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How to use storytelling to get buy-in for projects

By Marilyn de Villiers
Johannesburg, 21 May 2018

Drowning executive management in detail is probably the least effective way of obtaining their buy-in and support for projects, particularly projects that may be going a little pear-shaped.

That was the key message shared by Jaco van Jaarsveldt, PMO and strategy executive at specialist credit risk management consultancy Scoresharp, at the quarterly PMO Forum held in Bryanston recently.

Van Jaarsveldt, who was previously senior business consultant at Edcon Credit Drawing, drew on his decades of experience in the role of executive business sponsor or owner of large strategic projects, particularly in the retail industry.

He told forum delegates that corporate storytelling was an art all PMOs should work at mastering.

This was important because, as the author of Power Cues noted in the best-selling book: in today's information-saturated age, facts, figures and all the rational things that we think are important in the business world effectively go in one ear and out the other of those we are trying to win over or get on our side.

"In other words, being able to connect through a good story is more powerful than just sharing data and information. People don't listen to facts and figures, they respond to stories," Van Jaarsveldt said.

He defined corporate storytelling as the ability to convey a message to an audience that sticks in their minds, attaches emotion to things that have happened, and gain buy-in to achieve the desired objectives.

"The ability to construct an impactful, well-structured, focused and succinct corporate story will stand any PMO in good stead and result in ongoing executive buy-in," he added.

However, the typical project feedback given to today's executives includes project summary dashboards; risk tracking; performance against budgets statistics; prioritisation matrices; resource utilisation; and other very project-specific metrics.

"While this information is extremely important from a performance and tracking perspective, all the executive team wants to know is: 'When is this going to happen?' 'How quickly can we expect receive a return on our investment?' 'How much more will the project cost?' and 'What will it deliver and how will this impact our bottom line?' They don't care about how the project is being run. They don't want to know your key risks, they just want to know what you are doing about it," he said.

The best way to get corporate buy-in for a project, or ensure ongoing support for a project that might be taking a little longer and costing more than expected, was to remind executives how the project aligned with overall corporate strategy, how it supported the "bigger picture", and the benefits it would deliver.

XHead = Dos and don'ts of story-telling

Van Jaarsveldt offered the following tips for effective corporate storytelling:

Do

  • Have a very clear, simple message that's relevant to your audience.
  • Mine your own experience: you are the expect, after all.
  • Focus on experiences and lessons learned.
  • Highlight a struggle: a story without a struggle or a unique experience is not a good story.
  • Keep it simple: less is always ore.
  • Practise your storytelling skills.

Don't

  • Make yourself the hero of the story.
  • Make the story too detailed, especially not when dealing with the executive leadership.
  • Lie or fabricate. The truth is always your most powerful weapon, even if it is unpleasant, provided you have a Plan B to offer and remind the audience of your ultimate objective and how this will advance the company's overall strategy.