PAR Stories—A Powerful Way to Persuade

It’s a format that has been used time and time again for centuries—for movies, for novels, and for fairy tales. A person is placed in a difficult context with formidable challenges. The person takes action, and, against all odds, comes out as the hero. Think of the plot in fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Snow White, in movies like Moana, and even in the great stories of the Bible—Moses confronts Pharaoh and frees the children of Israel, Joshua wins the battle at Jericho, and Esther risks her life to save her people.
 
This three-part story structure is also a powerful model for persuasion in business presentations, employment interviews, public relations campaigns, and more. As humans, we love to see the underdog come out on top (except when we are the dog on top), and we can appeal to this human characteristic in multiple situations.
 
One of the beautiful things about this three-part story structure is its simplicity. Remember it with the easy-to-remember acronym PAR—representing Problem, Action, Result.

• Problem—Explain the original context, including the problem or challenge.
• Action—Describe the action taken to overcome the problem or challenge.
• Result—Highlight the positive results that came from the action.

 
Here is how a PAR story was used by one college student in an employment interview (used by permission):
 
Problem. Growing up, my dream was to play quarterback for my high school football team.  My dream was almost crushed in eighth grade when my football coach told me I would never play quarterback because I was too small and too slow.
Action. I spent the next four years of high school trying to prove my eighth-grade coach wrong. During summers, I spent four hours every night running, throwing the football, and lifting weights.  The summer before my junior and senior year I took part in an intense 14-week sprinting program. I would also throw over 200 passes a night and lift weights for over an hour.
Result. My senior year I was named our region’s Most Valuable Player. I was also named to the All-State team, was chosen as the top quarterback for the 1A-3A All Star Game, and was one of the Arizona Wendy’s All-American  Heisman finalists.
 
In addition to using PAR stories for telling things of the past, they can be used in describing future scenarios.
 
Problem: We are having serious problems recruiting new employees for our fast-food restaurants.
Action: We could offer recruiting incentives to current employees.
Result: This action would reduce the amount of time and money that we now spend in recruiting efforts, and we would see an increase in the job satisfaction of our current employees.
 
Take a moment to think of three situations in which you might use PAR stories in your current workplace. Then write a rough PAR outline of a story you could use in each situation. Finally, put the stories into action. We think you’ll like the results you get.  
 
-Bill Baker