Petra Wille: Lessons on Storytelling for Product Builders

"Most product builders know that storytelling is essential to convincing a team to use their skills and knowledge to solve a difficult problem.

But many product people struggle to build that muscle. This is especially challenging when your inner critic is telling you that you are not a great storyteller. Join this session if you are one of these product folks with a malicious voice in your head telling you your storytelling isn't good enough.

Petra will talk about the power of stories and why she calls them a design tool. Plus, she will share hands-on tips and proven frameworks to improve your storytelling capabilities.

Why focus on storytelling? With better stories, it will be much easier for you to:

Inspire your product development team
Unite stakeholders
Ask senior management for more budget
Help marketing sell the product
And most importantly, help users understand the value your product can add to their lives."

Transcript

1. Petra Wille | @loomista Lessons on storytelling for product builders. Petra Wille | @loomista Don’t convince. Inspire!
2. Petra Wille | @loomista Petra Wille | @loomista Petra Wille is an independent product leadership coach and author of STRONG Product People
3. Petra Wille | @loomista No professional storytelling skills • How do I make sure the team is aligned on what really matters right now? • How to I explain all the things I know matter in a compelling way?
4. Petra Wille | @loomista I'm on this stage today to share what I've learned in countless coaching sessions on business storytelling. Therefore, this talk is packed with tips and tricks for product people to improve their storytelling and product evangelizing skills. Let's start with a small task.
5. Petra Wille | @loomista Think back to a business experience where someone truly inspired you to change course and take action. A meeting after which you felt energized and motivated to return to your desk and tackle your next task. What was the occasion? Who was the person talking/inspiring you?
6. Petra Wille | @loomista Would you like to be as inspiring as the person you just noted? ?
7. Petra Wille | @loomista You struggle to picture yourself as a great story teller or speaker?
8. Petra Wille | @loomista Let me help you re-frame storytelling to mute your inner critic* *Shout out to Denise Jacobs here ☺
9. Petra Wille | @loomista Why stories are important - especially if you are working in product Why I call them a design tool Why it´s easy to improve your storytelling • Structures and ingredients of compelling stories • Some great resources to learn more And to do so, I will share:
10. Petra Wille | @loomista Why stories are important While we are not exactly born telling stories….
11. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash
12. Petra Wille | @loomista By making her wish part of a bigger narrative, she was more convincing. Winterboots?
13. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by quokkabottles on Unsplash
14. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Halacious on Unsplash They have a biological impact on us, triggering the release of hormones that act on us in very powerful ways
15. Petra Wille | @loomista Oxytocin which causes us to build trust, generosity, and a personal connection Endorphins which can make someone laugh or help them deal with fear, pain, or uncertainty Dopamine which leads to a desire to know what happens next when you tell a story with peaks and cliffhangers That’s useful in our product management practice. Wouldn’t it be good to help people build trust and help them deal with uncertainty?
16. Petra Wille | @loomista “We think in stories, remember in stories, and turn just about everything we experience into a story.” Carl Alviani (October 11, 2018). The Science Behind Storytelling. Retrieved from https://medium.com/the-protagonist/the-science-behind-storytelling-51169758b22c After learning these things about stories I would totally agree with Carl Alviani:
17. Petra Wille | @loomista
18. Petra Wille | @loomista What Stories Do We've learned why stories are important and that every one of us is, by default, a storyteller. Now let's dive a bit deeper into the power of stories.
19. Petra Wille | @loomista #deathtostock As you have probably experienced throughout your career, it takes a story to unite a group of people Business storytelling is a thing!
20. Petra Wille | @loomista Foto von Alexander Shatov auf Unsplash Brands are Masters in Story Telling
21. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Nelson Ndongala on Unsplash
22. Petra Wille | @loomista https://guykawasaki.com/
23. Petra Wille | @loomista Uninspired Divided Stakeholders were not convinced to support the effort I have seen many products that never saw the light of day because the storytelling was off. As a result, the product team was
24. Petra Wille | @loomista A lesson that I have learned the hard way myself. Despite my efforts to effectively manage the backlog and prioritize tasks, our team's output was not making a significant impact.
25. Petra Wille | @loomista Frustrated by our lack of success, I sought guidance from my product coach.
26. Petra Wille | @loomista The problem might be your Product Evangelizing and Story Telling skills…
27. Petra Wille | @loomista They did not have enough information to innovate on behalf of the user.
28. Petra Wille | @loomista The connection between my pain and the potential solution of becoming better at product evangelizing
29. Petra Wille | @loomista Storytelling skills? Just nonexistent and that’s a career staller! 2008-Marty to Petra:
30. Petra Wille | @loomista Storytelling is something I should work on.
31. Petra Wille | @loomista Guy Kawasaki, Selling the Dream, Harper Business (1992)
32. Petra Wille | @loomista I started telling stories that: united my product development team and convinced stakeholders that we had done our product discovery homework. And my stories helped marketing colleagues position the product in better ways. But, most importantly, I figured out what mattered to our users in the process of creating a narrative and made sure to put them, the users, at the center of my stories.
33. Petra Wille | @loomista Stories are a perfect design tool • Everyone has the ability to create one, • they’re easy to iterate on, and • they help you gain more clarity. I’ve learned that ultimately
34. Petra Wille | @loomista Creating and telling a Good Story A good story has a well-defined structure that makes it easy for people to understand and navigate. It has a beginning, a middle part and an end.
