This article is written by Doug Hattaway, a communications specialist and adviser to leaders in the United States Congress and Obama administration. He is the president of Hattaway Communications, a Washington-based firm that helps government agencies use the power of strategy, science, and storytelling to communicate effectively.

As President Barack Obama was nearing the end of his second term in office, his domestic policy team aimed to replicate successful efforts to change the top-down approach which is so often the default in government. Specifically, the President’s policy team wanted to share lessons from national programs that took a new, “place-based” approach to drive economic growth in local communities.

What President Obama realised, and so clearly embodied, was the insight that to drive change within government or any large institution, leaders need to communicate in ways that not only make their vision clear, but also inspire people to try new things. Communication science shows that storytelling is the most powerful way to instruct and inspire people, no matter their profession. For this reason, President Obama’s team was looking for a storytelling strategy that would help change thinking and behaviour within the government.

The new approach achieved real results for people living in very different places. For example:

The Obama team wanted to share lessons from successes like these and encourage government employees at the federal and state levels to adopt a new way of working with people in local communities. But communicating about “place-based” development was difficult. The term didn’t mean anything to people outside a small circle of experts, who often used technical language that others didn’t understand. Complex explanations of the approach made it sound difficult to do.

Storytelling for change

Unclear communication is an obstacle when we are encouraging others to adopt new approaches and innovations. Communications studies show that complexity demotivates people. And people are more likely to trust information they understand easily. For the new approach to catch on, we needed a better way to communicate with both government employees and people in local communities.

Stories are powerful tools for communication. Since humans first developed the capacity for language, we have used stories to share lessons about how the world works. Essentially, every story is about a character taking action to solve some kind of problem. Brain science shows that people are more likely to understand an abstract or complex idea—such as “how government works”—when you put people in the picture as protagonists in a story and describe them taking action to solve a problem and achieve an outcome.

Simple descriptions allowed key players to “see themselves” in the story and understand their roles

The research and development team at Hattaway Communications worked with the Obama White House staff to put these insights to work. We began by re-naming the approach with more meaningful language: “community-led partnerships.” These simple words spoke to the secret of success in achieving positive outcomes — local communities were the protagonists and led the way in designing the best solutions to their unique challenges.

Guided by the science of clear communication, we interviewed the people behind the success stories to find out “who did what” to make the approach work. They identified six “players” in the process and eight “principles” that defined their approach.

For example, “federal innovators” were people from government agencies who provided technical assistance or seed funding. “Local leaders” in government, business, and other sectors identified needs and set goals. These simple descriptions allowed key players to “see themselves” in the story and understand their roles.

Stories about people overcoming obstacles and achieving goals can illustrate a complex problem and solution in understandable, human terms — and show that change is possible

Each principle was also given a name and simple description. For example, one key to success was “community conversations,” in which “local stakeholders define needs, identify assets, and inform the development of a strategic plan that addresses local realities.” Each principle was illustrated by stories from different communities— such as New Orleans, Louisiana, where the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Federal Highway Administration funded local partners to convene public meetings to design an economic development strategy.

User-friendly language and human-centred stories were compiled in a manual for training and communications entitled_,_ Message and Storytelling Guidebook: Communicating About Community-Led Partnerships Hundreds of personnel across dozens of government agencies received this tool, along with training to put its lessons to work.

Change takes time

The lessons of this new approach are still being learned. Change takes time. If you’re looking to drive the adoption of new policies and practices in government — or simply to communicate clearly with the people you serve — storytelling is a good place to start.

A few tips from the guidebook:

Avoid overloading people with too much information. It actually demotivates them. Stories about people overcoming obstacles and achieving goals can illustrate a complex problem and solution in understandable, human terms — and show that change is possible. Find the best story that creates instant comprehension and emotional connection.

Answer strategic questions first. You will need to determine which audiences need to see your stories. Who is helping to overcome the problem that your story addresses? What do your audiences need to be aware of? Is there a surprising fact or idea that can grab their attention and help them see the situation in a new way?  Why will your audiences care about your cause? What characters may help them connect to the effort?

Map out an interesting plot. Our guidebook provided government storytellers with a framework adapted from the Hero’s Journey, a tried and true model for structuring stories to capture people’s attention and imagination, based on research about storytelling in many different cultures. The story map has four key steps that comprise a narrative: (1) Status Quo & First Steps, (2) Obstacles & Allies, (3) Breakthrough and (4) Impact.

Government professionals can use these science-based insights and tools to create their own storytelling strategies to communicate clearly with colleagues, inspire potential private-sector partners to collaborate, and inform the public about policies and programs. — Doug Hattaway

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