Leveraging the Power

of Storytelling to Successfully
Influence Change
Abstract: Too often, leaders treat organizational change
as a task to be achieved instead of an opportunity to
­capture the hearts and minds of people through a com-
pelling narrative of a better future. Emphasizing the
things that are broken might get attention and create an
initial sense of urgency, but it doesn’t necessarily entice
people to want to be part of change, particularly if they
feel threatened. In this article, I introduce storytelling
as a more effective approach to stimulating a desire for
change that focuses on the possibility of what might be
rather than what is.

Keywords: Communication, Leadership, Organizational

change, Storytelling, Vision

Introduction
The world as we know it is changing ­ dramatically.
In fact, change is the one thing we can count in our
­everyday lives, no matter if we embrace it or we ­resist
it. Similarly, in organizations, change is inevitable
as maintaining the status quo is no longer an option.
Angela L. Workman-Stark, ­Traditional approaches to change have tended to c­ onsist
PhD, is associate professor and
program director of leadership and
of ­diagnosing the problem, some analysis, and then
management development in the moving to ­solutions. ­However, these approaches rarely
Faculty of Business at Athabasca achieve their intended outcomes. Failure to achieve a
University, Alberta, Canada. She is also sense of urgency, to generate enthusiasm, and/or effec-
the president at Angela Workman-Stark
tively communicate throughout the change process, are
and Associate. Following a 24-year
career in federal law enforcement, she commonly cited as contributing factors.
teaches, researches, and consults on In my early leadership roles, I would often deliver
the topics of organizational change, a very elaborate PowerPoint presentation containing a
leadership, and creating inclusive detailed analysis of what was broken. And while this
workplaces. She has delivered
numerous national and international
analysis might have excited the minds of some people, it
conference presentations, keynotes, likely did little to capture their hearts and motivate them
and workshops and is the author of to enthusiastically undertake action. Consistent with
the recently published book Inclusive many executives, and how we have often been taught to
Policing from the Inside Out.
present information, I was treating change as an intel-
lectual process.
In his best-selling book, The Heart of Change, John
Kotter emphasizes that people are much more likely to

