By Steve Moran

Early in my Senior Living Foresight journey I would frequently meet people who would tell me amazing stories about how they as leaders, their communities, their teams were transforming the lives of other people in their world.

Not So Much Now

This seems to no longer be true, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about why this is so. I refuse to believe senior living is not having the impact we once had. I believe that every single day, across the continent and around the world, these stories are unfolding in real time.

I think it is because we do less storytelling in our conversations than we used to.

Causes?

There are three big reasons:

  1. We are inundated with storytelling from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and streaming platforms. We feel like our stories are not as good. Truth: Our stories are better, because they are real and they are our stories.
  2. Because of ready access to media-based storytelling, we spend more time alone — and often, even when in a group we are still consuming media-based stories rather than each other’s stories. Thus we fall out of the habit of listening to stories, and more importantly telling stories.
  3. Perhaps it just seems too fluffy and time-consuming.

Collecting Stories

Getting better at telling stories starts with collecting stories. The easiest way to do this is to create a document on your phone or tablet and label it “Stories.”

Each time you hear a story that touches you emotionally, jot it down in that document.

Each time you experience something that causes an emotional reaction, write it down.

Then once a month or so, open up that document and really flesh out each of the stories.

Telling Stories Better

Believe it or not, we are all natural storytellers, though perhaps for the reasons listed above we are losing this natural ability. Here are some tips:

  1. Not too long or too short.
  2. Think about the point you want to make or emphasize with the story. Have it clear in your own mind.
  3. Add color and details, including the person’s name (or a made-up name).
  4. Talk about feelings: “They were afraid,” “They were excited,” “They felt so confused,” “They were so relieved.”
  5. Tell it to someone who can help you make it better.

Get these stories right and you will have higher occupancy — I promise.