For my brand new startup ROTYS -a storytelling workshop and coaching business- I create these visuals (zero cost) for social posts and content. I share the thoughts behind the visuals I create here on Steemit.
If you've witnessed this industry grow, you've witnessed disaster take place
In the past decade or so, storytelling (the applied version, in business) took a big flight. The industry that was created grew wild and free, without any industry standards to govern what the industry turned into. (Take note: I can only speak for the European market, things might be a bit different across the seas.)
Just like any industry, the storytelling industry produces content (for marketing) which 'schools' their market. All the whitepapers out there, all the articles coming by in timelines, it is all marketing but it is the most accessible and common content to be found when you start shopping around for something. Recipe for disaster, because the offerings in the storytelling industry can be wide ranged, ungoverned and -without pointing any fingers- far off with what storytelling in organizations really comes to.
Telling better stories will magically help you in any mission
So, what is the status quo on storytelling today? Don't most people think of telling a story? That's the most common thing heard. So, who goes for shopping in this market will be tutored by content that says telling better stories will magically help you in pretty much any mission. So, shoppers shop mostly for offers that help them tell better stories.
And there we go horribly wrong. Storytelling isn't so much about telling stories as it is about sense making in a culture (first) or an audience (then). Someone who tells a story is needed for that process, but the telling part is hardly 5% of all the work that is needed to really make that story do its work.
Think about it: loads of people can tell great stories. Just look around here on Steemit and you see it! The challenge with storytelling is to make a story spread through believers and actors. In other words: people will have to adopt your story and start to live up to it to prove your narrative. You nééd others to become co-tellers. You nééd 'actors' and real life examples. And than you still need your organization back you up fully. A leader who tells a story in an organization that tells another, will never see the return on his efforts...
Who you should really listen to to understand storytelling
Interesting fact is the academic world is developing the storytelling domain as well. This dynamic is younger, only since a few years scholars are being installed and researches are started up. The results are still little out there, but the theses on which researchers focus is nót about what telling better stories does for you.
The major part of research about storytelling today focusses on the sociology behind the storytelling (sense making) proces. How are social networks of any kind impacted by the stories that go around in them? How do people use narrative structures to enhance collaboration? Can story be a tool for either stability ór change? The academics seem even not really interested in intended storytelling, they rather study the natural process of human communication and collaboration. Saying: people already do it. We just need to understand what is really happening there.
Does the fact that the academics choose a way different perspective on storytelling then the industry does, tell you anything about what storytelling really is? It did to me, and I forged a method out of the insight that drove me to start my new business. One of my main goals is to alter what the majority thinks of when talking about storytelling. And thus, you'll meet this message often in the content of my brand.
I use unsplash.com for the footage. My skill is copywriting, so the shorts are mine. The lay out comes from a simple powerpoint screen, and this (I am zero technical) is just screenshot...
More on storytelling? Check out my other articles so far:
A brief history of storytelling and my view for the future storytelling industry
Storytelling visual - and the story behind it #1: They've stolen storytelling from you, take it back