Need a Story's Story

Rance Greene has always loved a good story. His work as an actor, choreographer, visual artist, playwright, teacher and speaker revolved around creating and delivering the right story for his audience. 

He was attracted to talent development for its central goal of helping others become better at what they do. He believed storytelling was a crucial part of that mission and developed a methodical approach to train others to tell stories that made an impact on employees, customers, and learners. He calls it Story Design. Rance started sharing his Story Design approach with talent development professionals in Dallas, Texas. It became apparent that the interest in bringing stories center stage in training, leadership, and communications was intense.

People began to share their perspectives with Rance: seasoned consultants who wanted to use the power of story for their clients, but didn't know how; leaders with great ideas who didn't know how to get them across; instructional design students who knew a ton of theory, but didn't know how to apply it on the job; and professionals from other industries transitioning into talent development who needed an accessible method of entering the talent development field. They all knew that storytelling worked. What they wanted was a method--a practical, comprehensible technique that could launch them into storytelling. 

Story Design, at its core, has a singular goal: Move a specific audience to take action on new skills, new knowledge and new attitudes using story's power to connect with people's emotions. 

To connect with the audience's emotions, two central questions must be answered: "Who is your audience?" and "What do you want them to do?" Building relatable characters and strong conflict around the answers to these two questions is what makes the story--and your message--so powerful...and actionable. 

Organizations, leaders, designers, presenters who can articulate a story that clearly communicates their message have a distinct advantage: their message will actually make a difference in the lives of their audience. Lead better. Design better. Train better. Communicate better. Change better. Story Design.