Two weeks ago (over a phenomenal bowl of noodles) in Denver's rising LoDo neighborhood, I overheard two founders talking about their fundraising efforts.

The founder to my immediate left had just botched a pitch and was frustrated that the VC's weren't seeing what was so clearly an obvious investment.

His partner, sitting across the table and trying hard to be supportive, suggested maybe the story was wrong. Were they telling the right stories to investors?

I thought he could be right, but I also wondered if the businesses just wasn't sound.

Either way, the interaction was an example something that I'm hearing more of today:

Storytelling is the simple fix to getting what you want.

Except it's not.

When working with organizations I make sure to be up front that at its core, storytelling is about communication. It just so happens it's one of the most effective ways to communicate, but it's not the only way to communicate, and sometimes it might not be the most effective.

Workshops start first with identifying what each team member is trying to communicate, and then helping them look at different story structures that could help them.

Everyone from the C-suite to the newest JR hire needs to communicate, and if an organization is full of strong communicators, the bottom line is sure to show that.

The trick, though, isn't finding time for a workshop, but making sure that what's learned continues to be used well after the lights are turned off.

What we have found is that communication is like any learned skill -- it needs to be done over and over before it comes naturally. Providing employees with the chance to to practice is important if your company is going to reap the benefits.

Organizations using Emergenetics are providing their employees with valuable insights that will increase productivity and team engagement.

We help organizations take the next step and add storytelling curriculum to their Emergenetics findings.

According to Emergenetics there are four main core areas people think in:

Analytical
Conceptual
Structural
Social

They also break apart how you think, and how you behave against the rest of the general population. The end result is a snapshot of how you process information and turn that into action.

How Storytelling Relates

Once employees have their Emergenetics profile, it's a great time to talk about how storytelling can help them communicate to their team.

For example, here's how I would approach storytelling in relation to two quadrants.

Analytical

According to their assessment, analytical thinkers are logical problem solvers who are data driven, rational, and learn by mental analysis. This means stories about the future with no data and no clear path forward might not be the best way to approach these thinkers.

Many times these thinkers need stories that frame the data presented in a way that doesn't undermine its value, but instead enhances its meaning. For example, if you're a leader trying to help an analytical thinker solve a difficult problem, communicate with stories that have the data as the main character. The other way would be to tell a story that's logical by structure and doesn't rely on the need for the audience to accept unknown truths and suspend belief.

Conceptual

Conceptual is on the opposite side of the spectrum. It is defined by imaginative thinking, enjoying the unusual, relying on intuition about ideas, and learning by experimenting.

Conceptual thinkers love the big hairy ideas that are messy and full of holes. They want to suspend belief and take a 500-mile view before zeroing down in on what's really important.

If you're a manager who is working with conceptual thinkers, your story is going to be filled with a lot of 'what ifs,' and 'here's the promised land.'

Analytical thinkers would probably react to the story as skeptics and demand data to support your beliefs.

Where It Gets Complicated

Most Emergenetics users are not driven by only one way of thinking, but rather two or three ways.

For example, my Emergentics profile is Analytical 28%, Conceptual 32%, Social 32% and Structural 8%.

A leader wanting to communicate with me would do best by playing to my three main methods of thinking and not focusing on the structural part of the story.

A great story might start with the unknown, require me to accept a vision through relating and being socially aware, and then finish with data supporting a clear direction forward. It would be a waste of time for the manager to give me guidelines and take the tone of being cautious about the big unknown idea.

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