Poor communication is one of the biggest reasons why projects fail. Organizations lose massive amounts of productivity because people can’t communicate effectively.¹ When you consider that the average knowledge worker spends 80-90% of their time communicating,² the stakes become clear: effective communication isn’t just nice to have, it’s essential for business success.
Yet most organizations are facing a communication crisis hiding in plain sight.
The hidden cost of “Frankendecks” and data dumps
Peek into any business today, and you’ll witness a familiar scene: presentations cobbled together from recycled slides, overwhelming data dumps, and pretty templates that lack any coherent narrative. We call these Frankendecks—business communications that jump straight to solutions before giving the audience a reason to care about the topic.
The results are predictably costly. Stakeholders tune out during critical meetings. Decisions get delayed for weeks. Teams waste countless hours in follow-up meetings trying to clarify what should have been clear the first time. Research shows that better communication and collaboration could raise productivity by 20-25%.³
But here’s what’s particularly troubling: most organizations treat this as a simple skills gap when it’s actually a fundamental misalignment with how humans process information.
Why your brain craves stories (and rejects bullet points)
The answer lies in understanding how the brain works. Humans don’t think in bullet points or data tables, we think in stories. Stories provide context, create emotional connection, and help us understand cause and effect.
When you structure your communication as a story, you’re working with your audience’s brain rather than against it. Think about the most memorable business communications you’ve experienced. They probably weren’t the ones with the most data or the fanciest slides. They were likely the ones that took you on a journey—setting up the situation, building tension around a problem, and delivering a satisfying solution.
This isn’t coincidence; it’s neuroscience. When we hear a story, our brains release oxytocin, which increases trust and empathy. Stories activate multiple areas of the brain simultaneously, making information more memorable and persuasive than traditional presentation formats.
Here’s the crucial difference: Most presentations start with the “how” and jump straight to solutions or recommendations. But storytelling begins with the “why”—establishing context and helping the audience understand the problem before explaining how you’ll solve it.
When you skip the setup, you’re asking your audience to care about something they don’t understand. When you lead with context and conflict, you create investment in the resolution.
From neuroscience to practice: The three pillars of business communication
Now that we understand why the brain craves stories over data dumps, the question becomes: how do you consistently create communications that work with the brain’s natural wiring? The answer lies in three key ingredients every great communicator needs:
Story Strategy provides a framework for organizing ideas and data into meaningful narratives by understanding audience needs, establishing context, and structuring information logically around the why, what, and how.
Visual Strategy focuses on intentional and purposeful visual design choices that support rather than distract from the narrative, going beyond making presentations “pretty.”
Data Strategy transforms facts into compelling evidence by extracting insights and connecting data points to business outcomes that answer “so what?” rather than just “what happened?”
While each pillar has its own focus, communicating with data plays a critical role across all three. Here’s how data shows up in each area:
In Story Strategy, we seek to understand where data lives in the context of your story.
In Visual Strategy, we want people to get inspired to bring their story to life visually.
In Data Strategy, we want to make it easy for your audience to digest your data at a glance.
The proven framework behind every compelling business story
These three pillars work together to help create stories that actually connect with people – because they follow the same structure the brain is already wired to understand.
The foundation: Why, what, how
Every compelling business story answers three fundamental questions:
- Why should your audience care? (The context and stakes)
- What do you want them to know or do? (Your BIG Idea)
- How will you deliver on your promise? (Your solution or recommendation)
The essential building blocks
Within this framework, every business story contains these essential elements, or what we refer to as the storytelling signposts:
Setting: The business context where your story takes place. This establishes the landscape and helps your audience understand the current situation.
Characters: The people, departments, or organizations affected by the situation. In business contexts, these might be customers, employees, competitors, or market segments.
Conflict: The challenge, problem, or opportunity that creates tension and gives your audience a reason to care. This is what makes your story worth telling.
BIG Idea: The one key message you want your audience to remember and act upon. This should be clear, specific, and actionable.
Resolution: Your recommended solution, strategy, or next steps that address the conflict and deliver on your BIG Idea.
This structure works because it matches how people naturally process information. We’re wired to understand stories, which is why narrative communication is more memorable and persuasive than data dumps or bullet-point presentations.
Building a culture of storytelling at scale
Understanding the storytelling framework is just the beginning. Successful implementation requires strategic thinking about who needs what level of capability development.
In our experience, the most successful companies take a holistic look at who needs what. We believe people develop capabilities in three distinct ways:
Gain Knowledge: To deliver skills at scale for larger audiences and align all supporting cast members (cross-functional teams)
Build Proficiency: To develop long-lasting behavior change supported by ongoing reinforcement
Increase Fluency: To develop mastery and help build a culture of storytelling across the organization
Our goal is to democratize storytelling and provide a common language and methodology to every employee, regardless of role or function. Because when everyone operates from the same playbook, the compound effect creates lasting impact across the entire organization.
The competitive advantage of clear communication
Companies that invest in building a culture of storytelling don’t just solve communication problems, they create a sustainable competitive advantage. In an economy where information is abundant but attention is scarce, the ability to craft compelling narratives isn’t just valuable, it’s essential for long-term success.
The question isn’t whether your organization needs better storytelling capabilities. The question is whether you’ll develop them intentionally before your competitors do.
When cross-functional teams share a common language for communication, when data gets transformed into actionable insights, and when every presentation advances the business forward instead of requiring follow-up meetings… that’s when storytelling becomes a strategic differentiator.
The path forward starts with recognizing that communication isn’t a soft skill. It’s the hard skill that determines whether your best ideas get heard, your strategies get executed, and your organization stays competitive.
References:
¹ Project Management Institute, Pulse of the Profession: The Power of Project Management, 2023.
² McKinsey Global Institute, The Future of Work in America: People and Places, Today and Tomorrow, 2021.
³ Deloitte, Future of Work Report: Connecting for a Human Purpose, 2022.
