Storytelling – the superpower that unlocks investment and transformation

Brooke Bainbridge has been working for BP group for just under 10 years. She is currently the Business Development and Digital Transformation Manager at BP Castrol. But before Brooke took on the role of a transformation lead at a multinational corporation, she grew up working in her family’s pubs in Gippsland.

 “My parents had pubs for around fifteen years, and so I grew up around them. I ended up having my 8th birthday in the disco area of one of pubs,” Brooke tells me. “I have really strong memories of talking to the locals, who were all very authentic, salt of the earth people. It was working on the floor of the pub, talking to the customers, where I fell in love with business. I remember thinking ‘this is what I want to do forever’.”

 Brooke is now 10 months into her role as the Business Development and Digital Transformation Manager at BP Castrol, a brand-new role in the business.

 “The first thing they said to me is you need to bring new customers through the doors Brooke, and that was when I realised, we did not have a CRM.”

Brooke’s first challenge was orchestrating an internal PR campaign to get a fit-for-purpose CRM system, which was Salesforce, on their digital roadmap.

 To do this, Brooke had to enable her superpower. Selling the story, or storytelling, was crucial for Brooke in allowing a large business change such as implementing a CRM tool.

 “I went through a process of helping people understand how it was going to change our business fundamentally. I used various data points, such as customer data points, data from the competitive landscape, as well as from completely unrelated industries to make the people who were less aware, or passionate about the tech stuff, as invested in it as I am.”

 To Brooke, data points are essential in the art of storytelling. Using the right evidence to demonstrate your point leaves your audience or stakeholder with the information they require to jump onboard your team. The story injects emotion into campaign and gives people something to connect to.

 “The process of initiating this change took 12 months. One thing I remember being key to getting the sign off was that we had a sales conference, and at this conference, CRM was voted as the number one factor our people thought would change the business. This was a data point senior leadership could absorb. Data points are not just Excel spreadsheets, but other sources of information too.”

 Both Brooke and I agreed that storytelling was essential in the process of instigating change. But how does one successfully do this? Data points were one way, but naturally, there is more to it.

“The main hurdle is communicating very clearly. This means in some instances; you need to tailor the narrative you’re creating to your audience. The VP of sales is going to want to see something completely different to the user of the technology.”

 So, a consistent narrative is required, but perhaps the data points you utilise could change depending on whom you are telling the story to. Communicating what is in it for them is an essential task which requires adaption and creativity.

 “I also love to use a diagram or visual instead of just words. Some people are visual learners, and you don’t want to lose their attention by talking for the sake of talking.”

But before all of this, Brooke emphasises there is one crucial step in successfully getting a transformative project off the ground.

 “The biggest lesson I have taken away from my career to date is that of pre-engagement. When you walk into a room to asking for a big decision, don’t let that be the first time they hear about it. For example, if you have engaged with the finance department prior to the meeting, you will know what curveballs are likely to be thrown at you and make sure you can alleviate their concerns during your presentation.”

 The process of initiating change can feel like an uphill battle. As mentioned by Brooke and many other previous guests of the podcast, people are inherently resistant to change. I asked Brooke how she manages to keep persevering.

 “What gets me up in the morning is motivating my team and peers to turn this ship to where we want to go. This strategic leadership style of being inspirational, setting a vision and getting the balance right between long- and short-term goals is essential.”

 Being able to tell a story and paint the picture of an outcome was an idea I explored in the Platform Owner’s Guidebook. The idea of ‘working backwards’ is one that Amazon has been using for years. By creating a press release for the final product or service, you can get to the fully portray the benefits, which is a useful tool for selling the story to executives and stakeholders.

 There is certainly a lesson in all of this for technology leaders. Learning how to create a vision or movement which the organisation can stand behind will help combat resistance to change, which is an unavoidable challenge working in the tech space. It may also give you the chance of receiving investment when it was previously thought to be unlikely. 

 “Using the storytelling tactic may be the solution to bridging the gap between IT and the rest of the business. I still think in many organisations, they sit quite separately,” Brooke shares.

Are you looking to instigate a change in your business and don’t know where to begin? Or perhaps you are within a technology department of an organisation and don’t know how best to communicate your goals with the non-technological teams? Brooke Bainbridge has overcome these challenges, and much more, through the art of a good yarn.