Most people do not remember what was on page six of the employee handbook. However, they do remember the story their manager told about the founder sweeping the warehouse floor on launch day or the time the customer service rep paid out of pocket to help a stranded client.
Stories like that tend to stick. They are shared, remembered, and passed around because they carry meaning. This is precisely why HR teams should embrace storytelling, not just for training or branding, but to help employees understand what the company truly stands for.
What Storytelling Does That Slide Decks Cannot
Company values are often written like slogans: respect, integrity, innovation. Words like that look good on posters but rarely carry emotional weight on their own. Stories give those words context, make them human, and help people see what those values look like in action.
Think about onboarding. Instead of explaining “we value collaboration,” imagine telling a new hire about how three departments worked late for a week to meet a client deadline. That’s more than a bullet point. That’s the culture being lived. Storytelling in human resources creates these moments of recognition where people say, Oh, so that’s what we mean by collaboration.
Real-Life Stories Make Culture Feel Real
Let’s say Mia is an HR manager at a regional credit union. She wants to remind staff about the value of empathy, especially during customer calls. Rather than sending out another email full of best practices, she gathers stories from tellers who went the extra mile.
One brought coffee to an elderly customer waiting outside before opening. Another noticed signs of financial abuse and reported it discreetly. Mia turns these examples into short weekly shoutouts at team meetings. They’re less than two minutes each, but they stay with people. That’s how reinforcing company values becomes part of the rhythm of work.
Where HR Can Weave In Stories
Storytelling does not require a stage. It can happen in small ways across regular touchpoints.
- Onboarding: Share stories of real employees who represent core values
- Training: Use scenarios that are pulled from actual internal experiences
- Internal newsletters: Highlight actions, not just announcements
- Performance reviews: Connect feedback to real examples of value-driven behavior
None of this has to be dramatic. In fact, the more ordinary the story, the more relatable it feels. Not every tale needs to be a hero’s journey. A well-told five-minute moment can be just as powerful.
Let Employees Tell Their Own Stories
Sometimes, the best thing HR can do is hand over the mic. Invite employees to share their own value-driven moments, feature them on the intranet, or create a rotating segment in town halls where someone shares a recent experience that reflects a company’s values. When people hear peers reflect the culture out loud, it feels less like top-down messaging and more like a shared language.
This approach also supports strong employee engagement techniques. When individuals are encouraged to tell their own stories instead of only listening to others, they feel more connected, more recognized, and more inclined to live out those values in their daily work.
Making Values Stick Without Sounding Like a Slogan
If HR wants employees to connect with the company’s values in a real and lasting way, it might be time to change the approach. Rather than rewriting policy language again, start listening. Start collecting the stories that show what your culture looks like in practice. That is how values move from something written to something lived!
