The Case for Storytelling: A Tool for Influence, Engagement, and Action

We’ve all been there—sitting through a training session packed with charts, bullet points, and endless data, struggling to stay engaged. Numbers and charts can explain, but they rarely move us. Stories, on the other hand, pull us in. They make us feel, and that feeling is what sparks change. A well-told story doesn’t just explain a concept—it persuades, influences, and drives action. It turns abstract concepts into tangible, relatable, and memorable experiences.

This is why storytelling is one of the most powerful tools in L&D and why it was at the heart of a recent ATD Forum Roundtable. Senior Director of Learning Experience at SAP, Laurel Schulert, led a discussion on how L&D professionals can move beyond order takers to become strategic business partners. Instead of listing best practices and walking through a framework, Laurel did something more powerful—she told a story.

Her presentation began with a familiar scenario: a senior leader requested training for the SAP sales team to reduce rising customer churn. The assumption? More training would fix the problem. It was a reasonable request, but there was one major issue. No one had spent time trying to determine the root cause of the churn.

Laurel urged the senior leader to take a step back and first assess whether training was truly the right solution. As she and her team dug deeper through interviews and data analysis, they discovered that sales skills weren’t the issue—process breakdowns across departments were. Critical details were lost in handoffs from marketing to sales, implementation to customer success, creating a disjointed customer experience. Had her team delivered training as requested, it wouldn’t have solved the real problem. Instead, Laurel and her team worked cross-functionally to remove process breakdowns, reducing churn without additional training.

This example perfectly showcases the value of performance consulting, and Laurel’s decision to present it as a story made the lesson even more meaningful. Rather than stating, “L&D should take a performance consulting approach,” she demonstrated it, allowing her audience to experience the challenge, conflict, and resolution alongside her.

After sharing her story, Laurel broke down the key storytelling elements that make narratives compelling:

• Theme: The central idea or belief. This is often presented as a lesson showing how the characters transformed after experiencing the challenge.

• Setting: The time and place of the story. This helps people build the imagery in their mind in terms of where the story takes place.

• Plot: The sequence of events. This includes the introduction, conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution.

• Characters: The people involved, each with their own perspectives and motivations.

By incorporating these elements, stories become more than anecdotes—they become tools for influence and learning. They transform information into insight, turn passive listening into active engagement, and push ideas into actionable change. For a deeper understanding of the science behind storytelling, check out the blog on Jessica Billiet’s Forum discussion from January.

One of the most interesting points Laurel raised was the role of conflict in a story. While often avoided in business settings, conflict makes stories engaging. Great stories thrive on tension—overcoming obstacles, making tough calls, or seeing things in a new light. In Laurel’s example, the conflict was her decision to push back on the training request and persuade leaders to explore a better solution. The uncertainty kept the audience engaged. However, this raises an important question: Is conflict always necessary? Many of us tell stories without a clear conflict, yet they still effectively convey the message. Perhaps the key lies not in the presence of conflict itself, but in ensuring the story resonates and creates a meaningful connection with the audience.

A Forum member shared a similar insight from his own experience. While working with a subject matter expert (SME) on a video project, he noticed the SME was sticking rigidly to a script, delivering lines that felt rehearsed and impersonal. Realizing the script wasn’t working, he set it aside and started asking natural, unscripted questions. The result was a compelling story that was far more engaging and relatable.

This story highlighted one of the key takeaways from Laurel’s presentation: storytelling is most powerful when it feels authentic. Just as a scripted message lacks impact, a rigid training program won’t solve a misdiagnosed business problem. Whether in leadership communication, training, or business problem-solving, genuine narratives resonate more deeply.

When thinking about the theme of a story, it’s also important to consider what type of story you are telling. Trust, teaching, action, values, and vision are the five types of stories that Nick Westergaard outlined in his Harvard Business Review (September 22, 2023) article “5 Types of Stories Leaders Need to Tell.” Trust stories are built on personal experience, allowing the storyteller to establish credibility and connection. The other four don’t have to be personal; they can be based on observations, case studies, or even historical narratives. Regardless of the type, the key is to ensure the audience can identify with the character and relate to the journey, ensuring that the message is not just heard, but truly understood and internalized.

Laurel dedicated a large part of the session to Forum members’ feedback, encouraging them to share their storytelling experiences and ask questions. She challenged participants to move beyond traditional learning narratives and consider how storytelling could build credibility, create alignment, and position L&D as a driver of business success.

The discussion was a powerful reminder that storytelling isn’t just a teaching technique. It has the power to shift perspectives, challenge assumptions, and initiate change. In L&D, the stories we tell don’t just share knowledge; they shape how we are seen, the influence we have, and the impact we make.