Meet the team: Karen
Our team continues to grow, and we continue to share more about the brilliant people who are part of it and the expertise they bring to our clients. Hari caught up with Communications Consultant and Trainer, Karen Henry…
Where are you based?
I’m in Dublin, Ireland!
How did you become a storytelling trainer?
As a career-long digital marketer, I’ve always been involved in storytelling of sorts, but my fascination and appreciation for storytelling as an effective leadership technique arose from my time in Accenture.
A long-time Toastmaster, when I joined Accenture in Ireland ten years ago, I co-founded an in-house club there, which quickly gained a reputation for improving members’ presentation skills.
Shortly after, Accenture launched a new consulting methodology comprising five critical skills, one of which was storytelling. Faced with the daunting requirement to rapidly upskill all Accenture people in Ireland, local leadership enlisted our support, and the storytelling training that we created and delivered was an immediate hit. Word rapidly spread and we were soon certified as global Accenture storytelling faculty, training over 5,000 colleagues worldwide, in person and virtually.
Delving deeper into storytelling techniques and seeing the amazing impact of the training on colleagues’ communication skills, led me to love the persuasive power of a concise, well-crafted, purposeful story.
Why is storytelling important to you?
Like many of us navigating the shifting sands of technology, I have an increasing appreciation for the solid ground of the analogue and the ancient. Storytelling may be timeless, but its power remains immediate and alive.
Like children hearing “Once upon a time…”, I love the way our senses still perk up when we hear “When I was in college…”, “Did I ever tell you about…?” – a story is incoming, and we are here for it (and the quiet lesson it leaves behind).
To me, storytelling is a type of cognitive hacking; a powerful analogue tool in our digital times, shaping how we think, remember, and connect.
Tell us about your superpower!
Storytelling on purpose! To be an entertaining raconteur is charming, but to tell a story that delivers your intended message, persuades your audience, or achieves a professional objective, that’s a superpower.
Our primitive brains are hardwired to seek and take on board the message in a story, empowering the storyteller to convince, inform, and engage. To do that we must identify and remain razor-focused on our objective. A purposeful storyteller will focus on the objective, create or source the story to convey it to a specific audience, and concisely craft it to hit and stick.
Eyes on the prize. Storytelling on purpose.
Please share your best client transformation story…
I once worked with an accomplished senior technology leader who was convinced in theory on the merits of storytelling on purpose, but apprehensive that he might appear weak or inappropriate.
At an industry event he finally took the plunge and briefly told a touching story of his immigrant background as part of a wide-ranging presentation. Afterwards he told me that, of all the presentations that day, delegates spoke warmly about his story and crucially, the lesson of resilience and perseverance that he intended to convey.
What’s the one thing you think everyone should know?
Fake it ‘til you make it.
Rather than wait for the perfect moment or story, intentionally include a brief objective-focused anecdote in a work context and see how it lands. The thrill of seeing even a small impact is a powerful motivator to do it again, do it better, build the practice.
Our Storytelling masterclasses focus on storytelling with purpose and delve deeply into a single subject area – be it storytelling to bring data to life, confidence in presentations and clarity to change. They’re ideal for developing skills in one specific area rather than a general improvement.
