Master storytelling — because data doesn’t speak for itself

Several years ago, as Toni Moate FCPA was overseeing the construction of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO) A$120 million research ship, the project reached a point where crew safety factors demanded a significant change in design and increased investment.

When Moate, director of national collections and marine infrastructure at the CSIRO, presented to the project board on the subject, she focused less on the numbers.

“We are designing and building this ship alongside the people who will man it down in the Southern Ocean,” she told them. “I cannot be a part of a project that does not know that the ship is as absolutely safe as it can be.”

The response was immediate.

“Everyone was like, ‘Absolutely!’,” she says. “There was instant agreement.”

The numbers, the contractual obligations and the analysis underpinning the recommendation still mattered, of course. However, none of those things communicated the importance of the investment quite so clearly.

It was a simple but excellent example of the power of storytelling in finance, Moate says. Storytelling is not about replacing evidence with anecdotes. Instead, it is about giving the numbers meaning, so they are relevant to the individuals listening.

A perfectly constructed spreadsheet is of great value to the finance professional who knows what every number means. But it likely means little to those who do not.

According to international humanitarian lawyer and leadership consultant, Rabia Siddique, effective communication and storytelling cut through the complexity of data. It creates relevance, improves recall and builds emotional connection.

“Numbers tell us what is happening, but story helps us understand why it matters, what it means and what we should do next,” she says. “Data gives us evidence, whereas story gives that evidence meaning. It is what enables data to travel.”

The CSIRO project board personally knew the people who would be aboard the new ship. The thought of them in the remote reaches of a harsh and unforgiving ocean made the decision around added safety spend clear and easy.

“Stories are not about sentimentality,” Siddique says. “They give context, meaning and consequence to information. They connect analytical content with what I call ‘the human reality of decisions’.”

In doing so, she says, stories prompt action.

What matters most in the construction and delivery of stories is structure, Siddique says. She recommends four essential ingredients for an effective story: context, tension, meaning and action.

“Ask ‘Where are we now?’, ‘What has changed, or what is the problem or opportunity?’, ‘Why does it matter?’ and ‘What should happen next?’,” she says. “A simpler version is, ‘What, so what and what now?’”

Why spreadsheets can be overwhelming for an audience — and what to try instead

Moate learned similar lessons from decades of presenting financial information to assist or influence decisions. The mistake she made as a younger accountant, she says, was assuming everyone needs to experience the analytical journey the same way an accountant does.

“Earlier in my career, I had big spreadsheets and everything was balanced to the cent,” Moate says. “But in terms of the recipient, it was overwhelming. It often meant decisions would be delayed while people worked through this complex myriad of information.”

Today, she says her approach is similar to peeling an onion. She begins with proposing what it is she is trying to achieve, then has additional layers of evidence ready for those who need it.
“The lesson for me has been to always consider what I am trying to achieve,” Moate says. “What does the person or team I am presenting to really need to know to make the right decision?”

Start with the decision, not the numbers

How do finance and accounting professionals become better data storytellers? 

Siddique says they should ask five key questions about every number that is being presented: what the number is, what caused it, why it matters, who or what it affects, and what decision or action should follow. She stresses that understanding who or what is affected is particularly important.

“Always humanise the denominator,” she says. “Remember that behind almost every number is a human behaviour, a human decision or a human consequence.”

In the previous example, Moate humanised the denominator by discussing the safety of colleagues on the ship. However, it could also mean explaining the effects of a change in margin for members of a sales department, how an investment affects local communities, or how a product changed a customer’s life.

That helps to anchor numbers in reality and in their human effect, Siddique says.

How finance professionals can communicate data effectively

Consider how to best present the numbers, Siddique says. She suggests beginning with the challenge or the decision.

“There is an undeniable temptation to present information in the order it is analysed,” she says. “But the audience does not want the analytical journey. They want the conclusion up front and then the logic that supports it.”

Moate adds that another important consideration is understanding how the recipient prefers to receive information. Is it with graphics, images, dot points or emotion? What is the best communication style for the audience? 

“At the end of the day, it is not about how you communicate,” she continues. “It is about how the person you want to communicate to best receives that information.”

Narrative without rigour falls flat

Storytelling can fail if a compelling narrative is unsupported by evidence, if facts are chosen to manipulate a decision, or if emotion is allowed to obscure facts that might be considered inconvenient.

“Good storytelling is a trust-building exercise,” Siddique says. “Authentic, accurate storytelling can strengthen credibility. Use influence to illuminate the truth, not manipulate it.”

Moate agrees, saying simplification is only powerful when substantial, authentic analysis lies behind it. “Bright people will unravel a set of loosely constructed numbers like a poorly knitted jumper,” she says. “Once you lose credibility as an accounting or finance professional, you lose your ability to influence.”

Data storytelling skills may well become more important as technology transforms accounting and finance.

“The future of financial professionals is not simply to be the custodians of numbers,” Siddique says. “It is to be the interpreters of what those numbers mean for your clients, their businesses, their lives, their futures and their dreams.”

In other words: the spreadsheet remains essential but is not the finished product. 

The story only ends when the numbers that matter are communicated meaningfully to those who need them most.

 

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