Story-based
training
& coaching
How do stories help us to change?
Storytelling has always been a powerful tool for transition. The original storytellers were master communicators, who could ignite their listeners’ imaginations through their use of language and visual imagery, and who developed immense levels of empathy and rapport with their listeners. Indeed, anthropologists tell us that in many traditional tribes, it was an individual’s skill as a storyteller that was a deciding factor in their being chosen as the chief, shaman or respected elder for the tribe.
So do stories still have a part to play in our modern-day, sophisticated, high-tech organisations? For all our apparent sophistication, organisations are still made up of people – and even modern-day people react differently to hearing information in the shape of a story or metaphor rather than just responding to analytical, left-brain based information. Storytelling is an interactive and complex activity, where the listener is actively involved in the process, using both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously to manage the information.
Hearing a story actually changes our brain function; research has shown that, while listening to stories, biochemical changes take place in the brain; levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) drop and levels of immunoglobulin A rise – in other words, listening to a story can actually promote relaxation and reduce stress. This in turn helps us to by-pass our normal, analytical functions; we actually become less critical, and more receptive to change and new ideas. It would be wrong to suggest that storytelling should replace analytical thinking, particularly in the business world, but it can supplement it by enabling us to think creatively about an old problem, and imagine new perspectives and new worlds.
(Reprinted with permission, ‘Tales for Change’,
by Margaret Parkin, published by Kogan Page)
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