Heroes and legends: Use storytelling to instigate cultural change

Over the centuries, stories have been told around the world to pass on community wisdom and culture in a memorable way. Storytelling in business is a much more recent phenomenon, but its value in helping to make sense of the past and understand possible futures has been realised by an increasing number of business leaders.

The late Steve Jobs described the competitive battle between Apple and Microsoft as a David and Goliath story to inspire his team. Jack Welch famously used colourful stories to get the message across that things needed to change at GE.

In the legal sector, storytelling as a way of engaging partners and staff, of creating pride in a brand or setting out a compelling case for change, has been slower to develop.

Lawyers pride themselves on a rational approach to understanding. They value facts, data and evidence to convince them of an argument and can be sceptical about a form of communication that relies on emotion or requires a leap of imagination.

But, in many ways, law firms have richer sources of stories than most corporate organisations. They often have long illustrious histories, with entrepreneurial founding partners and big characters who shaped the firm and developed the client base over many years.

Continuity creates a sense of community and has led some firms to commission books about their history. It is a way of setting down the stories told in the corridors to celebrate the firm's origins, legacy and culture.

These histories remind partners why they joined their firm and reinforce their pride in the shared enterprise. For laterally hired partners, they provide background on the key characters and turning points in the firm's history, which can help to accelerate their integration into the partnership.

Sharing war stories

Lawyers are encouraged in the way they are trained to pass on their experiences to the next generation. The apprentice model allows partners to share anecdotes about things that have happened in the firm or to themselves personally. They talk about situations they faced with clients or before they became partners.

By telling stories to trainees and associates in their rooms, partners pass on what's important in the firm, just like elders passing on wisdom to younger members of the tribe in a more primitive setting.

Such storytelling creates heroes and legends: the pioneering partners who built a practice from scratch, the rainmakers who nurtured client relationships for years before winning a big transaction, the leaders of groundbreaking deals and the doyens of the firm who passed a legacy on to their protges.

It is human nature to want to belong. Stories like these help partners and staff to feel part of something special; to be proud of their association with leading practitioners and a firm with great credentials. They also play an important part in sustaining the firm's culture by explaining how things are done in the firm and what qualities are valued.

Creating a narrative

Storytelling is increasingly seen as a vital leadership skill. It echoes the value put on storytelling by the Ute tribe in native America, who appointed their best storytellers as their leaders. For law firm leaders, telling stories can be a potent tool to effect change, to envision a new future and to inspire others to do their very best.

Jack Welch famously told stories that painted a picture of a new and exciting future for GE, which became a compelling narrative that people wanted to be part of. Convincing partners in law firms to change the way they think or act may be challenging, but how we react to stories is universal - told well, they engage, inspire and motivate.

Outlining proposed strategic goals, even when set alongside data on financial performance, may be accepted by partners as a rational argument, but they are unlikely to capture partners' hearts to compel them to act or to do things differently. Objective analysis does not excite anyone about a goal, but storytelling has the ability to unite an idea with emotion; it arouses the listener's emotions and can be highly persuasive.

To create a successful narrative, the story that is told needs to be set in context: this is where we've come from and these are the challenges we now face. It also needs to be ruthlessly honest: it's no good painting an overly rosy picture which no cynical lawyer will believe. The most engaging stories are ones where the characters face insuperable odds and have to dig deep, often with limited resources, to overcome adversity and adversaries.

So, the narrative needs to be truthful: our backs are against the wall, we'll need everyone's efforts to get through this, but here's what I think we should do. Painting a picture in this way helps to illustrate the strategic points and to sell the idea of change, leading to people getting more comfortable with the prospect of a different future.

As the narrative develops in the firm, new stories can be told that illustrate progress towards the picture of the future that has been painted. New heroes will be created who will go on to be written into future chapters of the firm's history.

Building trust

Steve Jobs once famously opened a speech with the words "Today I want to tell you three stories from my life".¹ He went on to talk about his early life, about bouncing back from being fired from the company he founded and about how cancer had changed his perspective on life. It's a speech that few who heard it will ever forget.

