Transcript
[00:00:05.480] - Imogen
Hello and welcome to Dear Comms, the coffee break podcast where we tackle your biggest corporate comms challenges. I'm Imogen.
[00:00:12.530] - Amanda
And I'm Amanda. We're here to give you practical, no-nonsense advice so you can focus on the things that will really drive influence, engagement, and impact.
[00:00:24.530] - Imogen
And welcome to the second episode of our storytelling marathon. Not really a marathon. Little sprint, I guess. We are still not going to allow you to write anything yet because we're mean and we need to focus on science instead.
[00:00:39.960] - Amanda
My favorite topic. And yes, science bits, my happy place. I guess that microbiology degree is finally paying off.
[00:00:47.510] - Imogen
Yeah, I didn't do one of those. I read English at university and I'm not a scientist, obviously. But I do know one thing, only one. And that's you can't bore people into caring about your communications. Try as hard as you like, and people do try the whole time, but just because you care about it, it doesn't mean other people will. So I guess the big question we're trying to answer here is why does storytelling work? Why do stories work?
[00:01:14.350] - Amanda
Well, put simply, I think people forget facts, but they remember stories. I mean, we've been telling stories since the dawn of time. Cast your mind back to the cavemen around the campfire. They were doing it to make sense of chaos and passing on survival tips. A little bit closer to home, think about your childhood. I bet you can remember the stories your parents and grandparents told. They've stuck, haven't they?
[00:01:39.700] - Imogen
Yeah, I mean, think even about the information you've received today. You know, have you been doom-scrolling through Instagram or TikTok or, you know, news websites, everything that we are getting on a daily basis is done in story format. Even when we're chatting with colleagues or we're talking to friends, it's all wrapped up in a story. And that's because it's the way in which our brain works a little bit. We are hardwired really to expect beginning, middle, end. And when we are listening to people, when we are reading things, we are constantly looking for story patterns.
[00:02:20.300] - Amanda
It's not just that we prefer stories, our brains actually perform better when we hear them. There are two specific areas of the brain that light up when we process language: Broca's area, which helps us decode the structure, and Wernicke's area, which works out the meaning. So suddenly the brain's not just listening, it's It's simulating, it's firing up. And that's why stories stick. They're not just processed, they're experienced.
[00:02:48.270] - Imogen
They are, but you know, we've all sat in the endless PowerPoint presentation of hell, you know, 148 slides, et cetera. And we've all sat and listened to those bullet points being spieled off. And as you say, you know, those two areas of our brain are working and they're translating those bullet points into some kind of a story format. To help us find meaning, to help us understand what's going on. The problem really comes is when those two areas translating that story and they translate them into a different story than the one that the person speaking is intending to tell us.
[00:03:25.810] - Amanda
Yeah.
[00:03:26.490] - Imogen
So if we really want to connect with people, if we really want to help them understand, we need to get people using their whole brain, not just the processing parts of their brain. So with a good story, and that's, you know, a fictional story, non-fictional, corporate story, there are going to be sensory details, there are going to be action words, there's going to be detail, there's gonna be characters. And that means that the whole of our brain starts to engage. And it also means, and this one was where I'm gonna pass over to the expert 'cause I really, I'm not very good at this part, but it has an impact on your body chemistry as well.
[00:04:05.010] - Amanda
Yeah, this is where it really gets juicy. When we hear a good story, our body produces 3 very powerful chemicals. Oxytocin, which is the love hormone, imagine, and that triggers empathy and connection. Then we have dopamine, which is our feel-good reward, and that helps form habits and memories.
[00:04:26.030] - Imogen
And that's the one, I mean, the dopamine though, that's the one that advertising execs use, right? That's the one businesses use.
[00:04:33.720] - Amanda
—to try and— Yeah, yeah. Feel good.
[00:04:35.310] - Imogen
—get us to buy stuff.
[00:04:36.830] - Amanda
Yeah. And then finally, cortisol. That's the stress hormone, and that keeps us alert and focused. And all of those together help lock that story into our memory.
