Tell me a story friend!

One of the keys to adoption of new innovations is the story we tell people about the need and the solution. The ability to share the story in a convincing way is absolutely critical and this is one area where we often make a pretty big mess.

Have you been to a seminar where the presenter is trying to convince you of a need for a new solution but completely looses you in the explanation. I was in one recently (I'm not saying who or where :) ). He hooked the group in the plenary by challenging those who saw the problem to meet in a smaller room after the main session. But then we went there and immediately got lost in details, numbers and definitions. By the end we forgot why we were there.

In the Heath brother's latest blog post on "making it stick" they talk about the importance of explaining statistics in clear and understandable ways. Take a minute to read their thoughts. The key is the story that you build. But you've probably heard that and it doesn't necessarily give you a next step when you go to explain your next cool idea to the world.

So here we go, let me give you an outline that will help you build the story around your innovation:

A. Start with the need

• Don't start with facts
• Share a story that depicts the need in a very human and tangible way.
• One example is if you are sharing about an innovation in clean water technology, show a glass of dirty water and explain what might be in it and how many people drink water just like that in a given day.

B. Share how you fit in

• People want a human element
• Share about your journey (quickly)
• Explain the spiritual element and your response

C. Explain the facts

• Using the Heath brother's example, build a story with the facts that bring them to life
• Take your top 10 facts and ruthlessly eliminate all but 3 to share

D. Present your solution

• Take out all the jargon / industry speak
• Give the reasons why your innovation is key to meeting the need
• Provide clear outcomes of what will happen if you are to succeed
• Share endorsements of trusted people who believe that this solution will work

Ok, now it's your turn. Take this outline and insert your need, journey, facts and solution. Post your specific outline in the comments of this blog and we can all encourage each other in our communication.

Anchor and Twist

So many times when we come up with a new idea, we then go about trying to sell it to the world. We make powerpoints, design logos, create descriptions, write case studies and on and on.

Two of my favorite innovation writers (Dan and Chip Heath - who wrote Made to Stick) have a new concept that I think can really help missions innovators. The call it Anchor and Twist.

The concept is very easy. Instead of trying to explain your new idea from scratch, you start with something people know, relate it to your idea and then add the twist. This allows people to quickly relate your idea to something that they have seen before, but creates the distinctive quickly. This is tricky, but can be very powerful.

Lets take a very easy example. We recently purchased a small high definition flat panel television. For some the difference between analog and digital is still a bit unclear. But try this, "The picture looks like what you see on your flat panel computer monitor at work only it has an antenna hookup in the back." Almost everyone now has flat computer monitors, so they know what those are. But none of theirs have a place for an antenna to hook up. So you anchored your idea in something they knew and twisted it to describe the new item.

Lets us a missions example. As many of you might know, a staple in communicating missions in North America has been the "dinner event." They are banquets where people come to hear about what God is doing around the world. These tools were and still can be very effective for awareness and communication. One of the centerpieces for a missions banquet is always the "compelling video." Lets say I am trying to introduce our YouTube videos and explain how they might be used to communicate to people interested in missions. I could either go into a long explanation of online video, the demographics, the stats etc, or I could say, "Putting our missions videos on online videos on sites like YouTube are like a virtual missions banquet with a 24/7 program." I have anchored the YouTube video in a familiar concept for many people involved in missions but twisted it with they reality that they are available all the time.

What innovative concept are you working to present today? How could you apply this concept of "Anchor and Twist" to help people understand and grapple with it more effectively. Remember that the amount of work you do up front to define and explain will go a long way towards adoption as you work with you idea.