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 Leveraging the Power of Storytelling to Successfully Influence Change
change when they are shown a truth that
influences their feelings, as opposed to
data that might only shift their thinking.
In other words, presenting data is just the
­beginning and only part of the solution.
To successfully influence change, lead-
ers must be able to persuade people to not
only accept certain truths but also embrace
a new way of behaving as a ­result. This
is not about providing more information;
this is about connecting with people on
an emotional level. And the best way to
achieve this is through storytelling.
Types of Stories
Storytelling has been an effective means of
passing on an oral history from one gen-
eration to the next. Storytelling has been
used to entertain, to educate, to transmit
values and beliefs, and to preserve culture.
Stories help us make sense of who we are,
where we come from, and what we want
to ­become. They can also help us connect
with others and learn from our experiences
as well as the experiences of others.
Over the past several months, I  have
travelled extensively throughout A ­ ustralia,
India, Canada, and the United States.
As I  transitioned from train, to hotel, to
­airport, or to meeting site and back again
(a bit of planes, trains, and automobiles),
I would often bury my head and be lost
reading e-mails. But when I put my iPhone
away and saw those around me, it was
magic.  who they are as people.
From the lovely young woman who
walked and talked with me for nearly an
hour as she helped me find an address
in Mumbai to the taxi driver who shared
his story about working hard to send his
­children to school so they could have a bet-
ter life than he did, to the magnificent Errol,
who drove me to the Sydney airport while
sharing his passion of spending m ­ eaningful
time with his daughters and encouraging
them that they could be anything!
Every person has a story to share, and
it is these stories that ultimately transcend
traditional boundaries of race, class, g­ ender,
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and culture, and connect us as people. For
those in a leadership position, connecting
with people is one of the most important
roles. If people do not know their leaders’
stories, they are less likely to trust them.
And if they do not trust them, they are
­unlikely to follow them.
In their highly exclaimed book The Lead-
ership Challenge, now in its 6th edition,
James Kouzes and Barry Posner ­ define
leadership as “the art of mobilizing ­others
to want to struggle for shared aspirations.”
This definition implies that it is no l­onger
enough for the leader to have a great
dream or a vision. It is about leveraging
the power of storytelling to persuade and
­inspire a shared vision. But not all stories
are the same and nor do they serve the
same purpose.
Connect with Others
As leadership is a relationship, a recipro-
cal process between leaders and followers,
whereby followers are willingly mobilized
into action, leaders first need to build trust
by establishing a connection with peo-
ple. By sharing their own story, leaders
can communicate to others who they are,
where they come from, what they value,
what goals they have, what drives them,
and what lessons they have learned along
the way. If done well, leaders can effec-
tively develop trust from the inside out
­because they are willing to share parts of
During a recent leadership workshop,
I provided participants with an opportunity
to develop stories about what motivated
and inspired them in their leadership roles.
Throughout the course of one afternoon,
participants began honing their storytell-
ing abilities, and near the end of the day,
one woman bravely told the story behind
her interest in financial literacy.
To anyone on the outside, Lorie grew
up in a wealthy family—a large house,
luxury cars, nice clothes, and travel. But
as she ­approached the end of her second-
ary education, she was informed by her
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 Leveraging the Power of Storytelling to Successfully Influence Change
parents that they were severely in debt
and they could no longer afford to pay for
her ­university tuition. Her life of luxury
had been a sham. Her parents had strug-
gled financially for years, and it was only a
matter of time ­before the carefully crafted
façade crumbled.
Both shocked and buoyed by this ­sudden
fiscal reality, Lorie enrolled in an ­economics
degree and became a financial advisor so
that she could help others avoid her parents’
­financial hardship. Now into their 70s, ­Lorie’s
parents still depend on her for support, but
rather than view this as a ­burden, she has
turned it into an o­ pportunity to teach financial
literacy to others.
As Lorie nervously tucked her hands
­under her arms, she explained to the group
that this was the first time she had shared
her story, and through this experience,
she realized she had a compelling message
that she needed to communicate instead of
­relying solely on a business plan that would
never capture the real inspiration behind
her vision.
Lorie’s story shows how a leader can
build trust with others through shared
experiences. Stories can also be used to
­ from the Graduate School of Business
bring people together and work toward a
common goal, to transmit and reinforce
­organizational values, or to inspire people
to want to achieve a better future.
Bring People Together
Mike Ditkoff, author of Storytelling at
Work, proposes that stories can be a
­meaningful mechanism to connect ­people
beyond title or position and to ­
­ develop
the mission-critical team qualities of
trust, ­collaboration, clear communication,
diversity of thought, a commitment to
­ department and instructed them to “get
learning, and a sense of belonging.
Yet getting people to work effectively
together can be challenging, particularly
when the goal is unclear and/or there are
dramatic differences of opinion on how the
goal should be achieved. In an undergrad-
uate course on organizational behavior,
I often relied on the classic team-building
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movie, Remember the Titans, to illustrate
how a leader’s words might bring peo-
ple together in the forming stage of team
development.
Frustrated by the lack of unity between
white and black members of a High School
football team, the head coach, played by
Denzel Washington, led team members on an
early morning run to the G ­ ettysburg battle-
field. Leveraging the powerful i­magery of
the battlefield scene, ­Washington ­recounted
how thousands of men died fighting the same
fight about race, and suggested to his play-
ers that “if we don’t come together on this
hallowed ground we too will be destroyed
just like they were.”
Although this classic scene was played
out in a fictional setting, it indicates how
the right story can inspire people to come
together and achieve extraordinary things.
Communicate Organizational Values
Beyond connecting people, stories can
be used to communicate and reinforce
­organizational values, specifically when it
counts.
During a discussion with students
at Stanford University, Herb Kelleher,
chairman and former CEO of Southwest
Airlines, shard his leadership philoso-
phy that ­ people come first, followed by
customers and then shareholders. Asked
­
by a ­student to p
­ rovide a specific example,
Kelleher ­recounted a tearful phone call he
­received one day from a distraught flight
attendant ­explaining that her car had been
repossessed following a separation from
­
her husband. Immediately upon hanging
up the phone, Kelleher contacted his L ­ egal
­
her car back,” and they did.
Rather than hailing this example as an
extraordinary event, Kelleher explained to
the audience that this was but one small
example of what Southwest Airlines does
every day as part of its commitment of put-
ting people first. Words matter, but actions
matter most!
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