Remembering your stortelling nature

You have probably heard it before...

"Humans are hard-wired for story."

It's one of the most common things we hear or read about storytelling capability. But what does that actually mean?

Our brains look for cause and effect. We naturally ask, what led to this? What happened next?

We remember in stories: time, place, people, and what changed. That's how memory works.

Emotion makes things stick, too. If something matters, we remember it. Story carries feeling, not just facts, and the stronger the emotional experience, the stickier the memory.

Identity is also a story. When we explain who we are, we tell what shaped us.

Groups run on shared stories. Teams, companies, and cultures hold together through meaning. When that meaning becomes confused, connection weakens too.

The human experience, past, present, and future, is held together by stories.

What this also means is that as a story facilitator and strategist, I can't really teach you something you already inherently know how to do. Instead, my job is to help people remember and awaken to their inherent storytelling ability.

Sure, it's a rather philosophical and somewhat abstract notion, but argue that one with Plato. The legendary Greek philosopher once wrote that there is no such thing as learning, only remembering.

And once you remember, the strategic pivot becomes so much easier to grasp.

Lecture-style facilitation, PowerPoint, heavy content, and abstract, neat models won't get people there alone. As a story practitioner, I work in a non-linear way, allowing insights to percolate and surface through the storytelling experience itself.

Like a yarn of wool being untangled one thread at a time, instead of laying down stepping stones in a linear fashion, the art of storytelling begins to find form through the slow unfolding of memory, meaning, and connection.

I help people bring their stories to life, working typically in a peer-coaching format. By facilitating the ebb and flow of story sharing, the insights of others become the reflections and reminders that guide them back into their story intelligence. Learners support each other by listening, paying attention to, and reflecting on the stories shared.

The best way to remember your storytelling nature and to make visible what hides in plain sight is through the iterative, practical, experiential process of story itself.

No amount of intellectual understanding can replace the living laboratory of story in action.

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I'm Colin. Using methods from the world of theatre-making and directing, I help leaders and teams develop and integrate strategic storytelling skills so that messages stick, people connect, and action becomes clear.

#moveyourthinking #storytelling