Tell Your [Corporate] Story

Storytelling has been a communications buzzword for some time now. Unlike other fleeting ideas, it is not going anywhere; mostly due to scientific and anecdotal data supporting how effective stories are, but also because stories are just fun. How effective are stories? In a word… very.

Conventional thought holds, people tell stories to other people, but a long-overlooked concept is that of the formally composed corporate story.

All companies, no matter the size or age, have a meaningful story to tell, but until it is properly documented, they tend to go untold, or worse mis-told.

To illustrate this point I am (insert shocked gasp) going to tell you a story.

My first job after college was as a technical writer for the software division of Bell Atlantic. For those too young to remember, Bell Atlantic is known today as Verizon.

My job was to lead a team updating a 3,500 page software documentation set as improvements were made by the programming team. I was a contractor so my workspace was a recently vacated cubicle still strewn with detritus from the previous occupant.

I mostly focused on my work, but one day I pushed my chair back from my desk and looking up on the shelf above my cube I noticed a curious thing. In the middle of a group of three-ring binders was a thick, white, 3-inch binder labeled, “Corporate Logo Use for Coffee Mugs and Drinkware.”

I’ve never been one to ignore an intriguing three-ring binder, so I pulled the tome down from the shelf. It was exactly as labeled. Before me lay 150+ pages of guidelines and illustrations on proper use of the Bell Atlantic logo as applied to any vessel designed to hold a consumable liquid.

I was both fascinated and horrified.

As a technical writer, I found the document well crafted and although the topic was fairly narrow, it contained an incredible level of detail and specificity. I was however rather uncomfortable with the idea that so much control and rigidity was really necessary for something as mundane as a coffee mug from the phone company.

Here’s the point. Companies spend heartily on establishing standards for every aspect of operation, behavior, and information dissemination, but rarely do they make the effort to do the same with the story of the company, its products, services and people.

Stories of how things came to be, how products developed and how services came on-line, tend to be loosely handed down in a “tribal knowledge” sort of way. Think about the companies you respect and admire the most. Do you know their stories? In some measure I'm sure you do. Hell, Apple had not one but two Hollywood movies telling its story on the big screen and too many books to count. Where a casual observer knows some of a company's story, dedicated employees know it cold... and customers always take notice. No matter the industry, market or climate, these companies have a clear advantage over the competition.

As a 22 year old technical writer, I was never taught anything about how the product on which I worked came to be, but I knew damn well diagonal placement of the Bell Atlantic logo on a mug shorter than seven inches was not allowed. Seems a bit upside down, right?

Just imagine if the story of your company was formally written, and every employee was required to read it, refer to it, and use it as a guiding resource.

Let that sink in.

The positive effects of a common understanding, a unified purpose and an improved focus are substantial. If your company story isn’t written down… it should be. The positive impact on sales, morale, culture and quality is nearly unlimited.

Think about deals you've lost, vendors who never seem to "get it" and programs that fizzled or failed. If the story of your company had been properly applied, would things have turned out differently?

I have been a storyteller for the forty-five plus years my speaking life. I have been a marketer for the twenty-five plus years my professional life. These two worlds have collided into the Corporate Storytelling Services I now offer to companies all over the world.

If you feel the time has come to have your company story told, I’d love to show you how to get started. CLICK HERE to learn more about how to get your story told.

Steve Nazarian publishes a blog about creative problem solving at: thepennycollector.com

You can also purchase his book The Penny Collector at: thepennycollector.com/the-book/