How to Tell your Story CBS: Gemma's reflections

I often say I talk to people for a living. I've always been involved with roles where I am talking on behalf of groups and organisations, with lots of presentations, lots of papers, building relationships and trying to grow a shared understanding that makes the world just a little bit better for all of us.

But actually, right at the beginning of my career, when I was in university, I did quite a lot of research into neuroscience and neurolinguistics, and the power of storytelling is something that has been a big, big part of my brain and the things that I'm interested in for a really long time.

When I left university, like many people, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, and I ended up spending about 10 years working in the private sector in customer service and sales, including a good chunk of time training other salespeople. Storytelling for me is the most powerful way you can sell anything because if you listen to what people want, you can tell them a story about how you can solve their problems (there’s a lot more to it of course, but that’s not the point of this blog!).

So why storytelling?

There is a lot of research into why humans tell stories. It historically would have helped us in our survival. But even now, every day it helps us to make sense of the world, understand cause and effect, and predict what happens next. In the session (recording below) I was talking about storytelling as a as a tool, and it absolutely can be that. But I also think it's a fundamental aspect of our humanity because stories are an essential part of how we think, feel, remember, imagine, relate, and create change.

As humans, most of us don't really relate to data, we relate to issues and we relate to each other. A big part of how we relate to each other is the stories we tell each other and the stories we tell ourselves. So, the more we understand each other, we can identify what our shared vision is for a better world and then work together on making it a reality. And whether you're talking to a funder or a budget holder, commissioner, your board of Trustees, or your passengers, that for me has got to be something that's worth exploring.

Resources from the session

Check out the video here and slides here, and if you’d like to discuss further, get in touch on gemma@ctauk.org.