Whether curing cancer, making poverty history or greening a city, communicating change is a large task. But for those working in the social sector, social innovation is all about change. It is about painting a picture of a better world, creating engagement in moving an agenda of change forward, and ultimately realizing that change.

As communicators, we haven’t yet strategically tapped into the rich vein of narratives that enable content to be shifted so that a new vision of the world can be glimpsed, experienced and provoked. Much of our communication still assumes that providing reasons for change will lead to agreement. It’s as if a set of scientifically proven instructions will engage us in a predetermined road map to change. This does little to create deep connections and involvement in the process of change. In this environment, it is hard for change to really take root.

In Stephen Denning’s book How Storytelling Ignites Action, we learn why change ideas are more effectively communicated through narrative rather than through explanations and evidence.

“The abstract way of thinking leaves us as perpetual spectators, self-conscious and external – turning us into voyeurs who observe the world as though through an impermeable glass screen… By contrast, the narrative way of thinking is internal, immersive, self-forgetting, and attached to the full richness of tacit understanding. Through a story, life invites us to come inside as a participant.”

As a communicator of social change, ask yourself the following:

• When we design a public engagement campaign are we inviting our audience inside, or pushing out a prescribed set of predetermined actions and results?

• When we ask people to participate in change, either by becoming a donor, sending a letter to an elected official, or signing a petition, are we letting them shape the story of change or telling them what exactly the change will look like?

It is time that we invite our audience in as agents of change, not mere recipients of our recipe for change. Can we begin to imagine our role less as instructors and more as facilitators of a process of change? Can we begin to imagine our work as being shaped and informed by storytelling rather than framed by evidence and instructions for actions? Can we as communicators of a new world cast our net into the broad sea of untapped stories?

We have become so masterful at telling people about problems and pointing the finger at the causes of these problems. We have fine tuned the art of pushing evidence of the problem, its causes and its effects out into the world. Can we imagine that now is the time to become innovators in shaping narrative that will invite people as participants in shaping the story of change. The possibility of change awaits our answer.

Pattie LaCroix has provided strategic leadership in crafting integrated communications and fundraising strategies to nonprofits for more than a decade. As CEO of Catapult Media she is passionate about the power of storytelling in engaging your audience and building support for your work. You can reach Pattie at www.catapultmedia.ca.