The Art and Science of Storytelling

Michael Kass is a Los Angeles based facilitator, coach, and award-winning storyteller who’s become a good friend of Cause. As a facilitator and coach, he focuses on helping clients speak with greater confidence and presence as well as reconnecting with the deep passion underlying their work. His work with organizations focuses on fostering culture shift through storytelling and creating powerful, data-supported narratives that create thriving communities. Michael’s work is a natural fit with the work we do to help our clients amplify their impact and achieve their business goals, so we invited him to share some tips that will help you connect with your audiences and move them to action.

Every workshop I lead, whether it’s for CEOs or high schoolers, starts with a question: what is story? We use the word all the time, but rarely take the space to think about what story actually is and the role it plays in leadership and community building.

At base level, story is the basic building block of community. It contains the DNA of a community’s identity, values, and shared purpose. Take a moment to think about all the communities that you are a part of: workplace, family, school, fans of a sports team. Whatever it is, there’s a core mythology, a story, at the center of each.

This isn’t just theoretical: story is actually hardwired into our brain. When we tell a powerful story, an effect called ‘neural coupling’ guarantees that our listeners’ brains will be stimulated in sync with ours. And given random information or data points, our brain will immediately and instinctively create a story based on our past experience and other stories we have heard. Thanks to a cognitive trick called the ‘negativity bias,’ the stories our brain creates will, more often than not, be negative.

If you don’t tell your own story, others will make it up for you, it will probably be negative, and, if that story spreads, it will make a lasting imprint on those who hear it.

Organizations, particularly cause-based organizations, must tell a powerful story that not only connects the dots for its audiences, but also inspires them to volunteer, contribute, and engage. Here is where another bit of neuroscience comes into play. Recent research by Paul Zak of Claremont Graduate University revealed that well-told stories trigger the release of oxytocin in listeners or viewers. Known as the ‘love molecule,’ oxytocin causes a sense of empathy and connection. Zak’s research shows that people who connect with a story are exponentially more likely to respond positively to a call to action related to the story!

Every time you tear up during a Disney movie (don’t pretend that you haven’t) or feel inspired to take action after seeing a documentary or compelling speaker, your body is flooded with oxytocin. On the flip side of this effect, some stories and storytellers may seem to be hitting all the right ‘notes,’ but something doesn’t quite jibe. You may find yourself feeling left cold or even a bit suspicious.

So what is the secret to an impactful story? It must be authentic!

Authenticity has become a bit of a buzzword recently and, as happens when a word enters the buzz-o-sphere, there are suddenly all sorts of ‘recipes’ out there for telling authentic stories. But sharing a truly authentic story isn’t about following a set of steps, it’s about digging deep into the elemental humanity that lives at the core of your narrative, surfacing it, and sharing it with your audience and community. This type of storytelling requires a degree of vulnerability on the part of the storyteller, whether it’s an individual or an organization, that may be uncomfortable or even frightening.

In telling an authentic, vulnerable story, we reveal a bit of who we are. Thanks to the internet and pervasive media, we have never been more saturated in story. As a result, we have become exceptionally discerning consumers of narrative, even at an unconscious level. Only stories that resonate at a deeply human, universal level–in other words, authentic ones that go beyond a recounting of ‘things that happened’ to explore the who and the why behind the events–will distinguish themselves over the ‘noise.’

Focusing on the latest storytelling platform, whether it’s social media, crowd-funding, or video-sharing, will ultimately squander resources if you have not taken the time to find the right stories to share. Modern technology provides an infrastructure that allows for an unprecedented connection throughout the world, but technology itself does not connect. Nor does data. Stories do.

So go forth, build and tell your story. Not about what your organization is or does, but about what it means to you, why you have dedicated your time and effort (and maybe even your life) to it. Once you’ve written it, consider how your story can help further your organization’s mission through diverse communications vehicles including conversations with funders, speaking engagements, video, or social media. Throughout all of it, be brave, maintain your sense of humor (after all, storytelling is fun), and, above all, be human!

To learn more about how Cause Communications can help you tell your story – including ways we collaborate with Michael Kass, contact Training Director Bethany Babyak at bbabyak@causecommunications.com.