Manage the Story, Manage the Change: How Neuroscience Informs the Management of Change through Storytelling

© 2015 Beck Bertram & Associates, all rights reserved ANPD Annual Conf. 7/15/15
Mark D. Beck, DNP, MSN, BS, RN-BC, CENP,
HeartMath® Certified Trainer, RN-BC
CEO, Beck, Bertram & Associates LLC
Manage the Story, Manage the Change:
How Neuroscience Informs
the Management of Change
through Storytelling

© 2015 Beck Bertram & Associates, all rights reserved 2
How Neuroscience Informs the Management of Change through Storytelling
ANPD Annual Conf. 7/15/15
Objective:
Verbalize how the neuroscience of
storytelling informs the management
of change within organizations and
our lives.

Neuroscience has recently shown us that
humans have evolved and are hardwired to
»»learn
»»create meaning and
»»make connections through the
stories they hear and tell
Storytelling is the most efficient methodology
for creating and sustaining change.
For Bottom Line Folks

Why Not Use Data?

Why is story preferred by the brain
and not data?

Your Brain On Data
Two areas of the brain
are activated when you
receive data, Broca's and
Wernicke's. They are
responsible for language
comprehension and
processing.This includes
the processing of symbols
and their meaning.

Your Brain On Story
When you are listening to
a story you have 7 areas
of the brain that light up
on fMRI. These additional
5 areas are adding the
somatic elements of
sight, hearing, motion,
and emotions. This is
what has been called the
neural story net. Or NSN.

“A story does what facts and statistics never
can: it inspires and motivates.
Expert storytellers translate complex ideas
into practical examples laced with strong
emotional connections.”
“The audience tunes in because they see
themselves woven into the story.”
(Taylor, 1996)

Neural Story Net [NSN]
The NSN is part of the
brain that holds the task
of initially making sense
out of this stream of
incoming visual and
audio information.
(Haven, 2014)

The Neural Story Net [NSN] uses story
structure to:
»»Provides superior retention (memory and recall)
»»Provides improved understanding
»»Creates context and relevance
»»Creates empathy
»»Provides superior engagement
»»Better induces listeners/readers to pay attention
»»Enhances the creation of meaning
(Haven, 2014)

The Sensemaking Mandate
Teflon
vs
Velcro
“Your friendly NSN will do whatever it needs to do to make
the incoming information make sense! If it can’t make
sense out of it, your conscious mind is cued to ignore it.”
(Haven, 2014)

»»Change (even reverse) factual
information
»»Make assumptions
»»Create new information
»»Ignore parts of your presentation
»»Infer connections and information
»»Infer motive, intent, significance
»»Misinterpret
The Neural Story Net often causes
listeners to:

Effective Story Structure minimizes the
distortion of the listeners NSN.

1. Characters
2. Traits
3. Goal
4. Motives
5. Conflict and Problems
6. Risk and Danger
7. Struggles
8. Details
8 Elements of Effective Story Structure

Essential Elements of Story Structure
»»Control engagement
»»Feed essential information to the NSN
»»Control the sensemaking mandate
»»Create emotional involvement

Homo Narratus
“Stories anchor our
beliefs. If you have
a story, the only thing
that will change your
mind is a better story.”
(Taylor, 1996)

Businesses are Rediscovering
Storytelling & its Power
“...If a businessperson
understands that his or her
own mind naturally wants
to frame experience
in a story, the key to
moving the audience is
not to resist this impulse
but to embrace it”
(McKee, 2003)

Why is Storytelling so Important?
“An organization’s
knowledge is
contained in its
stories”
(Denning, 2001)

Narrative Nursing
“Along with scientific
ability, physicians [and
nurses] need the ability
to listen to the narratives
of the patients, grasp
and honor their meaings,
and be moved to act on
the patient’s behalf.”
(Charon, 2001)

Whose Story Will You Be a Part of?
“To be a person
is to have a
story to tell.”
Isak Dinesen

References:
Charon, R (2001). Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust.
JAMA Oct 17, 2001. 286:15 1897-1901.
Charon, R (2007). What to do with stories: the sciences of narrative medicine.
Canadian Family Physician 53:Aug 1265-67.
Gottshall, J (2012). The Storytelling Animal: How stories make us human.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York NY.
Haven, K (2014). Story Smart: Using the science of story to persuade, influence, inspire and
teach. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited
Haven, K (2007). Story Proof: The science behind the startling power of story. Westport Con-
necticut. Libraries Unlimited.
Pink, D (2009). A Whole New Mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future.
New York, NY Riverhead Books.
Simmons, A (2015). Whoever tells the best story wins. 2nd edition. New York, NY. American
Management Association.
Taylor (1996).The Healing Power of Stories. New York: Doubleday.
For an email listing of the references please feel free to email
mark@beckbertram.com

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