3 Ways to Create a Culture that Values Storytelling

Storytelling can make or break your leadership.

Do you agree?

If you’re in the camp that, like me, thinks storytelling is often underrated in business communication, here are 3 ways you can create a culture that values storytelling:

1. Get off the hyper-productivity hamster wheel. Faster isn't always better. Simply slow the pace of your conversation and you'll see that stories find their space naturally.

2. Practice outside of work. Work always feels like high stakes. When you're telling your partner how you day was make yourself insert anecdotes and stories. For me, I believe my storytelling dramatically improved when I started telling my son stories at night. He often doesn't want me to read to him. He wants me to tell him a story. Bonus: Then I ask for him to tell me one, which gets him started storytelling early.

3. Finally, build your leaders by asking them to tell you stories in one-on-ones. Ask: "What's a story from this week you'd like to tell?" Or when you aren't understanding someone's perspective say, "I want to understand. Can you say it a different way or use a story to explain?" This challenges them to try new ways to communicate while leading you to understand them better.