Why should you work with storytelling – what is the purpose of it? Overall, one could say that it’s about getting a message across. Doesn’t all communication do that? Well, in terms of the most basic definition, the fundamental meaning is “to make common.” However, storytelling is about using narrative to connect, and there are contexts where storytelling has an advantage. It should be noted that there are contexts where storytelling isn’t the best means. A personal “Me-story” can communicate who you are excellently – but your resume is necessary in a job application. A company’s annual report may contain elements of storytelling, but it can’t replace all the content with stories. I believe that as a reader, you already have quite a few perspectives on where you can use storytelling. The strength of storytelling can be applied in many different contexts.
Contextualizes and creates meaning
Firstly, storytelling contextualizes things. The recipient experiences the context surrounding the message, thus creating meaning. By placing messages and facts into context, the recipient experiences the event “from within.” This also creates interactivity; the recipient’s own references are activated. Storytelling activates the recipient’s senses – in plural. Green, Strange, and Brock describe this in Narrative Impact, drawing on Goffman‘s theories (“Enactment, Goffman 1961):
“We do not merely receive or respond. The constructions we make involve enactment: taking an active part in the story is much the same as we take part in a game or a social encounter – – – “
Creates Understanding
Due to its complex nature, storytelling can help us understand complex events more easily. We are well-trained in receiving the structure of a story and thereby interpreting its meaning on multiple levels simultaneously.
Easier to Remember
People remember stories because they entertain and touch them, because people interpret themselves and their experiences in a good story; that is the listener’s or reader’s active part in storytelling. Green, Strange, and Brock demonstrate in their Narrative Impact how we remember by creating a schematic design for experiences. The basis for this is Bartlett (1939) and the studies he conducted on how people read and then recreate stories. Green, Strange, and Brock use Piaget‘s and Inhelder’s terms assimilation and accommodation.
Stories are thus easier to remember. We create a schematic design with the structure of the narrative (“assimilate”). It is a complex process that we can do quickly because we are well-trained in it) to remember. In this way, we internalize stories more easily.
“We take events, phrases, movements of a story and assimilate them to a schema of what we already know. They achieve significance for us by becoming parts of our schemas. At the same time, schemas may accommodate, just as scientific theories may change with new evidence. Fiction has its impact, therefore, as people construct their own schematic understandings of a story.” (Green, Strange, and Brock, Narrative Impact)
Therefore, stories cannot look like regular information, not just be narratives, but must necessarily follow some of the complex, artistic structures that fiction uses.
Stephen Denning writes in his Leader’s Guide to Storytelling about the human knowledge bank, which is divided into three parts: The first part holds abstract understanding. It comprises theories, principles, etc., useful for recurring, repetitive situations.
The second part consists of tacit understanding, what we can do through experience; we can drive a car, perform heart surgery, or execute a somersault with a twist even if we can’t articulate exactly how we do it.
The third part is the knowledge we store in narrative form, and this is a significant portion of our knowledge bank. Cognitive researchers have discovered that we transform experiences – both our own and others’ – into stories that help us remember them and communicate effectively.
And in order to not bore you out, I’ll stop there for now and return soon with a couple of further advantages that Storytelling has.
What are some of your experience with storytelling? Please add your thoughts in the comment field below.
Looking for insights about what storytelling is? Read: Storytelling – What is it?
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