1. A Guide to Storytelling
Olivier Serrat
2013
The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank, or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this presentation and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this presentation do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

2. Conveying Events Naturally …
The age-old practice of storytelling is the vivid description of ideas, beliefs, personal experiences, and life-lessons through stories or narratives that evoke powerful emotions and insights.
Storytelling is one of the most effective communication tools: analysis may excite the mind but it does not gladden the heart, which is where one must go to motivate people.
Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.
—Jean-Luc Godard

3. … With Ripping Yarns Purposeful storytelling delivers results.
By providing the context from which knowledge springs, stories increase the potential for knowledge-sharing.
By grounding facts in a narrative structure, stories boost the likelihood that learning will take place and be passed on.
By articulating emotional aspects as well as factual content, stories express tacit knowledge, always difficult to convey.
… For the story—from Rumpelstiltskin to War and Peace—is one of the basic tools invented by the mind of man, for the purpose of gaining understanding. There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.
—Ursula K. Le Guin

4. Spot The Difference: Version A
In our evaluation of a project in Bangladesh, we noted a wide variance in the competence of individual villages to develop sustainable and effective solutions to problems encountered, for example in replacing broken parts or developing low-cost products such as new latrines. The lessons to be learned from this evaluation are that we should:
work against over-dependence on development partners,
note and encourage entrepreneurial approaches to problems,
identify existing and repeatable good practices,
build and strengthen communication between villages to assist cross-fertilization of ideas at the grassroots level.

5. Spot The Difference: Version B
Bangladesh is a really impressive place … in a positive sense. I was in a village last year working in water and sanitation. We were trying to promote the use of improved latrines, but could not produce concrete slabs and rings locally for a low cost. Somebody told me to visit the latrines of a lady in the village, so I went along and said, "Can I see your latrines?" She had made a latrine out of a clay pot with the bottom cut off. Then, with a potter from the area, she developed a small local production of bottomless pots, and they became the latrines. Ingenious. A few weeks later I was in another village and saw a hand pump; it was broken, just a small piece missing. So I said to the villagers, "Why don't you repair your pump?" And they said, "Oh, we just wait for another donor to bring a new pump." So I said, "Why don't you visit the lady in the village over there? She finds ways of getting things done for herself."

6. What Stories Are Good At
Make abstract concepts meaningful
Help connect people and ideas
Inspire imagination and motivate action
Give breathing space and allow different perspectives to emerge
Create sense, coherence, and meaning
Develop valuable descriptions of the situations in which knowledge is applied and solutions are found
Examine organizational values and culture
Communicate complex messages simply
Operate effectively in networks
Drive change
Working with stories is one of the best ways to

7. Elements of a Good Story
Good stories are interesting, unusual, provocative, serious, controversial, surprising, intriguing, or inspiring. They
Respond to demand.
Exploit a specific opportunity.
Include personal and human elements of experience.
Present the point of view of someone who has been directly involved.
Use a variety of narrative patterns for different aims.
Achieve a balance between words from persons and statements from organizations.
Recount a successful intervention.
Describe an unsuccessful intervention.
Provide a solution to both immediate and broader problems.
Play to what is already in people's minds.
Target people with the authority to make decisions and change things.

8. Thematic Applications
If Your Objective Is To
Spark action
Communicate who you are
You Will Need A Story That
Describes how a successful change was implemented in the past, but allows listeners to imagine how it might work in their situation
Provides audience-engaging drama and reveals some strength or vulnerability from your past
In Telling It, You Will Need To
Avoid excessive detail that will take the audience's mind off its own challenge
Include meaningful details, but also make sure the audience has the time and inclination to hear your story
Your Story Will Inspire Such Responses As
"Just imagine …"; "What if …"
"I didn't know that about him!"; "Now I see what she's driving at."

9. Thematic Applications
If Your Objective Is To
Transmit values
Foster collaboration
You Will Need A Story That
Feels familiar to the audience and will prompt discussion about the issues raised by the values being promoted
Movingly recounts a situation that listeners have also experienced and that prompts them to share stories about the topic
In Telling It, You Will Need To
Use believable characters and situations and never forget that the story must be consistent with your own actions
Ensure that a set agenda does not squelch the swapping of stories and that you are ready to tap the energy unleashed by the reactions
Your Story Will Inspire Such Responses As
"That's so right!"; "Why don't we do that all the time?"
"That reminds me of the time that I …"; "Hey, I've got a story like that."

10. Thematic Applications
If Your Objective Is To
Tame the grapevine
Share knowledge
You Will Need A Story That
Highlights, often through the use of gentle humor, some aspect of a rumor that reveals it to be untrue or unlikely
Focuses on mistakes made and shows in some detail how they were corrected, with an explanation of why the solution worked
In Telling It, You Will Need To
Avoid the temptation to be mean-spirited, and be sure that the rumor is indeed false
Solicit alternative—and possibly better—solutions
Your Story Will Inspire Such Responses As
"No kidding!"; "I'd never thought about it like that before!"
"There but for the grace of God …"; "Wow! We'd better watch that from now on."

11. Thematic Applications
If Your Objective Is To
Lead people into the future
You Will Need A Story That
Evokes the future you want to create without providing excessive detail that will only turn out to be wrong
In Telling It, You Will Need To
Be sure of your storytelling skills (otherwise, use a story in which the past can serve as a springboard to the future)
Your Story Will Inspire Such Responses As
"When do we start?"; "Let's do it!"
The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best—and therefore never scrutinize or question.
—Stephen Jay Gould
The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.
—Muriel Rukeyser

12. Day-to-Day Applications
Storytelling can be a more compelling and effective way to explain reasoning processes, deliver information, and convince others than conventional modes of communications, e.g., electronic mail, reports, formal speeches, etc.
In organizations, potential applications of stories include
Oral histories
Team or community-building exercises
Workshop warm-ups
Back-to-office reports
Activity or project reviews
Monitoring and evaluation systems
Recreation

13. Evaluative Applications
In the field of knowledge management and learning, storytelling has found expression through tools such as
Appreciative inquiry
Exit interviews
Learning histories
The Most Significant Change technique
Social reminiscing

14. Further Reading
ADB Conducting Exit Interviews. Manila. Available:
ADB Storytelling. Manila. Available:
ADB Appreciative Inquiry. Manila. Available:
ADB The Most Significant Change Technique. Manila. Available:
ADB ADB: Reflections and Beyond. Manila. Available:

15. Further Reading
ADB Building Narrative Capacity at ADB. Manila. Available:
ADB On Second Thought. Manila. Available:
ADB Learning Histories. Manila. Available:
ADB Interactive Stories of Sustainable Development. Manila. Available:

16. Further Reading
ADB The Long Reach of Short Tales. Manila. Available:
Stephen Denning Telling Tales. Harvard Business Review. May.
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Story Guide: Building Bridges Using Narrative Techniques. Berne.

17. Video
ADB Harvesting Knowledge. Manila. Available: vimeo.com/

18. Olivier Serrat Principal Knowledge Management Specialist
Regional and Sustainable Development Department
Asian Development Bank