Andrew Marsh and Anthony Greco have joined forces to bring Northern Insight readers a 360 view on why narrative is important - what should you be saying and who should you be saying it to? Your internal narrative is your most powerful tool, don't forget it!
If you’re trying to get anything done that involves other people, you need a story. Money, Brands, Religion, Nationality, Laws. They’re all stories that we’ve collectively agreed (or disagreed!) on.
Anthony, who launched Grectec to help fintech leaders build banking operations that balance cost, customer experience and risk says: “The story you tell is one of the few fundamental assets you have available when starting and building a business. You can hire people with money, but you only get that money by getting either investors or customers to part with their money and buy into your story.
“We’re very familiar with the concept that you need a good company story to tell investors. And even more, from marketing, that we you need to tell your customers a great story. Companies will often do these pretty well and they make up two of the four core story types start-up leaders need to be able to tell well for success, whether they’re conscious of it or not.”
The “Vision Story” for investors and the “How we improve your life” story for customers are put front and centre while “Internal Narrative” is side-lined in our thinking. Deemed less important. An afterthought even.
But when you already have a business and employees, this is your most powerful tool to get people engaged, motivated, pointing all in the same direction with enthusiasm and passion.
A great internal narrative is easy to communicate, obvious why it’s been chosen, and ideally, measurable.
Andrew Marsh, a regular and well known contributor to Northern Insight, runs many peer groups for leaders in the region, works with organisations on growth and supports leaders to be their best versions of themselves. He says”
“The internal narrative is the most useful tool to get things done in the short term. It ties into the Vision (at Vistage we create a 1-3-5 model to help with this) and is on the scale of 3-9 months. Team goals cascade naturally out of these when done well. Good examples are easy to communicate, obvious why they’ve been chosen, and ideally, measurable. They point everyone in right same direction, and give clear structure on how to make decisions, usually with only a single word or phrase.”
Anthony agrees and says: “This was done really well at Monzo, everyone knew which phase we were in, and could tie their goals and team goals back to the internal narrative at the time:
1. Get a banking licence.
2. Migration (moving from the old pre-paid card stack, to the full bank stack).
3. Unit Economics (achieving positive customer unit economics via either more revenue or lower costs).
4. Table Stakes/Main Account (what does it take to make people use us as their main account).
5. Eat your vegetables (fix all of the operational debt that had built up from hyper-scaling!).
A bad internal narrative is vague, not measurable, doesn’t guide decision making.
Conversely, a poorly constructed internal narrative can be a significant setback. Vague objectives like “Play to Our Strengths” lack the specificity needed for meaningful action.
They fail to provide measurable outcomes, offer no clear completion criteria, and can even create division among teams by highlighting disparities in strengths and weaknesses rather than fostering a sense of unity and purpose.
It’s not enough to have a great narrative, you need you say it, in person, over and over again. Talking trumps text.
In the chaotic world of start-ups, a single cohesive narrative can be your compass. It guides, inspires, and gives your team the autonomy to make better decisions. Unlike large corporations, start-ups have the unique advantage of being able to quickly align everyone towards a common goal and a strong, and often repeated internal narrative is the best way to do this.
Andrew and Anthony both advise that this should come from the CEO speaking to the team frequently. It will feel easier to write a company email – but nothing can replace personally engaging everyone. Make your storytelling relatable, use real anecdotes, and apply these techniques at both company and team levels.
Remember, the way you tell your story can significantly impact your team’s morale and performance, and at the end of the day make people want to be part of this part of your organisation’s journey.
You can see more at www.grectec.com or by emailing andrew.marsh@vistagechair.com