I’ve just stumbled across a book that every communications practitioner should read – Squirrels Inc: a fable of leadership through storytelling, by Steven Denning.

It’s a lovely but very practical story about the long-lost art of storytelling – and how to use stories to influence change and manage personal and business challenges.

The best bit is that Denning uses a story to illustrate his lessons. You’ll learn practical tips to improve your storytelling skills while you enjoy the trials and tribulations of a group of squirrels who, as told by Dio, experience the same challenges humans do when they want to inform, engage or persuade their friends and colleagues.

I know the idea of reading a story about squirrels sounds a bit far fetched – but it’s a bit like Harry Potter. Initially you’re skeptical but by the time you’ve reached page six, you’re hooked.While the book is written for leaders, I think it applies just as equally to communications professionals – after all, our job requires us to inspire, inform and persuade every day.

Even better than that, it provides some tips for crafting messages to help you take your organisation on a journey of change - something many companies need help with as we head into a recession.

I’ve found myself referring to it several times already – usually when I need inspiration to write key messages that inspire and engage people. Recently when I was involved with a change project, I had a quick reread of the chapter ‘writing messages during a period of change’ – it had some sensible tips, including:

Write messages from the point of view of staff – what it means for them, not why the company is doing it. E.g. would you be interested in hearing about the company’s financial situation when all you really want to know is whether you have a job at the end of it?

Provide all the facts - resist the urge to make it ‘nice’.

This advice was greatfully received, helping me to write ‘authentic’ messages, rather than ‘spin’, which was vital in a situation where staff were learning that they were losing their job. We would have lost all credibility, and more importantly, lost the trust of our staff, if we had tried to make it sound ‘nice’.