Why My "Nine Grid Comms Model" is My Go-To For Storytelling Success
Storytelling sits at the heart of Product, Transformation, and Leadership.
One of the things I learned early on was that no matter how accurately you group demographics, personas, and profiles; people understand things in greatly varying ways. This is especially true when you’re trying to explain something new to them; and truer still when it’s something wholly novel.
I set out a few years ago to create a model for steering my storytelling. Something that I could use to ensure I was being inclusive, effective, and comprehensive whenever I set out a narrative. I’ve used it on every project since.
Introducing my Nine Grid Comms Model…
How it works
Behind what might look like an eye test or a digital Rorschach test is in fact a framework you can use for communicating almost anything. It works for breaking down complex announcements. I’ve used it for announcing new products. And it’s proven effective for internal communications too.
It might look like I’m saying good storytelling is about saying everything nine times and in several different ways. I am.
Repeated
Take every narrative and repeat it twice so you’re delivering the message three times.
This works well for people who absorb information through repetition and bridges moments in periods of change too.
I’ve often used this in larger companies where there can be a lot of communications noise.
Varied
Alter how you tell the narrative, while remaining consistent, each time you deliver it across three occasions.
This works well for people who prefer to problem solve independently. It allows them to construct their own narrative from the building blocks you provide.
It’s extra useful when launching projects or discussing change to be delivered in multiple phases.
Scaled
Allowing the narrative to grow each time you tell it is a great way of engaging people little-by-little.
Adding more colour to the previous narrative, you arrive - after the third message - with the fully formed end story.
This works best for people who like to build information and digest change incrementally.
Result?
By combining these nine narratives - the same story told three times, the same story told in three different ways, and the three building narratives that increase in detail each time - your storytelling has a much better chance at landing with your audience in the way you intended it to.
By adapting to how different people understand different information (from those who respond to repetition to those who value variety and those who benefit from a more incremental approach) the Nine Grid Comms Model helps you cover all bases.
Does it take longer?
Surprisingly, it doesn’t. When your narrative is right, it’s right. This isn’t about changing your story, it’s about adapting how you tell it. I expected it to take a bit longer, because you’re applying multiple ‘lenses’ to what you’ve crafted. But, actually, I’ve experienced an overall efficiency:
Knowing you’ll use the mechanics of delivery, rather than variations of the narrative itself, to reach all of your audiences gives you more time to craft the narrative in the first place.
Successfully telling your story first time, rather than via a series of follow-ups, means you get your message out quicker and more immediately. With everyone’s attention spans stretched these days, this is valuable.
When I’ve shared the Nine Grid Comms Model with teams I’ve worked with, and they’ve seen it work, it’s encouraged everyone to apply structure (sometimes the same model, sometimes a different model, but always more structured than what existed before) to their storytelling; creating an overall higher standard of communications and an almost-default expectation that narratives will have a structure. This creates a more aligned, and therefore more efficient, way of working. It’s why companies like Monzo have invested in establishing tone of voice.
CONCLUSION
It doesn’t matter how you structure your storytelling, as long as you do. When you build your narratives around a framework (mine, your own, or another) you bring structure and discipline to how you say what you say and to whom you say it. At the end of the day, the most important thing with storytelling is that your listener has understood what you’ve said, in the way you intended them to. This framework gives me nine times the chance of making that happen versus just telling a story once and in one way.