As the summer ends and many of us contemplate a return to the office, anxiety abounds. Fears about Covid… care arrangements for elderly parents and young children…all on top of the transitional anxiety provoked by the abrupt change of routine. According to a report from the American Psychological Association (APA), nearly 50% of Americans say they feel anxious about resuming in-person interactions post-pandemic.
One tool that can help tremendously with this re-entry anxiety is storytelling. Hard-nosed business types sometimes dismiss storytelling fluffy, something best left to primary school teachers. But storytelling can be a crucial tool in the workplace for helping teams understand complexity, establish common ground, and elicit participation and collaboration with stakeholders.
And employees want more of it. In iOpener’s August 2021 “Your Leaders’ Communication Skills” Quick iOpener Survey (QiS), storytelling was listed as the second most-needed form of communication. Here’s the first of two posts on why storytelling is such a powerful workplace tool:
Read the rest of this post over on the iOpener Institute for People and Performance blog…
Image: Photo by Leon on Unsplash
