Collaborative storytelling is at the forefront of humanity, ever since the first tribes met together around a camp fire.
These days, collaborative storytelling often takes place on wireless, handheld, portable communication devices. Our tribes may not come together in front of a camp fire. However, they do interact online in communities.
Think about it. Collaborative storytelling becomes compelling storytelling when the reader or listener is drawn into the story’s words, actions and values. What are your stories? Where is your campfire?
Enlightened individuals, teams, organizations and associations turn their workplaces into vibrant storytelling communities by locating their campfires.
That is when collaborative storytelling becomes compelling storytelling, focused on workforce and customer engagement. Also, compelling storytelling reflects a collaborative organizational culture, motivated to understand the stated and unstated needs voiced by its customers.
What do your own customer success stories sound like? Have you ever tried to capture and articulate them? I offer workshops and speaking programs specifically on collaborative storytelling at this link. I’d be delighted to bring these programs to you.
Compelling storytelling reflects how organizations collaborate to create remarkable and enduring outcomes on behalf of their customers.
These stories are nothing short of heroes’ and heroines’ tales, like their tribal campfire predecessors.
I watched Return of the Jedi® this weekend. Remember the scene around the campfire, early in the move, with the Ewoks? C-3PO tells the tale of good versus evil and how everyone must commit to the Resistance’s Cause? Recall how that scene is recreated at the end of the movie, in celebration of the successful, collaborative outcome and in honor of mutual loss?
Now place yourself, your teams, and your own organization or association into those Star Wars® campfire scenes. What do your own stories sound like? What are your struggles? How do you come together? How are you challenged along the way?
The outcome of compelling storytelling is catalyzing potential clients to do business with your organization. Another outcome reinforces why current customers continue to partner with you. Told well, storytelling is a dynamic, collaborative process, that neither is a marketing exercise nor a creative writing assignment. What are your organization’s stories? How might you collaborate to acquire them?
Start moving one millimeter closer to compelling, collaborative storytelling, today.
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Babette Ten Haken, Founder & President of One Millimeter Mindset™ serves organizations as a corporate catalyst and innovative speaker, strategist, coach and storyteller. Babette’s One Millimeter Mindset™ Workshops and Speaking programs leverage collaboration to catalyze professional innovation, workforce engagement and customer retention, especially in challenging Industrial Internet of Things environments. Babette’s playbook of IIoT team collaboration hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon. She is a member of SME, ASQ, SHRM and the National Speakers Association. Image source: Fotolia
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