Work Smarter – Not Harder

Empower Your Project! Powerful Project Management with Storytelling

Once upon a time, humans evolved – and with them the art of storytelling. Stories have a unique power: They fascinate, they educate, they scare and they dare. A good story will make you laugh or bring you to tears. Stories appear on our screens, they follow us into our dreams. And they will boost your next project.

How to use Storytelling in Project Management

The art of storytelling is as old as humankind; the ability to tell a story might even be what sets us apart from other species’. For thousands of years, storytellers have captured their audience with a simple formula: The hero’s journey, also called the monomyth. The traditional hero’s journey, as described by the linguist Joseph Campbell, is a story in three acts: Departure, Initiation and Return. Someone (= the future hero) gets tempted into some kind of adventure and departs into the unknown; after departure, his (or her) strengths will be tried and tested; after successfully undergoing these tests and trials, he returns as a hero: a man (or woman) changed for the better.

Storytelling and Project Management

Very well, you might think. But what does the hero’s journey have to do with my business project? Everything, as you’ll see.

The Project’s Journey

Let’s look at your project as a journey: from turning first spark of ideas into a full-blown project, you and your mates will face mostly unforeseen challenges. To conquer them, you will change and adapt your concept – until you return with the required results.

Good project managers initiate the hero’s, sorry, the project’s departure with a kick-off meeting, and celebrate the go-live with a lot of fanfare. Over the course of your project, you and your team will learn. You will fail. And you will fight - until you win. After that, all of you will have to return to business as usual; but you’ll be heroically transformed by experience and learning.

Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?

The Power of Storytelling

That’s the beauty of storytelling: It’s not just more fun to listen to than reading a roadmap or talking statistics – the power of storytelling runs deeper. Stories engage on a very personal and emotional level. Turning your project into a story will result in engaging discussions, and it will help you and your team to talk about things as they really are. Why?

Stories can be deep, but they are never abstract: They tell of a specific person and specific things, not of numbers and timelines. Instead of merely assigning task x to person Y, people and tasks become part of a larger narrative through storytelling. Every single task do is part of the whole, and each person’s doing has an effect to the outcome.

Successful Project Management: A Story In Three Acts

I. The Hero’s Departing – Your Project’s Kick-Off

Powerful Project Management with Storytelling

In the departing phase, you have to lose your fear of the unknown – also known as “write a concept”… (everythingpossible/ stocks.adobe.com)

In the departing phase, you have to lose your fear of the unknown – also known as “write a concept”. Use your imagination and write your story with all details and characters in place. Try and identify the villains, the heroes and the supporters. Maybe the CFO is your project’s opposing force, is money worries preventing your team from realizing their heroic vision? Laying it out like a story might help you to find ways to playfully conquer him. Plus, you can use your newly found storytelling skills to turn your project’s adversaries into fervent supporters.

II. Initiation – Tests and Trials

Powerful Project Management with Storytelling

Get ready to fight… (lassedesignen / stocks.adobe.com)

During initiation, things will get exciting. They will work out the wrong way, or not at all. Tasks take much longer than anticipated, people perform differently from what you expected: Surprises are part of the deal. Add a cliffhanger or two, and your story’s hero is being tested again and again. But you know what? Hero’s journeys tend to end well. Get ready to fight: Endure your trials, adapt to challenges and grow from failures, and your project will succeed.

III. Return – Wrapping It Up

Powerful Project Management with Storytelling

Just as the hero has to handle his return to normal life, you have to wrap up the project… (loreanto / stocks.adobe.com)

Once you’re there, the trials have ended – but not the work. Just as the hero has to handle his return to normal life, you have to wrap up the project. You can’t just abandon a website, a product or whatever you’ve been working on. No. Just like a hero, you have to make sure it lives on in a changing environment. Project documentation, organized accounts and a long-term maintenance strategy: all of these elements are important part of success at that last stage of your project’s journey.

Then, and only then, the time has come to work (and live) happily ever after. At least until the next adventure calls.

zistemo

Projects Tax


Also Interesting

How To Double Your Rates Without Scaring Off Your Clients

Imagine for a moment that you’re driving down the highway and you’re low on fuel. You pull off at the next exit and see two gas stations. To your surprise, the one on the right side of the street wants $4 a gallon, but on the left side of the street they’re only asking for $2.

Business Management Clients Freelancer Small Business Tax

7 Secret Tips for Successful Self Promotion

We all have to do it. And usually, we don’t like it: self promotion. Grab your success with my 7 secret tips – and behold for the big, secret bonus tip!

Business Management The Future of Work Tips & Tricks

The importance of measuring performance and future planning for freelancers and SME’s

Wouldn’t it be useful if you could analyze the performance of both a team of people as a whole, and individual members of your team? Moreover, wouldn’t it be even more useful if this analysis was performed by an automated process that left you free to concentrate on other aspects of your business?

Articles

How to Manage a Project with Multiple Stakeholders and Diverse Teams

In today’s interconnected and dynamic business environment, projects with multiple stakeholders and diverse teams have become the norm. These projects bring together individuals from various backgrounds, disciplines, and perspectives, with each stakeholder contributing unique goals, interests, and expectations.

Tax

Data Privacy and GDPR for small businesses and freelancers outside the EU

Many are talking about it – and no-one seems to know exactly what it is all about: the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is causing uncertainty inside and outside the European Union.

Freelancer Privacy & Security Small Business

Will Flexible Hours Really Make Your Team More Productive? 5 Myths around Alternative Work Arrangements

Are you running a remote team? Do your employees work from home? Or are you a firm believer in the 9-to-5 office day? No matter what arrangement you use: If you are running a business, team productivity is of major concern.

Business Management Tax The Future of Work Time Tracking

One tool, everything under control

No credit card required. Cancel anytime.