![]() Since talent (internal or external) can have a tremendous effect on the systems and resources needed, organizations tend to think of maximizing their investment there. It’s having the systems, talent, and resources in place. If having an organization-wide appreciation for stories translates to a willingness to invest in planning for and producing them, then the second dimension of a sustainable culture-capacity-translates into actually making that concrete investment. Nonprofits should look for opportunities to highlight the outcomes (anecdotal or quantitative) of shared stories and how they helped achieve measurable goals, and even build this reporting into meetings where the staff share stories. The process of systematically evaluating story success becomes critically important when thinking about reinforcing an organization-wide mindset and appreciation for stories. ![]() But the results were transformational-a more engaged, connected audience and tons of internal excitement around the power of stories. “Everyone was nervous and uncertain about it, right up until the last minute,” he said. Geatz worked with each director to identify a personal story about their work and to build their confidence in telling that personal story in front of a group of their peers. He immediately banned PowerPoint slides from the next meeting, imploring them to tell a single story instead. “People in the audience were literally falling asleep,” he said of the first meeting of country directors he attended years ago. ![]() Ron Geatz, director of global content at the Nature Conservancy, describes how an organization that is very fact- and data-driven began to embrace the power of stories. Sometimes, it takes an “aha!” moment to get everyone in the organization excited about the power of stories. “You’re essentially strengthening your organization’s capacity by building more storytellers.” “If you are going to build a storytelling culture, you need to expose everyone to how it works,” says Roger Burks, a communications specialist and former senior writer at Mercy Corps and CARE. Regardless of whether the instigator of a nonprofit’s storytelling culture comes from the bottom or the top, experts agree that the mindset of thinking and communicating in terms of stories must permeate throughout the organization to be successful. We discovered two main components: a mindset and appreciation for stories, and capacity. So what, exactly, do we mean by a “storytelling culture,” and how do nonprofits go about building one? While producing applied storytelling research, tools, and trainings during our yearlong Stories Worth Telling project at Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication, we looked at hundreds of nonprofit stories and interviewed more than a dozen organizations with compelling evidence of having this elusive culture nailed down. Far fewer conversations are dedicated to the “how”-specifically, how nonprofits (especially smaller ones) can develop a sustainable system for collecting and sharing stories. In fact, in a survey of Washington, DC-based nonprofits we conducted last year, 96 percent of respondents said that storytelling is an important part of their communications. It’s safe to say that most organizations understand the need for stories as a tool for engaging potential donors, funders, and supporters. Much of the conversation about nonprofit storytelling today focuses on why organizations should tell stories. And for many organizations, it’s the difference between investing in telling the organization’s story in a more compelling way-or not investing. It’s the difference between having one person in the organization dedicated to storytelling (whether that’s the CEO, development director, or head of communications) and everyone in the organization having compelling stories at their fingertips. This, combined with its low intelligence requirement, makes it a potent tool for wearing down stronger opponents even if the wielder isn't a dedicated sorcerer.A vibrant storytelling culture means the difference between whether your organization has a living, breathing portfolio of different stories, from different perspectives, that share its impact-or just a single, somewhat stagnant story. The Poison inflicted by this staff is significantly stronger than other strains of Poison, and only gets more powerful the more health the target has. ![]() However, what the Storyteller's Staff does possess is a unique skill, Poison Spores, which inflicts a unique strain of Poison upon enemies that get caught by it. As such, as a means for dealing spell damage, there is little reason to use this staff over others. It is outclassed at almost all points by more basic staves like the Sorcerer's Staff and Heretic's Staff. As a Sorcery catalyst, the Storyteller's Staff is a rather mediocre tool.
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