These past couple weeks I’ve been grappling with how even as someone who coaches fellow organizers in public narrative, I often hesitate to talk about storytelling in leftist circles. Here’s a thread about why it matters.

First off I want to be clear: storytelling isn’t a strategy. It’s a skill set that needs to be used intentionally, otherwise there’s little or no point.

Storytelling’s effective because concrete experiences are more engaging than abstractions. You can have the best infographic in the world, but it’s not going to move people half as well as sharing a compelling personal experience.

By sharing stories strategically, we surface common ground at the level of our emotions and values. We build mutual commitment and collective purpose.

So why does storytelling get overlooked? Why do I worry I’m posting cringe in this very moment?

Broadly speaking, on the left we recognize that storytelling as it’s used by too many companies, NGOs and political formations is total bullshit.

We’re all too used to hearing emotionally engaging stories from grifters and opportunists who get people hooked and then propose actions that don’t meaningfully build power to tackle the problems they raise.

We also often see storytelling used in service to advocacy strategies, where people of “lived experience” address policy makers or elected representatives. And we correctly recognize that the people in power aren’t moved by these stories in a meaningful way.

If we’re organizing, even when we’re addressing our elected representatives or our bosses the real audience for our stories is never the people who hold power over us. Our audience is the constituency whose power we are trying to build — our neighbours and our coworkers.

So how can organizers use storytelling to build power?

An obvious one is to reach potential members and allies through public-facing communication: at rallies, on social media, in interviews, and in things like deputations *only if those are shared publicly* — because the audience isn’t the people in the room.

Sharing stories when we’re onboarding or checking in with members/volunteers can build our power. Most of us don’t make commitments to abstract ideals — we commit to people and to communities. By getting vulnerable, we invite potential comrades to build reciprocal relationships.

Another use that gets overlooked is that sharing stories within our leadership teams helps deepen our mutual commitment — and creates opportunities to hone the skills that make our 1:1s more effective.

A lot of the time we assume this will happen informally, on the margins of “business meetings” — but that’s not always the case. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to intentionally create opportunities to bond with and learn from each other.

When used intentionally — with a clearheaded understanding of our audience and our goals — storytelling builds power by strengthening relationships within our teams and by enhancing our ability to grow.

So what makes for effective storytelling?

Nobody has only one story to share, and we should never lapse into fine-tuning a single story that we’ll roll out no matter what the context. There’s a difference between being comfortable sharing stories and Telling My Story.

That’s why the approach I’m trained in focuses a lot on locating pivotal moments of our lives — when did I realize that something needed to change? When did I feel that I needed to act? When did I realise I couldn’t act alone?

We can often default to speaking in generalities and abstractions, naming categories as a substitute for concrete experience. That’s often more comfortable, but it’s less engaging if we don’t risk being vulnerable.

On the opposite extreme, we can sometimes feel we need to prove our credibility to speak to an issue by sharing our most traumatic experiences. That’s often counterproductive.

It’s important to remember the public in “public narrative.” There are traumatic moments I’ll talk about with my therapist that I’ll probably never share while organizing! That’s ok!

It helps to foreground the context — the campaign we’re working on and the constituency we’re trying to reach. If I’m asking coworkers to sign a union card, they probably don’t need to hear my whole biography or my most traumatic moments!

But if they say they’re unhappy with their last performance review, maybe I can be ready to talk about how mine have gone, and how those informed my commitment to organizing.

If they’re worried about safety, maybe I should be ready to talk about a time where I didn’t have the equipment I needed, and why I want to make sure that never happens again.

Storytelling can build power insofar as it’s used strategically. We all have a multitude of stories to tell. Which ones we share, to what audiences, and with which emphases, should all connect with our strategy — how we’ll build the power necessary to win the changes we need.