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A Guide to Storytelling

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 A Guide to Storytelling

Olivier Serrat
2013

The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian
Development Bank, or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included
in this presentation and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this presentation do not imply any
view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.
 Conveying Events Naturally …

The age-old practice of Storytelling is one of

storytelling is the vivid the most effective
description of ideas, communication tools:
beliefs, personal analysis may excite the
experiences, and life- mind but it does not
lessons through stories gladden the heart,
or narratives that evoke which is where one
powerful emotions and must go to motivate
insights. people.

Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.

—Jean-Luc Godard
 … With Ripping Yarns
• By providing the context from which
knowledge springs, stories increase the
potential for knowledge-sharing.
Purposeful
• By grounding facts in a narrative structure,
storytelling
stories boost the likelihood that learning will
delivers
take place and be passed on.
results.
• By articulating emotional aspects as well as
factual content, stories express tacit
knowledge, always difficult to convey.
… For the story—from Rumpelstiltskin to War and Peace—is one of the basic tools
invented by the mind of man, for the purpose of gaining understanding. There have
been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that
did not tell stories.
—Ursula K. Le Guin
 Spot The Difference: Version A
In our evaluation of a project in Bangladesh, we noted a wide variance
in the competence of individual villages to develop sustainable and
effective solutions to problems encountered, for example in replacing
broken parts or developing low-cost products such as new latrines. The
lessons to be learned from this evaluation are that we should:
• work against over-dependence on development partners,
• note and encourage entrepreneurial approaches to problems,
• identify existing and repeatable good practices,
• build and strengthen communication between villages to assist
cross-fertilization of ideas at the grassroots level.
 Spot The Difference: Version B
Bangladesh is a really impressive place … in a positive sense. I was in a
village last year working in water and sanitation. We were trying to
promote the use of improved latrines, but could not produce concrete
slabs and rings locally for a low cost. Somebody told me to visit the
latrines of a lady in the village, so I went along and said, "Can I see
your latrines?" She had made a latrine out of a clay pot with the
bottom cut off. Then, with a potter from the area, she developed a
small local production of bottomless pots, and they became the
latrines. Ingenious. A few weeks later I was in another village and saw
a hand pump; it was broken, just a small piece missing. So I said to the
villagers, "Why don't you repair your pump?" And they said, "Oh, we
just wait for another donor to bring a new pump." So I said, "Why
don't you visit the lady in the village over there? She finds ways of
getting things done for herself."
 What Stories Are Good At
Working with stories is one of the best ways to
• Make abstract concepts meaningful
• Help connect people and ideas
• Inspire imagination and motivate action
• Give breathing space and allow different perspectives to
emerge
• Create sense, coherence, and meaning
• Develop valuable descriptions of the situations in which
knowledge is applied and solutions are found
• Examine organizational values and culture
• Communicate complex messages simply
• Operate effectively in networks
• Drive change
 Elements of a Good Story
Good stories are interesting, unusual, provocative, serious,
controversial, surprising, intriguing, or inspiring. They
• Respond to demand.
• Exploit a specific opportunity.
• Include personal and human elements of experience.
• Present the point of view of someone who has been directly involved.
• Use a variety of narrative patterns for different aims.
• Achieve a balance between words from persons and statements from
organizations.
• Recount a successful intervention.
• Describe an unsuccessful intervention.
• Provide a solution to both immediate and broader problems.
• Play to what is already in people's minds.
• Target people with the authority to make decisions and change things.
 Thematic Applications
Your Story Will
If Your You Will Need A In Telling It, You
Inspire Such
Objective Is To Story That Will Need To
Responses As

Describes how a
successful change Avoid excessive
was implemented detail that will
in the past, but take the "Just imagine …";
Spark action "What if …"
allows listeners to audience's mind
imagine how it off its own
might work in challenge
their situation

