All the World Is A Stage: Using Narrative Structure to Persuade

WHAT IS A USEFUL STRUCTURE WHEN TRYING TO PERSUADE?

I think there is a common belief that persuasion is achieved by showing someone that “this is how it has to be” or “this is what the rules or law require.” While that may be true in some situations, it does not apply in situations where effective advocacy is required.

Effective advocacy is important when there are multiple possible viable options or when “reasonable people can disagree” about what is required.

Effective advocacy is especially important when the final decision will be made by consensus or by some one that is personally involved in the consequences of the decision.

This is frequently the situation when a Strata or a Council must decide between different options.

Effective advocacy is more than providing the “law” (reference to a bylaw, or the Strata Property Act, or a CRT or court decision) and then applying the facts to that law to arrive at a single possible resolution.

People think in narratives. This requires both references to “law”, along with an explanation of “why” not just “what or how.”

A good structure for being persuasive as a storyteller is to provide three clear things:

1. A “normative” reference point.

2. A “trouble”

3. The ability to decide on a resolution.

WHAT IS A NORMATIVE REFERENCE POINT?

A normative reference point is a statement about what should happen if there were no competing interests or options. It should include both a statement of why the “law” is the way it is and the benefits of following that law.

For example, consider a situation where the Strata is deciding to pass a bylaw to take responsibility for all the hot water tanks in strata lots.

The normative reference point (the “law”) is that each hot water tank is owned by different people and only the owners of a hot water tank benefit from the hot water created by that hot water tank. The owner of a thing is responsible for the costs of that ownership and can decide what to do with the thing that they own.

WHAT IS A "TROUBLE" WHEN USING NARRATIVE STRUCTURE TO PERSUADE?

A trouble is an example of what could go wrong if the normative reference point is not followed. It can either be something that has happened or something that is possible in the future.

It is the trouble that dictates the resolution.

To continue the example, a trouble that can happen in the future is that an owner may not properly maintain their hot water tank and it could rupture. The water that escapes from the hot water tank could damage their own property as well as the common property or the property of another owner. The Strata (as the administrator of the common property) and other owners have no ability to forecast when this would happen or to affect the likelihood that it would happen.

IS IT PERSUASIVE TO LET THE AUDIENCE DECIDE ON THE RESOLUTION?

It is the ability to decide on a resolution that creates the opportunity for effective advocacy and story telling. Effective advocacy takes a proposed resolution, or multiple resolutions, and projects them into the future and articulates anticipated consequences. It is the ability to have the audience imagine themselves in this future that creates persuasion.

A possible resolution in our example is for the Strata to adopt a bylaw taking responsibility for all the hot water tanks in strata lots.

An example of a persuasive way to oppose that resolution could be to ask owners to imagine how they would feel with an increase in strata fees to pay for other people’s hot water tanks, how the bylaw would now permit the Strata to come into your strata lot to inspect a hot water tank, how an owner could request that the Strata replace a hot water tank and the Strata refuse which would cause a dispute particularly if the hot water tank ruptured, and how an owner would feel if the Strata was determined to be negligent in maintaining a hot water tank and all the owners ended up having to pay for the repair of property and the replacement of possessions that we damaged when the hot water tank failed.

An example of a persuasive way to support the resolution could be to ask owners to imagine how they would deal with the worry that a neighbour was not going to properly maintain their hot water tank, how they would feel if despite that owner paying for replacement of their hot water tank another owner did not and that water tank failed causing damage to their property, and how frustrated they would be dealing with the inconvenience of having to repair their property if it was damaged by water or dealing with an insurance company to cover costs.

USING A NARRATIVE STRUCTURE IS PERSUASIVE BECAUSE IT EMPHASIZES "WHY" A PROPOSED RESOLUTION IS THE CORRECT RESOLUTION

Narrative and story telling are effective tools of persuasion when used thoughtfully and coherently. When using these tools it is important to directly provide a normative reference point, a trouble, and the ability to decide on a resolution – it is this structure that enables the ability to explain to an audience “why” a proposed resolution is the correct resolution.