'About me' stories like these help to engender a sense of who the leader really is and what he believes in. They strip away executive trappings and help others to empathise with someone who may to difficult to relate to due to the distance that seniority creates. They allow others to decide whether this is someone they want to follow and support.

Self disclosure is an effective ways of engaging with others and inspiring them, especially when they reveal surprising details or show vulnerabilities in those held in great esteem.

Jack Welch frequently told the story of how he blew up part of the plant he was responsible for when he was only 24 years old. He told the story not just to illustrate the lessons he learnt from the experience, but also to signal to everyone in GE that he wasn't infallible. He wanted to create a culture in which others were honest and admitted their mistakes too, without fear of the consequences.

Partners who talk openly about mistakes they have made in their careers, decisions they regret or personal situations that impacted them greatly, build trust in their associates. Partners who openly relate their own career experiences to those more junior to them, disclosing the doubts they may have had or decisions they chose to make at a similar time in their careers, are particularly effective storytellers. Their self-disclosure humanises them, encourages associates to talk about their own hopes and fears and leads to more open working relationships.

Bringing values to life

Storytelling can also be an effective means of communicating the importance of the firm's values and what they mean. Typically, values are expressed as single words, such as 'integrity' or short statements such as 'client service excellence'. Even when these statements are expanded into fuller descriptions, they remain open to interpretation or are considered too vague to have any real meaning.

Telling stories about people in the firm who demonstrate the firm's values in what they do and how they do it are a powerful way of bringing the firm's values and culture to life. If values are integrated into stories about actual experiences, especially ones that people across the firm can relate to, they become easier to understand and replicate.

The story of a named legal secretary, for example, going the extra mile for a client by arranging flowers for his wife after the birth of their child, might be told to illustrate the firm's values on client service in a way that other secretaries can relate to.

Similarly, storytelling can play a helpful role in communicating the firm's stance on diversity and inclusion. Policy statements in this area often lack direct relevance to the realities of day-to-day working.

Telling success stories involving people from a range of backgrounds and job categories can go a long way towards demonstrating an inclusive culture in which everyone in the firm can thrive. Personal stories told by partners about their own origins and beliefs help to strengthen this approach.

Starting an internal presentation with the opening line "let me tell you a story" is guaranteed to grip the audience in a way that a description of the agenda never will. The trick is to look out for the stories as they happen, to note them down and to use them with a particular purpose in mind.

Lawyers as storytellers

Throughout the ages, storytelling has been deployed as a means of teaching lessons through memorable fables, parables or myths. Who doesn't know the meaning of the Aesop fable about the boy who cried wolf, or the Greek myth about Icarus flying too close to the sun?

In a law firm, telling stories about experiences others have faced helps people to understand and remember what to watch out for if things start to go wrong on a transaction, for example. Such storytelling also encourages teams to reflect on their successes and learn from their mistakes as part of their normal working practices.

While it may not come that naturally, lawyers have great tales to tell and, with a little practice and confidence, they can become highly skilful storytellers (see box: Tips for effective storytelling).

As well as providing an effective tool of persuasion, motivation and inspiration, telling or listening to stories at work can be tremendously rewarding at a personal level. As Philip Pullman once said, "after nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world".

 

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Tips for effective storytelling

While telling stories at one level is very simple, to do it effectively for the purposes of persuading others of an argument or the need to change requires a certain amount of preparation, skill and practice.

• Tell your story from the heart – if it is not authentic, your audience will see right through it

• Keep it short and simple – it is more likely to be remembered and there is less chance of busy people getting bored

• Create interest and draw listeners in by describing vivid sights, smells and feelings

• Structure your story with a beginning, middle and end

• Have characters your audience can relate to

• Don’t be afraid to flex your tone of voice and use gestures

• Practice telling your story to trusted colleagues

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Jill King is a consultant and the former global HR director at Linklaters (www.jkinsights.co.uk)

Endnote

1. Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford University, June 2005 (see https://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html)