Telling, and Selling,Your Hospital Quality StoryHow Storytelling Can Deliver Happy Endings
For You and Your Hospital
#HAPstory
Why storytelling?• Once upon a time . . .
Why storytelling?• Because of . . .
Why storytelling?• Our old brains struggle in a new world
Why storytelling?• Reaching the “old brain”
Why storytelling?• Reaching the “old brain”
Takeaway #1: Why storytelling• “Stories create the emotional context
people need to locate themselves in a larger experience.”
— Scott Bedbury, Brandstream(formerly led Nike and Starbucks marketing)
#HAPstory
Why storytelling in healthcare?• “It is a competitive advantage for you to
have a unique voice . . . Companies with unique personalities give themselves a leg up because people want to embrace other people . . . we all dislike antiseptic and bland corporate communications. .”
— Dick Costolo, new Twitter CEO
Why storytelling in healthcare?• Because we invented “antiseptic!”
Why storytelling in healthcare?• Well, what happens in hospitals??
• Lives begun
• Lives healed
• Lives saved
• Miracles
• Do we deserve to tellthat story or what?
Takeaway # 2
• Every hospital has great stories to tell. The most important story is its own.
#HAPstory
So what’s your great story?
So what’s your great story?• “The hospital provides residents a wide
array of medical, surgical, laboratory and rehabilitative services using state-of-the-art technology in an intimate, community hospital setting . . . this essential community hospital has earned one of the highest patient satisfaction rankings in the country.”
BLAH!
So what’s your great story?
• “I just finished reading Tribes by Seth Godin, which argues that leadership requires a manifesto. I think that the manifesto is a story. It resonates because it is so intensely personal. Who are we? How did we get here? What will we achieve . . . Lest technology – heck, anything – subsume the patient, we need to tell better stories.”
Elizabeth Han, biomedical engineer,University of Toronto Bloorview Hospital
Takeaway #3
• Your hospital story must answer: Who are we? How did we get here? What will we achieve?
#HAPstory
Your authentic story:
• Rooted in fact
Your authentic story:
• Shared by a fluent storyteller
Your authentic story:
• Continuallyread youraudience toensure you’reconnected
Takeaway #4
• Your authentic healthcare story is rooted in fact, shared by a fluent storyteller and continually evolves to resonate with your audience.
#HAPstory
What makes a good story?• An authentic archetype
How you do it• Adapt old, authentic archetypes
How you do it• Create new story archetypes
Takeaway #5• Classic story archetypes are the best
framework for successful 21st century hospital storytelling.
#HAPstory
Some tools for you: strategic• Five Burning Questions Assessment
Some tools for you: just do it!• Map your story’s
characters andtheir roles
Some tools for you• Plot where you want the story to go
Now you’re the storyteller!• What’s your organization’s BEST
current story?
• Let’s map it out!
Now you’re the storyteller!• Who are the characters who drive your
story?
• Let’s share some examples . . .
Now you’re the storyteller!• What is the ideal “plot line” and “happy
ending” for this story?
• Let’s share some examples
Takeaway #6• Think like a storyteller and find the
characters and “happy endings” in every story you develop for your hospital.
#HAPstory
Thank you!Paul Furiga, ABC
President
WordWrite Communications LLC
10475 Perry Highway Suite 104
Wexford, PA 15090-9213http://card.ly/wordwritepr
http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulfuriga
http://www.twitter.com/paulfuriga
