Read about storytelling in business training: The kick start of a training course
About the author, Annet Scheringa
Annet Scheringa has over 20 years of experience as a professional trainer, consultant and writer. She has worked/works for both big and small organizations, public as well as private. Several (some well known) leaders trust her as their speech writer. She is co-author of Storytelling Handboek (Storytelling Handbook), printed in The Netherlands (Amsterdam 2008).
She also is the owner of TheStoryConnection. TheStoryConnection's promise is to help professionals who are responsible for organizational change to be more successful. She considers organizational change to be the result of a permanent dialogue between all the partners and parties that are involved. This places communication in the heart of organizational change. Therefore the ConnectedChange©-programm that has been developed by TheStoryConnection, focuses on both the change manager and the communication professional.
Expertise of TheStoryConnection:
- ConnectedChange©: successful implementation of organizational change. Keywords: faster and with less 'resistance to change'; dialogue; connection and commitment.
- Organizational storytelling in communication, change and business training
- speechwriting
annet@thestoryconnection.nl
Storytelling in business training
Although it is often characterized as such, storytelling in business is NOT a hype, trend or buzzword. For decades organizations have explored and used stories to improve communication, ignite action and change, to connect and inspire. To me, storytelling is so much more than storyTELLING. At least as important as telling stories, is to collect stories. Since stories people in or around organizations tell, give very valuable insight in how people really feel, what they really think and what they really need. Both employees and clients. In Storytelling Handbook we actually identified three ‘dynamics’ of stories and we called it the CCC of storytelling (VVV in Dutch):
- Communicating stories (‘telling’),
- Collecting stories,
- Co-creating stories (e.g. corporate stories).
An area where storytelling is also of great value, is business training. For ages people have learned through stories, but when I talk about storytelling in business training, I often get asked: “You don’t really tell stories in your training, do you?” Well, yes I do. I tell them, I collect them, I co-create them. And with amazing results. Every single time. Stories. Not metaphors, not fairy tales. But personal, authentic and ‘lived’ stories.
In this chapter, taken from Storytelling Handbook, you can read how one personal story not only makes tangible what seemed to be abstract, but also connects the trainers and the trainees and even ignites action on a level that I could have never imagined. You can find the chapter here...
