The Power
of Storytelling:
Purpose
Purpose:
Why are You Using Storytelling?
If you are new to storytelling, start here!
Before you begin to use storytelling, it is important to think about why you are interested in this approach, and what you hope to achieve by using it. There are many possible purposes, which are not mutually exclusive. The choice of purpose will influence how you design and carry out storytelling.
This kind of storytelling can help you to:
Convey a specific
message to an
audience
Encourage
self-expression
Explore complexity
in an issue
Learn together about an issue/from direct experience
Understand unexpected
impacts
In this approach, the process of how stories are created and told is as important as the final stories. Meaning, and learning comes from the process of telling/making the stories and the final stories together.
The main purpose of this approach is not to create highly polished stories (although this is possible if the storyteller wants to do this and has enough support or existing skills). If you want to create highly polished stories from the outset, you may need to consider other approaches/techniques.
There are other potential purposes for storytelling that are important, but which do not fit with the Transformative Storytelling approach we draw on in this guide, including:
Testing a hypothesis
Telling stories on behalf of others
Creating a story in response to a very specific question or pre-determined theme or message
If your intended purpose fits with one of these, you should consider a different approach.
Purpose 1: Convey a Specific Message
Stories can be an effective way to get a message across to an audience. The process of telling a story to communicate a message requires balancing people’s experiences with the intended message. You may have a particular message in mind from the start, but it is essential that storytellers have the opportunity to find the message they want to convey through the process of crafting and telling their story.
This is important because messages need to be meaningful to those telling the story, not chosen because of outside pressures. The power of a story to convey a message relies on the audience connecting to it as humans. When we hear or watch a story, we ask: what can I see in the story that I can relate to? This means that effective stories are told from direct experience and include the emotions and memories of storytellers, as this is what allows us to identify and understand the message.
Questions:
How do the storytellers want
to use their stories?
Who will see these stories and what do I want them to understand or do as a result?
What will I do if the storytellers want to use the stories for a different purpose than the one I have in mind?
Examples
The following examples support Purpose 1.
Please navigate to example 1 and 2.
Purpose 2: Encourage self-expression
Stories can be an important form of self-expression, when the storyteller uses their creativity to make a story to express something that matters to them. Storytelling is a creative and artistic process. It is important that storytellers can use the process to tell a story in their own words and in the way they want to tell it. Feeling that they have been able to express themselves about something important to them can be transformative for some people, especially if they have rarely felt this before. This means that it is essential to be careful with how to undertake storytelling so that it will be done in an ethical way for those sharing their experiences.
Questions:
What are the forms of creativity and expression that are most comfortable for the storytellers?
How can I encourage the storytellers to feel confident about their stories?
What support will I provide for storytellers if they are overwhelmed by telling their experiences?
Examples
The following examples support Purpose 2.
Please navigate to example 3 and 4.
Purpose 3: Explore complexity in an issue
As researchers, teachers and practitioners, we can assume that we “know” what the problems are, for example for young people in education. Storytelling about life experiences can show aspects of issues that we might not have realised or understood. Storytelling can help to develop a more complex understanding of a particular issue/set of issues. This could mean that the way that you have defined an issue might be different as a result.
Questions:
What are your assumptions about the issues you are researching/teaching about?
How will you use the stories/process of telling to understand the issue(s)?
What opportunities will you create for the storytellers to learn from each other’s stories and to reflect on wider issues/questions?
Examples
The following examples support Purpose 3.
Please navigate to example 5 and 6.
Purpose 4: Learn together about an issue/from experiences
Collective learning is an important aspect of storytelling, even when stories are told individually. Through a group process, participants see and recognise experiences in others’ stories and lives, and this can lead to new insights as a group about these experiences. Learning from others arises from the listening part of storytelling: telling your story to someone who is listening deeply. As we listen, we make connections between the story and our own experiences – this can create new possibilities to learn together.
Questions:
How will you make opportunities collective learning to happen?
How will you ensure a good quality of listening to stories as they are told?
What will you do with what you learn?
Examples
The following example supports Purpose 4.
Please navigate to example 7.
In some cases, storytelling can be used to understand the impacts or consequences of a particular policy, programme, or intervention. This storytelling is often in partnership with a non-governmental organisation (NGO), school, or other organisation that wants to understand how people have experienced a particular change. This kind of storytelling can help to understand unexpected impacts by centring the storytellers’ experience (rather than the programme or policy framing of the intervention).
If you are using storytelling to understand impact, it is important to leave open the question of what constitutes impact, as this will be defined through the storytelling. What the storytellers articulate or express as impact might be very different to what you anticipate – and this is why the process can be so valuable.
Purpose 5: Understand unexpected impacts
Questions:
Why would participants want to tell a story about their experience of an intervention or policy?
How will you ensure a good quality of listening to stories as they are told?
Examples
The following example supports Purpose 5.
Please navigate to example 8.
