At ServiceNow, every communicator is a storyteller

Lest you doubt the importance of storytelling at the cloud computing company ServiceNow, a staffing priority gives away the game.

Every member of the communication team is a storyteller, says Emily Russel, head of the employee communications and engagement team.

Storytelling is woven through all the company’s communications, both internal and external.

“The heart of everything we do is around storytelling,” Russel says. “It’s what connects us as human beings. It is the single area where we need to build better capabilities as a team and as a function and as a practice.”

ServiceNow hired Russel last year to create the employee communications team from scratch. The team now has eight people and is expanding in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific and India. Everywhere, the emphasis is on empathetic storytelling that puts employees at the heart of everything.

Storytelling, she says, begins in understanding one’s audience at a deep level. This derives from a value of being “a human-centric organization,” Russel says.

Empathy as a storytelling tool