As the common axiom in talent management goes: People will come to work for money, but will stay for meaning. It therefore becomes a talent manager’s mission to not only labor in recruiting the best talent, but also to work to keep them there — in many cases without relying on cash incentives or exotic employee perquisites.

One tool talent managers can instill in their leaders is storytelling, according to Ann Simon, a consultant at Chicago-based organizational performance and strategy firm Gagen MacDonald.

Using a narrative of an organization’s corporate vision helps to motivate employees beyond money, Simon said. The ability to present a vision through stories builds a personal connection between the organization’s goals and employees’ need to feel a greater sense of purpose in the work they do. This could lead to increased productivity, engagement, motivation and retention.

“At the end of the day, it’s about companies awakening to the fact that there’s got to be a higher purpose to build employee loyalty,” Simon said. Today’s workers, especially younger ones, are demanding it. Punching a clock and collecting a paycheck simply doesn’t cut it anymore, she said.

Organizations can bolster their internal messages by creating a communications culture in which the company’s narrative is not just relayed through formalized presentations to its employees, but is embedded in everyday conversation, Simon said.

Yet crafting a compelling narrative message requires that leaders break some old habits and gain some new ones. It also asks that they pay special attention to the anecdotes that occur on the job, as they might find such stories helpful motivators later on.

In a June 2011 article in Chief Executive Magazine, Bill Baker, a founder and principal of BB&Co Strategic Storytelling, offered four tips leaders should follow to frame an organizational vision in a narrative light.

1. Present strategic planning work in a memorable language of stories, not in corporate speak.
2. Invite employees to contribute stories to planning efforts while they’re still being crafted.
3. Give employees the means to share stories consistent with a strategic vision and brand positioning.
4. Live by example by becoming the organization’s “Storyteller-in-Chief.” In other words, “pull people into ideas and rally employees” around storytelling, Baker writes. He lists General Electric Co.’s Jeff Immelt and Zappos’ Tony Hsieh as leaders who best exemplify this.