Want to Engage Employees? Tell Better Internal Stories.

What is internal storytelling?

Internal storytelling is the practice of using compelling narratives to engage people in an organization, such as employees and stakeholders. Internal storytelling can occur through any internal medium, such as writing or video, and you can distribute it via any internal channel, like email, chat, or during a meeting.

What is the goal of internal storytelling?

While internal comms and leaders need to share facts, purely fact-based presentations—like slides with bullet points—lack the emotional hook that engages employees. To be certain, there is definitely a time and place for quick bullet point presentations. But other times, stories are a better option. Stories add context, meaning, and emotion, and there’s a fair amount of research suggesting that narrative formats often lead to better comprehension, recall, and engagement.

What are the benefits of internal storytelling?

Improved comprehension. While readers often struggle to understand expository (descriptive) text, researchers say, “…they normally gain a good comprehension of narratives due to the familiarity with narratives’ content and their structural features.”

Better recall. A study with 33,000 participants found that stories were more easily understood and better recalled than essays. Stories are easy to remember.

Stories are more engaging. Since stories can evoke emotions and create personal connections, narratives become more memorable and relatable than data on its own.

When does it make sense to use internal storytelling?

A bullet-point slide deck, not accompanied by a story, makes sense in many situations—like step-by-step training on how to request PTO or policy briefings. Conversely, storytelling makes more sense in situations that require context.

For example, if an organization is introducing a change or new initiative, employees will want to understand the reason behind the change, not just the logistics. The comms team should leverage internal storytelling to explain what wasn’t working, how that was discovered, and how decision makers chose the solution.

Or, let’s say an organization is providing ethics training to employees. It can be much more effective to share detailed stories about different employees who faced tricky, gray-area decisions rather than reciting policy bullet points. Building stories into internal training can build empathy and improve recall.

What’s a good framework for structuring an internal story?

“Narrative arc” framework: describe the scene, introduce a challenge, explain the action or change, and end with resolution.

“Q&A snapshot” framework: include a short intro paragraph followed by three to five engaging questions that highlight someone’s personality.

How to add internal storytelling to your communications strategy

1. Tell customer stories.

One of the most impactful types of internal storytelling is customer success stories. You can solicit stories from long-time clients or ask team members to submit memorable customer interactions. To bring these to life, throw your phone on a tripod, grab a ring light, and record a brief interview of your employee telling the story. These do not need to be scripted or highly produced. Focus on capturing emotions.

Invest in thought leadership content.

Leaders in your organizations have stories to tell—whether it’s about their journey founding the organization, a story about their childhood that shaped who they are, or a story about how they solidified a partnership with a fellow nonprofit. Since leaders are busy, it often works to schedule a recurring monthly or quarterly call with each leader, which you can record and revisit later by reviewing the transcript.

Here are some helpful prompts you can ask to inspire some authentic storytelling from your leaders:

• Who taught you something early in life that still influences how you approach work?
• Tell me about a time when you thought, “Yes, this is what our organization is about.”
• Is there a client or community interaction that reminded you why you do this work?
• Can you tell me about an employee who impressed or inspired you recently—what stood out?

Transparent sharing from the top down can help foster a culture of storytelling. Find ways to integrate executive storytelling into your internal comms.

3. Tell employee stories.

Employee stories are at your fingertips. When leaders model storytelling in your organization, they can inspire other employees to share as well. Take time to collect and share team member stories.

Here are a few series ideas for employee storytelling, along with prompts to get you started.

• “A Day in the Life”
  • What’s something people often misunderstand about your job?
  • What’s one of your go-to tools?
• “Outside the Office”
  • Tell us about a non-work hobby you enjoy.
  • How do you recharge after a busy week?
• “How We Work Together”
  • Tell us about a time you collaborated with someone to achieve something meaningful.
  • Who’s someone in the company that makes your job easier?

When done thoughtfully and intentionally, internal storytelling can turn internal comms from transactional to connective. Customer, employees, and leaders are all full of great stories. People often just need an easy way—and a little prompting—to share their stories.