What is Innovation Storytelling?
Innovation storytelling is the art of communicating new product developments, systems improvements, and ground-breaking new thinking.
There are many storytelling techniques that innovators use to amplify their breakthroughs. From an inspiring personal story about the innovator’s journey to edgy plots that place the innovation itself center stage…
There’s more than one way to tell a good innovation story.
Our team of innovation storytellers at Untold Content have interviewed over 100 global innovation leaders to glean the top strategies and techniques for harnessing the power of storytelling to get buy-in and funding for big ideas. We’ve trained innovation teams at NASA, Boeing, CVG Airport, and International Flavors and Fragrances to help get to their story (and consequently to support for their innovative ideas) faster.
We already know that there is immense value in sharing what we know as innovators. And believe it or not, the public is ready to access the insights of experts. So ramping up our ability to communicate innovative ideas is the next important task.
But how can product engineers, new business developers, coders, scientists, and makers effectively communicate our visions for the future? Get buy-in for our disruptive ideas? Inspire more rapid innovation? Let’s be honest: it’s tough.
Makers are thick-skinned. Innovators are the most resilient people in your organization. Why? Because as innovators, we very often pour our passion into powerful, atypical ideas only to hear the words, “No” or “Not now” or “Well, the idea is good… but I can’t see it on the annual roadmap, so let’s shelve it for now.” It’s important we accept the resilience that must come with invention. But… what if it’s not the actual idea that causes stakeholders to red-light or shelve a pitch?
What if the pitch itself is the real barrier to buy-in?
To achieve faster buy-in, we must share our ideas, prototypes, and research in more compelling, aligned, engaging ways. That’s why our innovation storytellers at Untold Content are sparking a movement for sharing #UntoldInnovation.
We’re interviewing and training leaders in technology, science, medicine, and social innovation to discover why storytelling matters to the innovation process. Then we’re pulling all of those insights into our high-impact Innovation Storytelling Training and Innovation Storytelling Toolkit so you can work through innovation cycles faster with the power of effective storytelling.
Innovation storytellers ask these key questions:
- How do innovators spread enthusiasm for worthy ideas?
- How can subject matter experts translate their ideas in ways all people can understand?
- How can innovators convince skeptics of their findings and get buy-in for their big ideas?
Innovation storytelling enables a world empowered to share untold stories of insight, innovation, and impact.
At Untold Content, we’re sparking a movement. Our vision is a world empowered to share untold stories of insight, innovation, and impact. That’s why we’re rapidly capturing innovation stories and analyzing storytelling patterns across innovation industries and featuring them in the Innovation Storytelling Toolkit. Plus we’re inviting you to nominate innovators and share your inventions, systems improvements, and new ways of thinking using the hashtag #UntoldInnovation.
Be sure to join our community so that you get access to these exclusive interviews and industry content trends.
4 Ways to Grow as an Innovation Storyteller
Here are five ways to leverage innovation storytelling in your organization and get involved in the #UntoldInnovation movement:
1. Read Innovation Stories from Enterprise Leaders and Startup Founders.
In 2020, our team interviewed over 80 innovation leaders about their views on storytelling. You can listen to the Untold Stories of Innovation Podcast to hear their insights. We also published our interviews here on our blog with leaders from large enterprises, universities, mid-size companies, venture firms, and startups.
2. Listen to the Untold Stories of Innovation Podcast.
The Untold Stories of Innovation Podcast explores why storytelling matters to the art of innovation. New episodes roll out every week!
Hear leaders from Next Wave Impact, Disney, PayPal, FM Global, John Deere, CVG Airport, Cintrifuse, Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub, Queen City Certified, MORTAR Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and dozens of other highly innovative enterprises and entrepreneurs share strategies and insights on the role that effective writing and communication play in the speed of innovation.
3. Get Innovation Storytelling Training.
Our team of PhD-level innovation and storytelling consultants crafted an immersive training designed for innovation teams to level up your storytelling skills. The result? More buy-in for your prototypes, ideas, and pitches. Less frustration. Faster innovation.
The experience? Our Innovation Storytelling Training is delivered virtually or on-site, hand-in-hand with your innovation team. You’ll gain 30+ epic examples of powerful innovation storytelling strategies and techniques, plus lifetime access to the Innovation Storytelling Toolkit. Attendees experience interactive opportunities to refine and get feedback on their unique innovation stories—whether for new product developments, disruptive technologies, process improvements, or stretch visions of the future. Plus we provide a crash-course to all of the insights collected during our 100+ interviews with innovation leaders.
The impact? Product designers, engineers, scientists and innovation leaders better harness the power of stories to get more buy-in and faster innovation processes. Our trainings produced more confidence. More creativity. More collaboration. And most importantly, more buy-in.
Effective innovation storytelling can speed up your StageGate process. That means better agility. Opened capacity. It means your organization ideates and validates concepts faster. And feels more inspired doing so. Our prediction: Innovation storytelling will grow more visible and important to stage-gate processes and sprint methodologies. Keep watching for more insights from our team as we uncover its drivers and discover practical ways to leverage it among your innovation teams.
4. Share Your #UntoldInnovation.
We’re inviting YOU to share your inventions, systems improvements, and new ways of thinking using the hashtag #UntoldInnovation. Follow the hashtag #UntoldInnovation on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram to see each story and podcast episode as they are published.
Why Share Innovation Stories?
Innovation storytelling catalyzes new product development, economic development, public intellectualism, and startup success. Stories bring awareness for state-of-the-art technologies and practices. They compel us to understand complicated ideas. Stories challenge us to think differently.
If we could look into the future, we’re positive that innovation storytelling will play a role in moving the needle forward for tomorrow’s greatest ideas. We can’t wait to hear your voice in the conversation.
What’s next? Schedule a demo of our innovation storytelling training and services.
