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If you want to teach, tell your learners a story. 

Traditional workplace training materials like videos, presentations, and literature don’t have a reputation for being all that captivating. They’re often cut-and-dry affairs where learners are talked at more than engaged with. These pieces of training can leave learners bored and watching the clock—none of which bodes well for their enthusiasm to retain their learnings. 

Using storytelling in training allows learners to feel more engaged during a learning experience. Storytelling activates neurobiological processes in our brains that encourage us to stay attentive and emotionally invest in what we’re hearing. Stories can also make complex information more digestable and create more opportunities for knowledge retention. So relying on the ancient art of storytelling in learning and development seems like a winning strategy.

However, employing storytelling in training is simple in theory but a little more complex to execute in reality. That’s why we hosted a webinar sharing the best practices that learning leaders can immediately employ to feature more storytelling in their L&D experiences. We discuss Maestro’s six fundamentals of storytelling in training, which include vital principles like “show, don’t tell” and “know your audience.” We also touch on the value of using a Storyclock to organize your ideas as opposed to a traditional, non-narrative course outline. 

Access the webinar using the form on this page to get all of our expert insights right away. As a bonus, we also include a free copy of our Storyclock template. Here’s a sneak peek of a few key insights from the session. 

 

Storytelling in training (literally) activates your brain

As mentioned before, good storytelling can have a profound effect on our brain chemistry, and these impacts have been studied for quite some time. There are a number of different things going on in your brain that actually help a story take hold and make it something more memorable. Namely, those three things are cortisol, oxytocin, and dopamine—and they can have a big impact on storytelling and learning.  

Cortisol

This is the stress hormone that grabs and holds your attention during a story. It’s the “hook”—a challenge of some kind that needs to be overcome—that activates cortisol and gets listeners engaged. Without a sense of anticipation or risk, our attention wanes. Effective storytelling can jumpstart cortisol production to create a much-needed spark during learning experiences. This can capture learners’ attention and create an environment where information is more likely to stick.

Oxytocin

It’s the chemical that helps build connections between humans. Oxytocin is boosted when we see likable and relatable characters that we create bonds with. Jeremy Adam Smith of the University of California, Berkeley Greater Good Science Center explains this chemical’s effect well. 

“As the cortisol that feeds attention mixes with the oxytocin of care, we experience a phenomenon called ‘transportation,’” said Smith. “Transportation happens when attention and anxiety join with our empathy … For the duration of the story, our fates become intertwined with those of imaginary people.” 

Dopamine

This is the “happy” chemical that’s released when stories have resolutions, particularly good ones. When we connect with characters who achieve positive outcomes, we feel a sense of satisfaction and reward. Conversely, stories with less desirable endings can teach valuable lessons about what to avoid. Both types of endings motivate us to change our actions and they can be effective for achieving the desired behavior change in learners. Tapping into the power of scenario-based learning with impacful characters is another great way to get the dopamine pumping.

Maestro’s six fundamentals of storytelling in training

We have six fundamental rules of storytelling in L&D and we walk through each principle during the webinar. 

Know your audience

If we don’t know our audience, we can’t get through to them. It’s not enough to simply look at learner data. We need to actually talk to our audience. We need to go with them into the field and observe them. Ultimately, if we don’t know their hopes and their fears, we can’t construct a story that will resonate with them.

Know your core lesson

What’s the moral of the story? Not just from the perspective of what will benefit the company, but what will benefit the learners most. The core lesson should be centered on a behavior change: getting the learners to adopt a new action or skillset based on an action you need them to perform in the future. 

Have a beginning, middle, and end

This seems simple but it often gets lost with storytelling in training. We recommend referring to Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling, written by former Pixar Story Artist Emma Coats in 2011. 

Coats said the following about how to build a great narrative structure: “Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front. Think about the ultimate behavior or resolution change you want for the learner. Then work backward from there.”

Put your ideas down on paper

Writing is thinking. Getting your thoughts on paper allows them to get more air, which leads to more refinement. Recording all your ideas (or that of your team if working collaboratively) in one place allows you to draw connections between them, split them up, combine them, and organize the list based on what might work best for your story.

We also recommend using a Storyclock to brainstorm ideas and determine their place in your L&D narrative (more on that very soon!)

Show, don’t tell

There’s a difference between exploring a narrative and telling a story. You can record a video of someone reading instructions in a narrative structure; that’s not quite as engaging. Storytelling in training, on the other hand, should involve some element of conflict, emotion, overcoming the odds, or feeling healthy self-doubt, for example. Use a character’s actions to highlight nuanced emotion in specific situations rather than narrating what’s happening.

As the Gryphon in Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland told the titular character, “No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.”

Simplify, simplify, simplify

Learning is a process, not a one-time event—and learning how to become a good storyteller is the exact same way.

Give yourself permission to not get it right on the first try. Take risks and get creative during ideation, then trim the fat in editing. Part of simplifying your work can also mean being a little vulnerable and getting feedback from others, particularly members of your target audience, to see how your storytelling efforts are going. Their feedback will give you valuable insight into what you’re doing right and what you might need to change. 

Use Storyclock to outline your learning story

A Storyclock is a nonlinear way to outline your L&D storytelling training in a more visually and creatively satisfying way than a traditional outline. 

Imagine your learning experience is 30 minutes long. Draw a clock with even intervals that end at 30 minutes at the 12 marker. Now map your course content onto this clock-like structure. Use your refined idea list (see: “Put your ideas down on paper”) to fill in the clock and segment your training story almost down to the minute. 

With this method, you get a bird’s eye view your entire learning experience. You can easily identify the beginning, middle, and end of your narrative and weave together plot, theme, and character development in a more cohesive and impactful way. You can draw connections between ideas, fill in gaps in the learner’s journey, and create callbacks for moments of reflection.

Evolve your training with storytelling

There’s no perfect way to inspire change in your learners or tell a story. Combining L&D and storytelling—i.e. finding the right way to engage your learners with a compelling plotline and relatable characters—can be a tricky thing to master. But with a little creativity and knowing some of the key elements of a good yarn, you can activate your learners’ brains, capture their attention, and take them on an educational journey they’ll remember. 

Our webinar highlights many ways L&D experts can immediately take advantage of storytelling in their training. So be sure to access the full recording because this article only scratches the surface. There’s much more to dig into, like our responses to great Q&A questions from attendees such as:

• What’s the best way to build an idea list for a Storyclock activity?
• Do you have suggestions on how to build a storytelling training story with conflict and resolution when one isn’t obvious?
• What are recommended books to dive deeper into the science of storytelling in learning development?
• How does storytelling in learning affect project timelines?
• How do you avoid corniness when pushing for more storytelling in training?

Complete the form on this page to access the webinar for free to get all these insights plus a Storyclock template to outline your ideas. With these tools and knowledge, you can immediately infuse your L&D trainings with more storytelling to engage your learners more than ever.