Story-Based Strategies and Tools

9 Storytelling Skills

There are 9 basic storytelling skills that will help you use stories in the right way.

1. Eliciting: Prompt stories from others by asking the right questions and creating a safe space where people feel comfortable sharing their experiences. Skilled elicitors can encourage others to express themselves.
2. Listening: Listening is one of the most important storytelling skills, believe it or not. Listening is more than just hearing the words that someone is saying. It’s about understanding the emotions and nuances conveyed to connect with the audience on a deeper level.
3. Observing: Pay attention to the details all around you and draw on these observations to enrich your stories.
4. Reflecting: Spend time reflecting on your own experiences and perspectives to use these personal stories in training. Storytellers who reflect can pull out the key insights and themes from their stories to then mold them to fit the training.
5. Synthesizing: Bring together complex ideas and structures into a clear and engaging story that resonates with the audience.
6. Modeling: Use stories as examples to guide behavior. It’s about demonstrating concepts and values through stories to highlight potential pitfalls.
7. Selecting: Choose the right stories. When selecting what stories to tell, it’s important to think about the audience and select stories that are relevant, relatable, and impactful to that specific audience. Remember, each audience is going to be different.
8. Telling: Telling is the art of delivering stories in a clear, engaging, and compelling manner. Telling involves using language, tone, and different delivery techniques that can capture the attention of the audience and bring the story to life. This may even be through adjusting pitch, using gestures, and using facial expressions to animate the story.

To Sum It Up

Storytelling is a powerful tool to communicate ideas and connect with the audience to ensure they stay engaged and retain information. However, incorporating storytelling into training initiatives is not merely about being a captivating public speaker; it’s about fostering connections and understanding. Honing the nine skills that we discussed in this post will help transform the way you tell stories and engage with the audience. As we embrace the power of storytelling in training, we unlock the potential to inspire, educate, and unite learners from all walks of life.