[00:04:48.060] - Imogen
It seems almost counterintuitive that, you know, we're getting people to feel stressed when they're hearing a story. But I guess it's about attentiveness, but it's also about how— we form memories. Because if you go back to those kind of caveman times, it was cortisol when you were stressed that would teach you, okay, that animal isn't very nice, or that fire hurts. So I guess we're trying to get that cortisol release to get people to remember stuff.
[00:05:22.640] - Amanda
Cortisol's not a, it's got a bad reputation, but it actually is quite a useful hormone.
[00:05:28.510] - Imogen
So if we, in short, you know, stories help us feel stuff, they help us remember stuff, and they hijack the body's chemistry. So we can play a bit of an alchemist with them. For a lot of people, storytelling, especially in certain industries, feels difficult because they've only got the sort of facts, figures, and numbers. And we're not forgetting that we must have A bit of depth, is what you're saying. A mélange, a mélange. Getting my French in there. Sort of a mixture of rational and emotional. So, you can have your facts, figures, et cetera, but you need to give them some kind of a meaning.
[00:06:12.010] - Amanda
I mean, 100% agree. If you just throw numbers at people, they're going to build their own story, and it might not be the one that you want. I mean, we've all seen that happen. You share a stat about reduced travel and somebody decides we're canceling global rules. It's not enough just to present data. You have to shape the narrative around it. You know, data does give you credibility, but it doesn't give you the connection, as you've mentioned. You know, people don't respond to 12% up. They respond to what that 12% means for them. So no, stories don't replace data, but data alone isn't the story. The story is what those numbers mean, why they matter, and what we're doing next.
[00:06:58.930] - Imogen
Yeah, I think the interesting thing is when we talk about this mix of rational and emotional is that that's how people make decisions. And if we said, you know, the purpose of a story is to get someone to think, feel, do something, differently, then we're asking them to make a decision. And when we make decisions as people, we make them based on facts and figures, but we also make them based on emotion. It's like, you know, I've got a gut feeling, or I feel like this is the right choice. That's that kind of emotional side of our brain working. So you have to bring the two together in order to get people to not only understand, data, facts, figures, but actually feel something enough to want to change and do something. Yeah. Okay. So, if I think about it, there are sort of 4 things that we need to get grounded in order to start thinking about creating a great story. First thing is, it needs to be simple and it needs to have a point. And that's really what we were talking about in the last episode. You know, why are we telling it?
[00:08:14.140]
Do the audience care? What do we need them to do? Secondly, we need to have that emotional component to it. As I said, we've got to balance that rational, emotional side. So, if we don't have emotion, we are just stating facts. And as you rightly said, Amanda, people forget facts, don't they? They do. But it needs to be an emotion that's relevant to that audience those objectives. It can't just be any random emotion. They need to care about it.
[00:08:44.480] - Amanda
The other thing to remember is being human. People like to hear about other people. We're curious, we're nosy. So have that element to it, the personal. And usually there's some form of ending that gives reason to the story. It's also tied into the "what's in it for me" for listening, or the "what's next?" So we— We like an ending. So if I had to wrap it all up, storytelling works because it taps into everything that makes us human. The way we've evolved, the way our brains are wired, the chemicals that drive our emotions, and our deep natural urge to find meaning, meaning in the noise. It's not fluff, it's biology. And when we use it well, I think it turns information into impact.
[00:09:34.140] - Imogen
You see, I knew you'd love this episode with all its sciencey stuff. I find it useful. I also find it kind of boring, and I really want to get onto the fun stuff and, you know, how you structure it and what you need in the story and all of that sort of stuff. And I really want to talk about that, but I'm going to have to wait, aren't I? Yeah, not just now.
[00:09:57.640] - Amanda
The next time, we're taking all of this science, the brain stuff, the chemistry, why it works, and showing you how to actually use it in a corporate story. And I promise no cavemen, just practical tools. So if something sparked a question or a challenge in your world, drop us a note and we'd love to hear about it. And if you found this helpful, pass it on, share it, whisper it dramatically to a colleague in a lift. Just let us know you're out there.
[00:10:23.470] - Imogen
Until next time. Bye.
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