Storytelling for IT Leaders: How to Shape the Narrative and Influence the Business
Influencing Skills for IT teams
The Challenge for IT
We were recently working with an IT team at a global logistics company. They had delivered a suite of powerful tools—AI for predictive maintenance, Salesforce automation, ServiceNow workflows. The technology was rock solid.
But something wasn’t landing.
Instead of embracing the change, business stakeholders were dragging their feet, adoption rates were disappointing.
“We’ve shown them the numbers,” the CIO told us. “Why aren’t they getting it?”
It’s a pattern we see often.
Influencing Skills for IT
IT delivers the solution, but buy-in doesn’t follow. Adoption stalls. Compliance drops. The value of the technology gets watered down.
The problem isn’t capability. It’s influence. And influence starts with the ability to shape the story.
It is sometime said that facts inform, but stories persuade.
The evidence is clear. Studies in organizational psychology show that storytelling significantly improves message retention, buy-in, and alignment. You can throw all the facts and figures you like at people—but it’s the story they remember.
Digital Transformation for IT teams
Digital transformation isn’t a side project anymore. It is the business. And in this environment, IT’s success depends not just on getting the technology right—but on getting the narrative right: Why this matters. Why now. And how it helps people win.
We saw this play out with Thomas, a regional operations leader. For months, he had been trying to improve inventory visibility across his markets. But he was stuck. Every team had its own system. The data didn’t align. No one trusted the numbers enough to act quickly.
When IT launched a new predictive analytics tool, Thomas didn’t engage. To him, it looked like just another IT project—something layered on top of an already messy process.
So, we sat down with him—not to pitch, but to listen.
We asked him what success would look like. What a real solution would mean for his team. Where things kept getting blocked.
And Thomas told us a story:
“If I could spot a stock issue just 24 hours earlier, I could avoid a week of disruption. I wouldn’t be chasing data. I’d be solving problems ahead of time.”
That became the new narrative. Not a list of features. Not a slide deck of KPIs.
A simple story about what life could look like if the system worked. Th ebest stories take the listener form darkness to light. They show us the problem with all its pain and despair and then lead us to the solution – the light.
Once Thomas focused on the story everything changed.
Storytelling for IT Teams
Because when people help shape the story, they are far more likely to act on it.
The research backs this up. In political campaigning, for example, studies have shown that people’s views on even the most deeply held issues—like same-sex marriage—are most likely to shift when a personal story is shared.
And research from Stanford suggests that we remember information 22 times longer when it’s delivered through story, rather than through a standard slide presentation.
At a time when IT’s ability to build rapport with the business is more critical than ever, stories have a unique power.
Studies from Beijing Normal University even show that when we share stories, our brains start to mirror one another—literally syncing up in the process of connection.
The Good News: Storytelling Is Learnable
If the evidence for the power of storytelling is so compelling, why don’t we see more IT professionals being storytellers?
In our experience, equipping people with essential tools and methods, along with the safe space to practice with feedback and coaching, turns them into confident authentic storytellers – capable of influencing the businesses.
We see it every day—IT professionals learning to shape their message in ways that land and influence.
Storytelling for IT Leaders: How to Shape the Narrative
At Threshold, we help IT leaders build these skills through hands-on, high-impact training.
We start by unpacking the science behind storytelling—how it shapes memory, emotion, and connection.
Then we apply those principles to the real-world challenges IT leaders face every day.
Through practice, reflection, and coaching, people learn how to craft stories that resonate—stories that move people, not just inform them.
Because when you shape the story, you shape perception. And when you win hearts and minds. Adoption rates improve, as does buy-in and reputation.
That’s how you earn your seat at the strategy table—and how you keep it.
At Threshold, we are helping our clients to ensure that their human workforce is committed, engaged and ready for the technology revolution. We do this by bringing about small shifts in line manager behaviour that make a big difference. To find out more visit www.threshold.co.uk
