In this episode, I'm really excited to be sitting down with Karen Eber. Karen is the CEO and chief storyteller of the Eber leadership group. I was introduced to Karen a couple of years ago when I was in the early stages of writing my book, re-defining HR. I reached out to my network to ask who the top minds in this field are that I should be interviewing for my book, and I was pointed to Karen. And she's one of the top minds, I think, on the planet around all things performance.

"Eber leadership group is focused on helping companies reimagine and evolve their culture from their leaders, their teams, how they use storytelling, just thinking of different ways to bring out the best of people and create a place where work is," she explains.

Have a listen as we talk to her about her background, experience and ideas on all things, performance, culture, and storytelling and how to maximize and build well-rounded teams.

You can also listen/share the episode directly syndicated on any of these channels: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcast | Stitcher | TuneIn.

The Importance of Storytelling

Karen's real passion lies in storytelling. Her Ted Talk on the power of stories and their importance for leaders has been incredibly well-received. 

Most of us have never really thought about storytelling as a discipline and consciously weaving that into how we feel about our work. So I delved at the opportunity to ask Karen for advice on how others can get better at harnessing stories and employing them in the workplace.

"So a couple of things first recognize that stories are what shape your culture. This story about the behavior you encourage or discourage is showing what's valued in your organization. It's showing what your great leaders do, or what your great teams do. And a great story is going to have far more impact than the values that hang on your wall."

Focus More on Storytelling and Less on Hard Data

I was taken back to her time as an employee at Deloitte and how she tried to persuade leaders to change how they manage performance.

"It felt very scary to them because, unfortunately, data doesn't change our behavior.

It's emotions that do." She explains how our emotions play a role in our decision-making,

"We think that we're making decisions biologic, in fact, in rationalization, but we're actually making them in our amygdala at an emotional level, and so every time people come to me, and they say, I have to present data, there's no room for story they're wrong because when you don't take someone through data, we all fill in the gaps on the data, have our own interpretation and land in a different spot."

"Especially if it's like a chart full of multiple data points. And I think so many of the listening audience, I probably sat in meetings maybe with a voice of employee survey where the argument in the room starts to be questioning the data. Well, how many people responded, and we don't really care about this, and well, is this really meaningful instead of what do we do about it?"

"That is the power of a story. You take people to a common understanding or a common starting point that allows for different types of discussions. And it is just such an important skill, especially in this environment because you're going to engage more brain. You're going to have more commitment to action, and you're going to just tap into what people really need."

Every Good Story Begins with a Framework

The first step in being a good storyteller, she explains, is to look at who your audience is because that is who we intend to persuade and encourage to feel, look and do something differently. 

So how do you create a good story, capture minds and spur action?

"You can use personal examples. You can tell a story from someone else. You can share something you heard on a podcast. Whatever you emotionally connect with and excites you should be where you go first."

Karen also reveals some questions that are a good starting point to build the framework for your story:

"What is the context for this story? What's happening and why should I care as the listener? What is the conflict where something happens and everything changes? What is the outcome of all of that? And what is the takeaway for the listener?"

"And so if you do those things, you identify our story, you define your audience, you answer those questions and write a takeaway with like four sentences. You already have the structure of a story and something to start with."

We covered a lot in this episode, and we invite you to check out the full episode below.

People in This Episode

• Karen Eber: Eber Leadership Group, Twitter, LinkedIn

Redefining HR is underwritten by our friends at Pyn, leaders in modern employee communications for the distributed workplace. A tremendous tool that’s definitely worth your time.