Many years back I was certified in a hiring process called Targeted Selection. One of the keys to the interview process with a new candidate was asking open-ended questions that required the candidate to tell a story. The reason was that it was a lot easier to get people to reveal their honest answers when you asked them to describe the entire story rather than ask them a yes or no question. Here’s an example:
Corporate
- Question: Do you work well with tight deadlines?
- Answer: Yes
Storified
- Question: Tell me about a time at work when you had a number of very tight deadlines that were going to be a challenge, or perhaps impossible, to make.
Answer: A story that you could ask additional details about.
Stories are both revealing and memorable. Most of us don’t remember the last press release we read, but we do remember the last story that we read – even if it was about business.
In a business context, storytelling means thinking more like a journalist than like a novelist. It means building something human and interesting around a core premise. It’s finding a way to bring to life something that might otherwise seem mundane.
The Hoffman Agency
Content strategies online demand that we quit the marketing and corporate speak and start telling stories. It’s a key strategy in content marketing. People don’t want to hear corporate speak about your company, product, or service, they want to hear actual stories about how your customers are doing better by doing business with you!
The Hoffman Agency has developed an infographic on Storytelling vs. Corporate Speak. You can also read more about storytelling techniques on Lou Hoffman’s blog, Ishmael’s Corner.
