I.G.N.I.T.E.

Like the Win Book and Story Matrix, the Story Coach is designed to help you form these good habits that will keep you strong and healthy in the game. It is a set of criteria—or habits—that every leader should be practicing until it becomes second nature. The Story Coach uses the acronym "IGNITE" to provide you with a clear and easy way to remember the components of a great story.

I for Intentional

A good coach always says, "Play your position." It is the same with telling stories.

You have captured many stories on your Story Matrix that apply to many different types of performance challenges. The first key of the Story Coach is to be intentional with your story. Select a story to tell with a certain lesson in mind. If you are facing an "execution" challenge, pick a story from that cell of your Story Matrix and think about the lessons—or moral—of the story.

G for Genuine

A good coach always says, "Be yourself." It is the same with telling stories. In your organization and in your life, people know you a certain way. They know your personality and your style. They have a sense for how you react to different situations and pressures. And, mostly, they know what to expect of you. Trying to tell stories to make you look smarter or more charismatic won't help ignite performance. It's not genuine; it's fake, and people can see right through to the real you. This is another reason that we must tell as many failure stories as we tell stories of successes.

N for Natural

A good coach always says, "Stay loose." It is the same with telling stories.

Because stories are how we experience the world, they come naturally. And when we tell a story, we should not be afraid to be natural. Forget about the rules of business. If you get wrapped up in a story, chances are very good that those around you are wrapped up in it too. Let it fly. If it's got emotion, show it. If it makes you scared or nervous, admit it. No one can fault you for feeling the power of a story or reliving some of the emotions it evokes.

I for Improvisational

A good coach always says, "Be open to possibilities as they unfold." It is the same with telling stories.

At first glance, it would appear that being more "improvisational" contradicts the need to be more "intentional" with our stories. Not so. Remember, the purpose of the Story Matrix is to help organize stories into categories that can then be matched to specific performance challenges. Each story has one or two "insights"—key takeaways—that throw light on a problem.

Being improvisational means taking risks. If you are not willing to take a risk, why should your people follow you? There is only one hard and fast rule in improv. It's called "yes, and." "Yes, and" means that you take what you are given. If you get on the stage with another person and that person looks at you and says, "Boy, what a boring wedding," you can't say, "We aren't at a wedding, we are at the auto repair shop." It just doesn't work. You have to say, "Yes, and the groom looks like he's had a few too many!" This gets the scene rolling and now the two of you can construct something meaningful.

Used correctly, the "yes, and" rule has profound impact on performance in business too. Again, we have to take what we are given. We are better leaders if we don't constantly try to tell people that some situation is different than what they are actually experiencing. If the story of where we are heading isn't so grand, we can't say, "All is well folks! We are on the right track. Don't worry! No really, all is well!!"

T for Total

A good coach always says, "Don't try to do too much." It is the same with telling stories.

Storytelling pros from Aristotle almost 2,500 years ago to Robert McKee in the present day have coached us to focus on one core truth of a story, and not to dilute the story. You peel back the top layer of the Story Matrix to reveal the lessons and applications of the story—the core truth. And when you tell that story, people will understand the core truth.

Being total with your stories means balancing the need to be thorough with the need to be concise. One of the by-products of being awash in information is that we tend to find shortcuts. Often, these shortcuts end up in bullet points, such as in the Figure here:

(—Putting Humpty Dumpty together again—)

A story that is "total" unfolds both the lessons and the context relevant to the listener. In order to ensure that you are capturing the lessons and the context, focus on the core truth of the story—why the story addresses a particular challenge. The more you focus on this core truth, the more people will see the fit between the story and the challenge it is addressing.

E for Engaging

A good coach always says, "Think about what you could have done better." It is the same with telling stories.

What happens at the end of just about every game you can think of, whether it's professional football or Pee Wee Hockey? The teams shake hands. This teaches sportsmanship, and it's another one of those sports habits, like exercise, from which the business world can learn a lot. In a very real way, shaking hands is another way of acknowledging that we are all in this together. Win or lose, we are trying our hardest and always learning.

Stories are engaging for all of the reasons we have explored. But the engagement doesn't stop with the end of the story. That is only the beginning. Our stories should engage people while we are sharing them, but they should also serve to open people up for reactions, thoughts, and additional ideas. When good coaches sit their teams down after a win or a loss, they ask what could have been done better. Similarly, we should be asking our listeners how the story could have ended differently. What do they take away from the story? What do they disagree with, or what don't they like about it? How can the story help them the next time they are facing this same challenge?