Written by: Emi Olausson Fourounjieva, Senior Level Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Storytelling is an amazing enabler for Successful Digital Transformation and Business Growth. It has the power to inspire and motivate, to gather people around vision and strategy. We are all brought up with stories, storytelling is in our DNA, so why not use it more for Business Growth?
Recently I participated in the Measurecamp Stockholm ‒ a fantastic event for the Data and Analytics community, with super engaged participants from 14 countries. Data Storytelling was a very relevant topic for many of them, so I decided to run a session on “Data Storytelling and the Winning Business Mindset”, together with my colleague from Denmark. We’ve got so many listeners that some of them were sitting on the floor! It was a great surprise to be able to share my knowledge and experience in such a fantastic way, and to hear all those words of appreciation and gratitude afterwards!
Why is Storytelling so important for successful Business Transformation? Having a common vision is a really important goal, but spreading this vision and introducing clarity across the organization, when you are going through some shifts and difficulties, is even more important. Usually there is a lot of resistance, unexpected issues and underwater stones on the way. Storytelling helps keep the eyes on the North Star of the Business, engaging both stakeholders and team members to take steps toward that vision.
Storytelling is a critical part of the decision-making process, it helps to create common ground and alignment along the process of transformation. Stories can reduce Silo effect on a cross-functional level, as well as help participants of the process understand each other better and share important information, get on board needed support and missing solutions.
There is a lot of information within any organization, and sometimes essential details get lost in the noise of communication, processes and overload. Well-formulated and properly presented stories activate many layers of growth, for example, better collaboration, efficiency and a feeling of common goal, purpose and belonging. Activation of hidden gems in the form of creativity and professional talents is another advantage of this approach. Storytelling is a super powerful tool to provide meaning, create context and engage ‒ in order to attract needed resources, enable the winning strategy and disrupt the old patterns and structures.
Data Storytelling is a powerful opportunity to gather the whole organization or its units around a certain vision and present an engaging way forward, toward the chosen target. Through my years in Digital, I helped to transform many global companies, and Storytelling was a fantastic tool I was using to lead, inspire and motivate. I have been sharing my insights for years with Senior Leaders, as an international speaker.
Today I’m sharing a few golden nuggets with you ‒ some recommendations based on my extensive experience and best practices, which can help you enable data-driven decision-making and introduce alignment within the organization. Don't simply show your data ‒ tell a story with it!
Turn data into a pivotal point in your story
Understand the importance of context and audience (there might be different stories depending on whom the story is for and what is the desired action point)
Recognize and eliminate the clutter clouding your information
Direct your audience's attention to the most important parts of your data
Use design concepts in data visualization, keep it engaging and easy to understand
Leverage the power of Storytelling to help your message resonate with your audience
Make sure it enables the desired outcomes and actions
Fuel continuous improvement within your organization with Storytelling!
Gather stories from the bottom-up and spread strategic messages from the top-down. Create a consistent and compelling image of your organization’s mission and reasons for pursuing transformation! Use different ways to share stories of transformation: present information written, spoken, in visual and auditory forms.
Be creative and innovative, communicate in a clear way, convey trust, engage, inspire, motivate and enjoy the process!
Emi Olausson Fourounjieva, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Emi Olausson Fourounjieva is a Transformational Coach, Digital Transformation Leader with extensive experience in Digital Analytics and Marketing, Visionaire, Educator and Global Speaker, Advisor on the Advisory Board of two global professional networks. Her strength is to create synergy effects using resources and technologies to get optimal business results in a data-driven, customer-centric way.
Emi's initiative "Digital Transformation for Humans" reflects her passion for the intersection of Technology, Business and Human Factors. Her professional experience has led her to the conclusion that Digital Transformation must be boosted not only by the power of data, research, algorithms and technologies but also by human intuition, creativity and adaptability, in order to obtain harmonious and sustainable development.
Through her coaching, Emi empowers Leaders to combine their Intelligence and Competence with Soft Skills, helping them become more confident and self-aware, feel positive, have more impact, and achieve goals with ease and joy.
Emi sees Mindset as a critical part of any successful Leader's toolbox, which is why she has developed her signature coaching program, "The Winning Mindset for Leaders in Digital".