Include
Provides
meaningful
audience-
details, but also "I didn't know
engaging drama
Communicate make sure the that about him!";
and reveals some
who you are audience has the "Now I see what
strength or
time and she's driving at."
vulnerability from
inclination to
your past
hear your story
 Thematic Applications
Your Story Will
If Your Objective Is You Will Need A In Telling It, You
Inspire Such
To Story That Will Need To
Responses As

Feels familiar to Use believable

the audience and characters and
will prompt situations and "That's so right!";
Transmit values discussion about never forget that "Why don't we do
the issues raised the story must be that all the time?"
by the values consistent with
being promoted your own actions

Ensure that a set

Movingly recounts
agenda does not
a situation that
squelch the
listeners have also "That reminds me
swapping of
Foster experienced and of the time that I
stories and that
collaboration that prompts …"; "Hey, I've got
you are ready to
them to share a story like that."
tap the energy
stories about the
unleashed by the
topic
reactions
 Thematic Applications
Your Story Will
If Your Objective You Will Need A In Telling It, You
Inspire Such
Is To Story That Will Need To
Responses As

Highlights, often
Avoid the
through the use of
temptation to be "No kidding!"; "I'd
gentle humor,
Tame the mean-spirited, and never thought
some aspect of a
grapevine be sure that the about it like that
rumor that reveals
rumor is indeed before!"
it to be untrue or
false
unlikely

Focuses on
mistakes made and
shows in some "There but for the
Solicit
detail how they grace of God …";
alternative—and
Share knowledge were corrected, "Wow! We'd better
possibly better—
with an watch that from
solutions
explanation of why now on."
the solution
worked
 Thematic Applications
Your Story Will
If Your Objective You Will Need A In Telling It, You
Inspire Such
Is To Story That Will Need To
Responses As

Be sure of your
Evokes the future
storytelling skills
you want to create
(otherwise, use a "When do we
Lead people into without providing
story in which the start?"; "Let's do
the future excessive detail
past can serve as a it!"
that will only turn
springboard to the
out to be wrong
future)

The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best—and therefore never
scrutinize or question.
—Stephen Jay Gould

The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.

—Muriel Rukeyser
 Day-to-Day Applications

Storytelling can be a In organizations, potential applications

more compelling and of stories include
effective way to explain
reasoning processes, • Oral histories
deliver information, and • Team or community-building
convince others than exercises
conventional modes of • Workshop warm-ups
communications, e.g., • Back-to-office reports
electronic mail, reports, • Activity or project reviews
formal speeches, etc. • Monitoring and evaluation systems
• Recreation
Evaluative Applications
In the field of knowledge
management and learning,
storytelling has found
expression through tools such
as
• Appreciative inquiry
• Exit interviews
• Learning histories
• The Most Significant Change
technique
• Social reminiscing
 Further Reading
• ADB. 2008. Conducting Exit Interviews. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/conducting-exit-interviews
• ——. 2008. Storytelling. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/storytelling
• ——. 2008. Appreciative Inquiry. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/appreciative-inquiry
• ——. 2009. The Most Significant Change Technique. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/most-significant-change-technique
• ——. 2010. ADB: Reflections and Beyond. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/adb-reflections-and-beyond
 Further Reading
• ADB. 2010. Building Narrative Capacity at ADB. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/building-narrative-capacity-adb
• ——. 2011. On Second Thought. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/second-thought
• ——. 2011. Learning Histories. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/learning-histories
• ——. 2012. Interactive Stories of Sustainable Development.
Manila. www.adb.org/publications/interactive-stories-
sustainable-development
 Further Reading
• ADB. 2012. The Long Reach of Short Tales. Manila.
www.scribd.com/doc/102329913/the-long-reach-of-short-
tales
• Stephen Denning. 2004. Telling Tales. Harvard Business
Review. May.
• Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. 2005. Story
Guide: Building Bridges Using Narrative Techniques. Berne.
 Video
• ADB. 2012. Harvesting Knowledge. Manila.
vimeo.com/67185512
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