From Firefighters to Firestarters: Strategic Data Storytelling at Shell

• 92%of 80+ attendees rated the session highly valuable
• −40%escalations caused by misaligned expectations
• +22%stakeholder feedback on reporting clarity

Shell wanted to change how its project managers communicate complex data to stakeholders. In a world of data fatigue, decision-makers often use only about 22% of the insight they receive.

At Shell's Empower(U) event, the brief was to move more than 80 project managers from Firefighters, who rush into reports to put out flames, to Firestarters, who use data to persuade stakeholders to act.

I delivered a live coaching and audience-challenge session on the science of human connection and data, built around the Narrative Arc, a six-stage roadmap that engages emotion and imagination as well as logic.

• Stakeholder mapping: tailoring the narrative to strategic, analytical, people or operational stakeholders.
• The “Killer Questions”: moving conversations from what stakeholders want to what they actually need.
• The Narrative Arc template: from status quo to a curiosity trigger and struggle, then evidence and a clear “now what”.

92% of the 80+ attendees rated the session as highly valuable, and the impact was clear in the months that followed:

• New reporting standard: teams adopted a narrative structure for portfolio reporting, built on a “story first, data second” approach.
• Fewer escalations: escalations caused by misaligned expectations fell by 40%.
• Clearer reporting: stakeholder feedback on reporting clarity improved by 22%.
• Greater influence: attendees gained a reputation as clearer, more influential communicators, opening doors to bigger conversations and greater visibility.

Data storytelling is now treated as a core skill for Shell's project manager community.

Results as reported by Shell's Global VP of Operations.