 - 4 of storyCRAFT: How to Turn Your Biggest Challenges into Success Stories you’ll learn how to:
Part 2
- Identify the potential lesson(s) within each of your impactful moments
- Determine what audience(s) would benefit from hearing each story
Part 3
- Organize the details of your story in the storyARC structure
- Maximize the impact of your story lesson by tying your story back to business
Part 4
- Find story inspiration in someone else’s impactful moments
- Practice deconstructing an existing story to strengthen your storyCRAFT skills
Already want to learn more?
Credits
- Gabrielle Dolan is a keynote speaker, educator and author of Real Communication: How to be you and lead true (New Jersey: Wiley, 2019), Stories for Work: The Essential Guide to Business Storytelling (New Jersey: Wiley, 2017), Storytelling for Job Interviews (New Jersey: Wiley2016), Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results (New Jersey: Wiley, 2015) and Hooked: How Leaders Connect, Engage and Inspire with Storytelling (New Jersey: Wiley, 2013).
- Uri Hasson is a Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies at Princeton Neuroscience Institute. The Hasson Lab attempts to develop complementary paradigms to study the neural activity that drives human behavior under natural and realistic conditions.
- Paul Smith is an expert in business storytelling, a storytelling coach, and author of the books Sell with a Story: How to Capture Attention, Build Trust, and Close the Sale (New York: AMACOM, 2016), Parenting with a Story: Real-Life Lessons in Character for Parents and Children to Share (New York: AMACOM, 2014), and Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire (New York: AMACOM, 2012).
- Paul J. Zak is the founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and a professor of economics, psychology, and management at Claremont Graduate University, and is the author of Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies (New York: AMACOM, 2017).