Telling Stories

“…in the age of information overload – it is no longer effective to ‘just tell people the facts’. As a leader you must use emotion to be successful in business." This is true in education as well. Administrators who can engage and inspire their teams have a definite advantage. Using the art of effective storytelling, school leaders can defeat this information overload to inspire the emotion and effort needed to adopt new school strategies, attract new students, or recruit innovative teachers.
            An engaging story is hard to forget in contrast to dry facts and stale data. Hooked: How Leaders Connect, Engage, and Inspire with Storytelling is full of real-world examples and techniques to teach the skill of great storytelling. Authors Gabrielle Dolan and Yamini Naidu explain what good storytelling is, why leaders need to learn it, how to create effective stories, and how to practice to perfect the craft. This book offers effective techniques and helpful guidance to school leaders who need to communicate more efficiently and influentially.

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The one who tells the stories, rules the world." Dolan & Naidu

            The authors included many  tips and tricks about refining your stories and making them stick. The section on practice was the most potent to me. The included quote by Malcolm Gladwell said “practice isn’t the thing you do when you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” Practices does make perfect. This is something that I am missing in my professional life. I am very meticulous with researching the best information, providing the best examples, and having an engaging production. However, I often feel like my presentation is both hurried and all over the place. I definitely need to begin brainstorming stories for use when both delivering professional development and working one-on-one with teachers. Engaging and making information stick with teachers through stories would be the optimal way to make my presentations memorable. 
            The delivery techniques listed in the book are a wonderful resource for me to utilize the next time that I’m preparing for a presentation. As a leader in my district, I need to make sure that I am communicating efficiently and influentially with my teachers. Since I am the instructional technologist for my district, the information that I share with teachers can sometimes be difficult for them to grasp. The more that I prepare, pace myself, repeat, make eye contact, and share information through stories, the more successful that the teachers will be with retaining the information that I share. Dolan and Naidu say “every time you present, you need stories to help your audience connect with you and connect with your key messages." I now see the need for stories in my professional life. As Greg Power said, “the fine line between speaking and being heard is storytelling.”

Keeping it Techy,
Heather
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