35. Petra Wille | @loomista A story that helps others to get exited about something has a few key elements: • It paints a picture of a desirable future • It makes it clear why one should become part of this future • It acknowledges the current situation while describing the potential difficulties that may arise and why it’s worth overcoming them • It suggests a common goal with just enough information to make next steps clear for listeners
36. Petra Wille | @loomista The hero’s journey starts in the ordinary world with a call to adventure—which could be in the form of a big dream or desirable future—and progresses through a succession of challenges, tests, and trials before reaching the ultimate destination where the hero has achieved their goal and is transformed, sharing what they has learned with others.
37. Petra Wille | @loomista We are called to adventure by the promise of a new product #deathtostock
38. Petra Wille | @loomista How would I approach creating my first story? Step #1: make time for it in your calendar. Photo by NASA on Unsplash
39. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Sonja Langford on Unsplash
40. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Sonja Langford on Unsplash A good story will save you hours of meetings convincing people that the things you are doing are the right ones to do It is a bit of an upfront investment but it is worth the effort.
41. Petra Wille | @loomista To overcome the paralyzing fear of the blank page:
42. Petra Wille | @loomista Foto von Kelly Sikkema auf Unsplash Start to write a narrative. Open your preferred text editor and just start laying out the story.
43. Petra Wille | @loomista Once upon a time there was a team of five that wanted to change the world for the better…. Once upon a time there was this one person that had a big problem and technology came to the rescue…
44. Petra Wille | @loomista It’s good for you It’s good for us It’s good for all
45. Petra Wille | @loomista Run casual interviews with a few people to reveal their reservations regarding your mission and where they are coming from to get that covered. Then make sure you touch upon that in your story: Communicate that you understand the reservations but make sure your story highlights that you believe in the talent and strength of the team and that, as a team, you will figure out how to overcome the obstacles.
46. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash Kill the monsters that will stand in our way. There are always some monsters: from tech legacy to hardware pieces not yet invented.
47. Petra Wille | @loomista Present the shared goal, create a sense of urgency and present information that enables action
48. Petra Wille | @loomista Making Your Message Stick
49. Petra Wille | @loomista The Tennis Court Oath in Versailles by Jacques-Louis David. Photograph: De Agostini/Getty So if you want to make your message stick, you have to come up with various formats of your story. aux barricades !
50. Petra Wille | @loomista written spoken illustrated Your message, your story
51. Petra Wille | @loomista written spoken illustrated short medium long Your message, your story
52. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Sung Jin Cho on Unsplash 150 words 75 seconds
53. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash 900 words 6 minutes repeat
54. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Melyna Valle on Unsplash #deathtostock 3x800 words 18 minutes
55. Petra Wille | @loomista I am a big fan of drawings, illustrations and pictures that help tell a story Find visualizations that support the various versions of your story
56. Petra Wille | @loomista Sketch Noting ftw
57. Petra Wille | @loomista Getting ready to tell your story.
58. Petra Wille | @loomista Be picky about the words you use! Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash • Avoid using buzzwords, tool names, and 3-letter acronyms. Grab a text marker and get rid of ALL of them! • Don’t use words that are used very often in your context or environment, such as “customer success” or even “product discovery”—people will tune them out
59. Petra Wille | @loomista Pete Souza | Credit: The White House Relevant Important True https://strongpp.link/davidaxelrod Follow the advice of David Axelrod and check if the story you are sharing is:
60. Petra Wille | @loomista Beware of Manipulation Photo by Agni B on Unsplash Storytelling can be misused, and don´t want to become the master of puppets.
61. Petra Wille | @loomista #deathtostock Run an experiment Start telling your story to a small number of people. Observe how they are reacting to your story. • Are they drawing the right conclusions? • Are they asking the right questions? • Did you succeed in inspiring them with your story? If they are struggling to envision the same bright future, you might want to go back to reflection mode and ask yourself: What do they know and do I need to share more details or insights to help them see what I see?
62. Petra Wille | @loomista Photo by Ava Sol on Unsplash Check if the story really lights up the brains of your listeners. Make sure you… • Use words that provoke emotions • Use words that trigger their senses, including smell, touch, vision, sound, and even taste • And please try to make them laugh.
63. Petra Wille | @loomista
64. Petra Wille | @loomista Recap How about your inner critic? To make sure you are, let me recap some of my key points. I want you to remember that…
65. Petra Wille | @loomista Humans automatically think in stories. When we hear good stories, they trigger something in us. Stories help to facilitate group work by inspiring people to become part of a movement. Everyone can tell stories. It is worth investing in this skill. It takes a few simple ingredients and structures to get started.
66. Petra Wille | @loomista • Think about the audience and what they want to achieve (What`s in for them?) • Use a proven storytelling structure to ensure nothing is missing (e.g., the hero, the journey, the destination) • Make sure there are a variety of ways to tell this one story: short, medium, and long, as well as written, spoken, and illustrated. • Make it your story. (Able to tell the story without lengthy preparation ) Only a few Ingredients …
67. Petra Wille | @loomista I hope this leaves you with enough motivation and tools to start a written narrative exercise tomorrow.
68. Petra Wille | @loomista Links to these talks will be included in the final slide deck I will share online: https://www.petra-wille.com/storytelling
69. Petra Wille | @loomista No professional storytelling skills The new you
70. Petra Wille | @loomista Thanks #strongproductpeople Blog: https://petra-wille.com/blog Slides: https://www.petra-wille.com/storytelling
71. Petra Wille | @loomista
72. Petra Wille | @loomista Petra Wille | @loomista | petra-wille.com