Once upon a time…

That’s a phrase that takes us back to our childhood. It filled us with anticipation. We knew when we heard it, a story was about to unfold.

I recently heard the quote: “The shortest distance between two people is a story.” I don’t know who first said it (a search attributed it to multiple people), but I love it.

In fact, I have a small sign in my office that displays that quote. It’s a daily reminder of the power of story to bring people together.

That’s what was ringing in my ears when we set out to launch our new web pages for the Involvement Practice at Urban Emu. Our goal was to effectively tell the story of who we are, why we do what we do and how we do it. In the process, we wanted to connect people around a better way to activate organizational culture.

Crafting our story took me back to our purpose and why the Involvement Practice was launched more than 15 years ago.

A focus on storytelling and purpose can also be seen with the recent launch of Truman’s, a scrappy company with the goal of cleaning up the household cleaning products category.

Their online storytelling is simple, and (pardon the pun) clean. It’s driven by brief videos that illustrate how their offering is both smart and different – and the positive impact that can have on the environment (reinforcing their purpose).

How can you use good storytelling to reinforce your organization’s purpose?

Let’s borrow a few ideas from Truman’s:

• Keep your messages simple and consistent
• Tell your story visually (photos, videos or illustrations)
• Help your audiences see themselves in the story by illustrating a pain point or opportunity you address (the “why”)

So, what’s your organization’s “Once upon a time…”?

I’m waiting with great anticipation to hear it.

Thanks for being involved today.

For more inspiration about the power of authenticity and vulnerability in telling your story, have a look at our previous post.