Storytelling in Internal Comms: learning from the experts

Knowing what you want to achieve and how to engage your audience’s hearts as well as their minds. 

Stories are everywhere. Not just in books and on TV, but in the school playground and the sports field, all the way up to our government debating chambers and religious institutions. There’s the story we tell ourselves about our own personal journey. There’s the gossip we share with friends. And there are the collective stories entire nations tell themselves about who they are as a people. Telling and listening to stories is part of what makes us human and we have been hardwired over millennia to love them. 

Yet in Internal Comms, the use of storytelling as a way of enhancing our communication is easily forgotten, and often not done well. Our clients’ employees regularly tell us they’re being bombarded with information via too many channels and that it’s not working. But what if you could dramatically improve the communication you send to employees, so that you knew a single piece would have a far greater impact than all the emails on that topic that’d gone before? That’s where the art of storytelling comes in.  

We chatted with Rebecca Spargo, a copywriter, who’s written for us and our clients many times. She also happens to be a former journalist. We asked her for her thoughts on how IC pros can incorporate tried and tested journalistic methods to improve their storytelling. 

1. Know your audience. News organisations do vast amounts of research in order to understand their audience. ‘Just look at the newspapers,’ says Rebecca. ‘The Guardian and The Sun might run the same story, but how they tell it will be very different. Each paper understands their readers. They know their view of the world, their level of education, how much information they want and what style and tone engages them.’ 

For IC pros this means more than just surveying employees. It means getting out to meet people, even shadowing them for the day. Not only can this provide you with a wealth of stories you can then share, we’re certain that you’ll also find yourself thinking differently about the way you do things. 

2. Prioritise case studies. It’s rare to find a news story on TV or in a paper that doesn’t feature a case study. While facts and figures are needed to help us understand, it’s the human element – the empathy we feel for the individual affected – which gives the story power and makes us remember it. 

People stories can be used to showcase innovation, to illustrate how changes are being implemented or to demonstrate why a new service or product is something every employee should be using. In short, just as in journalism, you could (if you can find them) use a case study for every story. 

According to Rebecca, social media and technology have revolutionised how journalists find case studies and it can do the same for Internal Comms. ‘Getting a good case study often used to mean ringing round organisations trying to find someone. Now, the comments sections and direct appeals to readers bring them to the journalist, opening up stories from people who, in the past, you might never have found.’

Use the channels you have in your organisation to help you find case studies. But know that, sometimes, particularly if you have employees who don’t engage with these channels, you will have to put the leg work in and find them yourself.  

3. Define your story. How best to tell a story isn’t always obvious, but don’t fear - there are ways to make your planning easier. 

‘When I talk to a new client about a writing project,’ says Rebecca, ‘my first questions will always be about their audience. After that, it’s almost always what they want to achieve with their communication. What do they want the reader to come away thinking or doing? Is it, for example, that they now see you as an authoritative source on a subject? Or that your product sounds so amazing, they have to buy it? Understanding what you’re trying to achieve will give you focus as you write and ensure you’re communicating the key takeaways.’ 

Good stories have conflict and obstacles for the hero to overcome, and satisfying stories have a good resolution too. In a work environment this often means outlining the problem and then presenting your case for how to fix it. When it comes to the human element – your case study – did they have a challenge they needed to overcome and how did they do that? Or could it be presented as a tale of triumph, a lesson learned from failure, or a shared experience that highlights the values of your organisation?   

If you’re interviewing someone, think about what you want to know to help you frame the right questions. And, says Rebecca, don’t be afraid to repeat your questions if you don’t feel you’ve got what you need. 

‘While you’re unlikely to be interviewing a politician who’s deliberately trying to avoid telling you something, people often meander or go off on tangents when they talk. If you want to directly quote them, bring them back, re-word the question and get them to focus. And while you’re interviewing always be listening out for that good quote, the one that will convey the story you’re trying to tell succinctly and powerfully.’ 

4. Translating complex information. Sometimes you’ve got a dry, dense document you need to tell people about and you want to make sure even your most disinterested reader takes something from it. 

For her final set of tips, we asked Rebecca how she would approach this:  

‘I start with something I learned while I was training to be a journalist and that’s to think about how you would tell the story if you were in the pub with your friends. It’s a remarkably effective way of forcing yourself to think about the most important points of a story and how you would distil it into one line. It’s then about getting the order of priority right. Key takeaways at the top, so if someone time-poor stops reading at that point they’ve got the most important information. Further explanatory, interesting or illustrative information comes further down – for those engaged enough they want to learn more.’     

Storytelling cuts through the noise in internal comms, and the skill to turn corporate messages into compelling narratives that truly resonate should not be underestimated.

As Rebecca highlights, great storytelling is about engagement, emotion, and clarity. It’s about finding the human angle, shaping a message with purpose, and making sure every piece of communication serves a clear goal.

So, as you craft your next internal comms piece, ask yourself: Am I just sharing information, or am I telling a story that will be remembered?

If you need a hand with storytelling in your business - we’d love to help - we run storytelling workshops as well as providing communication training and support to leaders and line managers… get in touch to find out more!