Jan found a few people [in the archives] referring to "story telling" as a tool [and a BBC item about] a female business guru from the US, who attacked story telling quite heavily. [The question is:] What is your reaction on this?
Without access to the source article, I am going to provide exactly the same response that I do when people criticise PowerPoint. The problem is not the tool, it is the use of it.
Stories would be appreciated by those whose preferred learning style is Concrete Experience (in Kolb's model) and the discussion afterwards would suit those who lean towards Reflective Observation.
For those who prefer Abstract concepts, the Visuals and Kinaesthetic are more likely to appreciate a story than a statement of facts. The Verbally inclined wouldn't mind either. The Numerates will join in if a statistic can be woven in. As 45.8% of statistics used in corporate training courses do not reflect reality, this should not be too hard. (See the neat bit of superimposing my own hypothesis on Kolb and the model kidnapped by NLP - then adding exaggeration and humor to attract the attention of those who are offended by such statements or the absence of footnotes.)
Now you have a learning experience.
The question is will people use it to reinforce their own biases - a characteristic of many reflective observations or to explore the possibilities - Active Experimentation.
And the answer is both. Some will look at what could make a story a good learning activity; others will say: hey maybe there is more than one approach to learning styles and I had better explore some of these; others will see another simplistic explanation of a complex issue that does not justify scrutiny, but except for those who like to be offended they left earlier.
So Jan, stories can add to the experience if they relate to the learning objectives and address the preferences of the learners.
With respect to length, sometimes an effective story may be one paragraph as would appear to be promoted by the source you refer to, other times a multi-page Harvard Business Review case study.
The length should vary according to the application and the audience.
Ruling stories in or out is as pointless as ruling PowerPoint in and out just because presenters who have a sequential learning preference use it to appeal to those with a verbal bent by showing pictures of words.
John Sleigh has been applying adult learning principles to training design and workplace communication projects since 1988.
Copyright. All rights reserved.
These resources are provided for your personal use. For permission to include them in your published materials, contact John. Permission is usually given for fair use, but please ask first. I like to receive feedback on how you think the materials can be used to stimulate ideas for further development.
