Ask 10 different people what a story is, and you’ll get 10 different answers—and at least that many stories.
“We are storytelling creatures,” John Trybus, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication, told a session on stories and policymaking at NCSL’s Legislative Summit. “We dream in stories, we talk in stories, we try to make meaning in this complex world of ours through the lens of stories. We’re all composed of stories.”
“We have to be more purposeful with how we’re telling stories for our policy objectives.”
—John Trybus, director, Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication
Trybus, a self-described “story scientist” who used to work with primatologist Jane Goodall, says a healthy ecosystem needs a variety of plant and animal life that interact and integrate. Stories work the same way. “The idea here is to think about, what are the stories or narratives that are out there about your work—maybe it’s about all your work together, or maybe it’s trying to take a project or priority and thinking about all the different narratives that are out there, good, bad or otherwise, and how do you want to evolve them with your work.”
Trybus says stories fall into two basic categories. Informal stories are imperfect, in-the-moment—and important.
“They carry meaning, and they really build a lot of trust,” he says. “These are stories that you don’t plan. You do that all day in your work.”
Formal stories, on the other hand, are strategic. “They are created ahead of time when the stakes are a little bit higher, and they require a true investment in time and resources,” Trybus says.
He says people who are trying to effect change, such as legislators, need to think about what they want to communicate—and what’s already in people’s minds about that narrative. Access to a myriad of sources has created a kind of communications chaos.
“What it really means to us is, we have to be more purposeful with how we’re telling stories for our policy objectives,” Trybus says.
Stories have been proven to drive action, he says, but before we share our story, we should think about who we want to influence or engage with and what we want them to do once they consume the story.
There are four steps to creating an effective policy story, Trybus says:
- Build a foundation. Brainstorm current priority projects, programs, initiatives that could form the foundation.
- Decide what effect you want the story to have. “How do you want that story to influence somebody? Is it to sign up for a meeting or a town hall? Is it to reach out? What actually do you want them to do? What sort of emotions do you want to make sure that that story has that are going to really resonate with that audience?”
- Determine the proper channel or medium. “Is it a verbal story? Is it a written story? Where’s that story going to live?”
- Evaluate the story’s performance. “What does attainable success look like for that story? So that's really being able to not just do formal metrics, but sometimes even informal ones. If you’re telling a verbal story like me up here, I know if it’s resonating with what you’re doing, you’re giving me some smiles, you’re giving me some head nods. If you weren’t, then I’d have to move on. That would not be success.”
Leadership Stories
There are a couple of good stories that all leaders should have, Trybus says, citing the work of Howard Gardner, Harvard psychologist and author of “Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership.” “First is an ordinary story that simply relates the realities of what you do as effectively as possible,” Trybus says. “It brings a new attention or a fresh twist to the story: a counter story (that) goes in the face of entrenched stories to challenge prevailing norms.”
The other story is a visionary story—a story about the future.
“Our ability as humans to think about something that doesn’t exist yet is really, really remarkable as far as we understand,” Trybus says. “That’s unique to humans, right?”
A good story needs six ingredients The first: a single compelling main character who is relatable to your audience. The second: trajectory—a transformation, discovery, experience or journey. The third: authenticity.
“You want to paint a picture, not just giving the facts or what you’re up to, but take people where the scene is,” Trybus says. “Give rich details, have the character’s own voice and please, please get rid of the jargon.”
The fourth building block: action-oriented emotions. The next: a hook that captures the audience’s attention in the first 10 seconds.
The final ingredient: Whenever possible, have the story told by those who actually own it.
“Because a story is somebody’s personal truth based upon their experience. So, this is giving the microphone over as much as we can,” Trybus says. “And as we think about policy, of course you want numerous stories, you want numerous characters, because we all see the world in different sorts of ways.
“That’s how you bring the story to life.”
Lisa Ryckman is NCSL’s associate director of communications.