New Mission, New Narrative: Leading Change Through Storytelling

Change in government rarely comes easily. New laws, administrations, and policies arrive quickly, with the expectation that thousands of people will adapt just as fast. Leaders are left with a familiar question: How do you actually get people to understand and embrace the change?

This challenge extends to many other industries. Organizations undergoing significant change often face the same hurdles. Visual storytelling—especially in the form of short, engaging videos—is proven to be a powerful tool for driving rapid and meaningful behavioral change.

Take the case of the American College of Education, which created high-quality e-learning content to help staff and students better understand their new digital initiatives. By developing scenario-based videos embedded into training modules, they moved beyond lengthy documents, making complex information accessible and memorable for their audience. This approach led to improved engagement and practical application of new skills.

Similarly, Advocate Health designed engaging onboarding videos at scale to introduce new staff to organizational culture and procedures. Using storytelling, they fostered understanding, helping new employees quickly adapt and internalize their roles.

From Slides to Story

These organizations realized dropping information into slides or lengthy documents wasn’t enough. Instead, the teams worked with content creators to transform key messages into short, scenario-based videos, woven into a course and reinforced with leadership perspectives.

The shift here is subtle but important. Rather than “here are the ten things you must memorize,” it became, “here’s how this change looks and feels in real life.” In government training, that same shift, away from bullet points toward storytelling, can make the difference between compliance and buy-in.

What Sticks

The results? Employees start using new language, adopt new practices, and internalize new behaviors long after initial training.

This isn’t surprising. Cognitive scientists have long shown that people remember material better when it’s paired with visuals, a theory known as the picture superiority effect.

Stories, too, are more likely to change attitudes and behaviors because they draw people in emotionally, are concrete, and promote self-understanding. In government, where employees may be spread across regions or working under pressure, this kind of “stickiness” is essential.

A cybersecurity policy only works if employees change their daily habits. A new health initiative only matters if staff know how to explain it to the public. If training doesn’t stick, the effort can be wasted. The goal isn’t just completion. It’s lasting impact.

Scaling Solutions

An added advantage of this approach is scalability. Once a compelling, story-driven course is developed for one department or initiative, it can be easily adapted and reused across different parts of the organization, maximizing impact while minimizing costs.

Government trainers can take advantage of this. Once a story-driven course is created for one office, it can be reused, adapted, and shared. When budgets are limited, being able to build once and deploy many times is no small thing.

Takeaways

There are a few clear lessons here:

• Start with story, not just slides.

• Keep content short and modular.

• Measure behavior, not just attendance.

• Reuse good content wherever you can.

Change is inevitable, but how it is communicated makes all the difference. Clear, compelling storytelling helps employees grasp the “why,” see themselves in the story, and live the change.