Why you will do most of the work with strategic storytelling alliances, but it’s worth it.
You’ve probably heard the saying we’re stronger together than we are alone, or some iteration of it. That can certainly be true with companies or organizations that want to unite to influence stakeholders to take specific action or draw attention to a unifying message. From a storytelling perspective, I call that “strategic storytelling alliances”. That’s where a group of organizations get together to pool resources and audiences to tell the story for an initiative that is bigger than any one of the organizations on its own.
For example, perhaps the group represents a collective of organizations that work to help people find the right services to purchase a home. Each organization offers unique services and support, but together, they choose to tell the story of how to find the ideal real estate agent to help first-time home buyers.
Over the years, I’ve led a few strategic storytelling alliances, bringing together multiple organizations for a common cause. If you’re wanting to explore a strategic storytelling alliance here are few things to keep in mind before you dive in.
First, despite all the best intentions and goodwill of all involved, someone has to lead the alliance, and if you’re initiating discussions with your partners, that will most likely be you. That’s fine, but before you take on that role, take some time to remove romanticization of the project, and assess your own workload and capacity to lead, and make sure you have the blessing of your boss or client.
Two, if you agree to move forward with your partners, understand what everyone’s self-interests are in the campaign. Just because you’ve partnered on a joint-cause, that doesn’t mean your objectives for doing so are in absolute alignment with your partners. They don’t have to be, but not discussing candidly how every organization wants to benefit from the strategic storytelling alliances can lead to communication breakdowns and misunderstanding. Discuss and document self-interests.
Three, come to agreement on an over-arching statement or objective. When leading strategic storytelling alliances, I request the organizations to come together on identifying what’s our “north star” that will guide as we navigate our storytelling journey. Most importantly, having that “north star” provides clarity if the campaign starts to stray from its intention.
Why it’s worth taking the lead
A few key advantages of leading the strategic storytelling alliance include:
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Lead with credibility and you’ll enjoy a level of confidence from your alliance partners that gives you some leeway or autonomy to make meaningful decisions for creative content and communications.
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Build and enhance relationships with leaders in other external organizations. Years after leading strategic storytelling alliances, I still connect with some remarkable leaders who always make time for me based trust earned from taking the lead on an alliance project that served their organization well.
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Gain a (much) greater understanding of how other organizations do things. When you’re leading the dynamic of a strategic storytelling alliance, you’ll find information flows freely as everyone is working towards a greater cause. For example, if the alliance is pooling video content resources, I’ve learned from others how they manage and assign their teams, sharing the same info in return to avoid duplication. It’s highly unlikely I’d enjoy this level of sharing with an external entity had it not been for the strategic storytelling partnership.
Leading a strategic storytelling alliance is a lot of work, but if done right it can produce an exponential return on time, effort, and resources working with other organizations.
FREE Quick Course on Strategic Storytelling Alliances
Certainly, more to share than just a brief online web feature on strategic storytelling alliances, which is why I’m currently in the final stage of producing at 20-minute FREE online Quick Course about Strategic Storytelling Alliances. If you’d like to receive an email notification on when the Quick Course is ready, sign up below.
