How to Communicate Change In a Way That Wins.

"The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.” - Mary Cathrine Bateson

Storytelling is a tradition that promotes survival.  The tradition of storytelling dates back to paintings found in caves in Lascaux, France that are estimated to be over 30,000 years old.  Storytelling is as ancient as humanity itself.  At its origin, storytelling was used to pass on information to educate, entertain and preserve cultural values and knowledge.  

This form of written and verbal communication is powerful, because our brains are wired to look for patterns, and stories provide a clear narrative that is proven to help us better understand and retain information.  Since stories have been a foundational type of communication as long as we’ve been around as an advanced species, our brains have evolved to create an emotional connection to stories which makes it easier for us to remember and connect with the information that is provided through them. 

It's funny though, how many of our internal communication programs share information with us through short and concise bullet points, instead of narrative stories.  As a leader, when communicating information about change, work to share stories and tell narratives to connect with people emotionally, help them remember information and better understand the reason behind the change. 

Good leaders are natural born storytellers and tend to do this subconsciously.  An example of the power of storytelling to persuade, inform, and move others emotionally is in this short clip from the HBO series the Newsroom, where the main character Will McAvoy persuades a legal team to see a different perspective, through telling them powerful stories.

Further, the ancient Greeks and Romans were renowned for their myth telling.  These myths were used as powerful analogies to help not only entertain, but to share moral and social lessons used to pass on profound wisdom and advice.  Analogies are a dynamic form of communication to introduce new or complex information.  Analogies can be used to help influence individuals on your teams to think differently about new information. 

The profound impact of an analogy is it works by drawing comparisons to two seemingly unrelated topics, by pulling on existing knowledge to help us grasp a new or complex topic.  Analogies impact our brains by stimulating familiar neural activity while promoting cognitive flexibility.  These tools can be used to help us navigate the complexities of new information. 

As a manager or leader, utilize analogies to help your teams understand the new or complex information that is introduced during times of organizational change.  To better help you use the power of analogies you can download this FREE PDF of my favorite Analogies to Inspire Change.

Communicating digitally has only been around for 50 years, so it is in its infancy.  As humans, we have been communicating verbally and through stories for thousands of years.  Our brains are much more evolved and better at receiving information verbally.  When we communicate via digital mediums– email, chat, social platforms, we lose the non-verbal queues that we are used to processing as part of the verbal communication process. 

However, often when we write digitally– email, chat, or social post, we infuse those idioms (non-verbal queues)  into our digital writing, believing that the person on the receiving end will pick up those unseeable idioms. 

When you are writing a digital message, become aware of the non-verbal queues you are infusing into your writing.  Recognize that the person on the receiving end of your message, is not ‘in your head’ and cannot distinguish the non-verbal queues that you may be implying in your writing.  Much can be lost in digital communication due to our brains limited exposure to processing digital communication. 

Even though this communication medium feels like the norm, our brains are still operating from thousands of years of processing verbal communication.  Work to deliver important messages, ask important questions through verbal communication, especially when dealing with the uncertainty resulting from organizational change.