We can sit through dozens of slides in a project presentation and leave the meeting unable to remember why the project was needed. The numbers have been shared, but the connections between events remain unclear. Storytelling in business helps establish those connections: What happened, whom did it affect, what decision was made, and what changed afterward?
The Issue Behind the Decision
Consider a recurring production defect. Alongside the defect rate, describing the conditions in which the operator noticed the defect makes the problem easier to understand. The team's initial explanation and what the investigation revealed are also part of the story. The listener can then see how the conclusion was reached.
Different departments in an organization may attach different meanings to the same word. What engineering calls a risk may mean a delay for sales and a loss of trust for the customer. Discussing a specific event brings these perspectives together around the same issue. When selecting details, consider which detail affects whose decision.
The starting conditions, central question, method, and results of a work story should each be clear in their own right. Choosing a concrete event that explains the decision and writing out these parts is a starting point for building the narrative. It is equally important, though, not to present work as a success that has never been measured. Generating ideas in a workshop, for example, does not show that those ideas delivered results in the market. A credible narrative preserves the boundary between what we know and what we do not know.
Companies also need storytelling so that teams can understand one another's work and learn from decisions. Carrying experience into new work depends on understanding what was done and what was learned. A well-constructed story answers “What did we do?” while also showing the next team where to begin.
