A: Stories help learners remember key points from training sessions, reinforce the content, and help new trainers feel more poised and comfortable, says Mark Satterfield, founder and CEO of Gentle Rain Marketing, LLC (www.GentleRainMarketing.com), and author of Unique Sales Stories: How to Persuade Others Through the Power of Stories.
“People remember stories,” he says. “People are not necessarily going to remember the five key characteristics of great leaders, but they are likely to remember a story about how Sam turned around a manufacturing organization by motivating his employees through various means.”
However, to be effective, a story must be connected to the training topic and be told well. A poorly told story will either “bore the audience or leave them scratching their heads,” Satterfield says.
“Storytelling is a skill, and I think that virtually anybody can learn to tell stories,” he continues. “You know you have a good one when someone can repeat it.”
Satterfield advises against developing stories “on the fly.” Instead, he recommends creating a repertoire of stories related to your topic.
He identifies five components of an effective story: (1) introduction of the character(s) and discussions of (2) the problem, (3) the consequences (i.e., why the problem is important), (4) available options, and (5) solutions/results. It is important to develop all components, but you might have time to share only certain ones during training.
“Preparation is key,” Satterfield says. Verbalizing your stories in advance will help you present them better and help you catch yourself if you stray from your main points during training. You do not have to practice verbalizing your stories in front of a group, but if you do and “if you get feedback, that’s a bonus.”
Using stories at the two most important moments in training—the beginning and end—helps learners remember training content, he says. Leading off with a story helps engage learners. “You will visually see your audience become attentive and relaxed.” Ending with a story provides an opportunity to summarize the main takeaways.
16 years old. I was driving my Grandfathers 1979 Ford Fairmont. The car had bald tires, and on that pticraular night I was on a twisty backroad and it was raining. Going downhill I hydroplaned, hit the ditch on the right side of the road, spun a 3600, blew out the right front passenger tire, and the car ended up on its side, scraping down the hill with sparks flying. My friends and I got out somehow, flipped the car over.and it proceeded to roll the rest of the way down the hill because I didnt think to put it in Park before we came up with the grand idea of pushing it back onto 4 wheels. We changed the tire and took it to a car wash. It didnt look *too* bad. Leaving the car wash, I realized that I had cooked the brakes because we used the emergency brake when changing the tiremy Grandfather never used it, so the cable was rusty. When I hit the brake release after our Indy 500 tire change, it did nothing and I drove with the back brakes locked up for about 5 miles. Had to call my Grandfather, and his first words were not Are you OK? but instead were Is the car OK?