Category: Events

Creating a movement and change resilient culture through storytelling

Virtual event – Monday 22nd April

4-4:45pm BST (11-11:45am EDT, 8-8:45am PDT)

In the recent Accenture research report ‘Reinvention in the age of generative AI’, the Life Sciences industry was identified as second only to Software and Platforms for an increase in the number of organisations building a culture for continuous reinvention – with 20% of the industry taking an early lead and advantage of the forecast revenue growth gap.

With constant transformation becoming BAU, we need to inspire and engage organisational talent to continuously adapt, adopting new skills and behaviours in support of the organisational strategy.

In this webinar we’re joined by Aimee Christian, VP Global Head Corporate Communications and Engagement at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, who has partnered with The Storytellers, part of Accenture, to deliver strategy engagement, culture change and transformation with four major organisations.

We will explore how to leverage the power of storytelling in strategic communications and activation programmes  – creating a resilient movement to drive change throughout an organisation.  Aimee draws on significant experience leading engagement and communications in Pharma and Life Sciences organisations such as Sanofi and Amgen, and will also be joined by Robert Tennant, Director Client Strategy, and Kirsty Spencer, Head of Strategic Communications at The Storytellers, part of Accenture.

In this session we will explore:

  • Insights into the psychological impact of change and transformation and the role narrative plays in creating a powerful movement of change
  • Successful activation, strategic communications and engagement strategies, particularly in global, highly matrixed and regulated industries such as Life Sciences
  • Skills that can help you as a leader to inspire and influence key stakeholders and your team
Please register your interest to attend this event using the form on this page.

Activating the power of human connection behind your EVP investments

Virtual workshop – Thursday 1st Feb 2024

2pm-3:30pm GMT

(9am-10:30am ET, 8am-9:30am CT)

Organisations continue to struggle to attract and retain the talent needed to deliver on their strategy whilst facing into new culture challenges created by hybrid working, and risks to productivity because of rapid transformation and uncertainty. During this workshop with HR leaders, we will explore how activating a people-centric EVP turns it into a critical tool to tackle these issues.

Developing a compelling employee value proposition with stand-out from other organisations – meeting the needs of individual employees and the overall organisational vision – is a significant investment that goes well beyond material and short-term benefits. How you bring your EVP story to life can make a huge difference to the overall value people connect with, and the commitment they make in return.

What you’ll experience

  • Explore how EVP can be a powerful thread throughout an employee’s lifecycle – from talent attraction, to cultural fit and performance, and career development
  • Understand how to leverage EVP to tackle talent strategy, hybrid working and productivity challenges
  • Gain practical insight into storytelling methods that create clarity and emotional connection, helping people understand and believe in the differentiated value of your EVP

Who should attend?

Senior HR leaders from large complex organisations who are interested in how to amplify the human connection to your EVP. Join us for an interactive story-driven session with a select cohort of your peers, delivered by experts with years of experience working with C-suites of Fortune 500 and FTSE 250 organisations.

Please register your interest to attend this event using the form on this page.

Creating a movement of change – activating transformation

Virtual workshop – Tuesday 5th December 2023

2pm-3:30pm GMT

(9am-10:30am ET, 8am-9:30am CT)

We are hosting a workshop designed exclusively for senior leaders of large, complex organisations responsible for driving change and significant transformations.

In our current environment, new transformational strategies typically need to be implemented every 18-24 months compared to around every 5 years in recent times. For employees, the reality of constant change can result in a state of fear, confusion, cynicism and apathy, in stark contrast to the behaviours that are needed; innovation, agility, resilience and adaptability.

Yet people and culture are often an aspect of transformation that is deprioritised or value-engineered out of investment, considered a nice to have or too hard to tackle and measure. Not having a specific approach to activate people to deliver the transformation results in slow alignment and adoption, reduction in productivity and the risk of missing critical milestones and failing to realise the value of the transformation investment.

In this session we will explore how to overcome common pain points associated with people, culture and behaviour change.

What you’ll experience

  • Gain critical insights into the psychological impact of change and transformation
  • Understand the role narrative plays in creating a powerful movement of change, and the framework you can use within your organisation to activate people behind your strategy
  • Develop skills that can help you as a leader to inspire and influence key stakeholders and your team

Who should attend?

Senior leaders from large complex organisations who are interested in how you can activate people to accelerate change and create organisational resilience during significant transformation. Join us for an interactive story-driven session with a select cohort of your peers, delivered by experts with years of experience working with C-suites of Fortune 500 and FTSE 250 organisations.

This event has closed for registration. Please sign-up to our newsletter at the bottom of the page or follow us on LinkedIn for news of future events.

Reimagining Leadership

Virtual introductory masterclass – Thursday 2nd November 2023

2pm-3:30pm GMT

(10am-11:30am ET,9am-10:30am CT)

We are hosting a storytelling masterclass designed exclusively for senior leaders of large, complex organisations.

In today’s dynamic business landscape, there are ever-increasing demands to innovate, increase productivity and accelerate or pivot your strategy.  Faced with these challenges, developing the influence and impact you need as a leader is key. It is not enough for your teams to simply understand your strategy, you need to inspire them to act, whilst building the resilience for continuous change. Storytelling is recognised as a critical tool for leaders to connect people to their vision, motivate them to embrace change and transformation and put in the discretionary effort needed to activate strategy.

What you’ll experience

This masterclass will introduce you to the storytelling methodology and techniques we have successfully used to support over 200 leadership teams around the world. Focusing on the development of leadership storytelling skills, we’ll also provide guidance on utilising a story-driven approach to accelerate strategy and transformation.

The art and science of storytelling: Understand the psychology and neuroscience behind storytelling and the benefits it brings to business and leadership.

Key components of a business storytelling framework: Discover how to put storytelling to practical use to help you navigate through challenging times and inspire your team during change and transformation.

Crafting your leadership narrative and storytelling techniques: Learn how to create a compelling narrative that reflects your values, vision, and mission, develop storytelling techniques to captivate your audience and convey complex ideas and strategies with clarity and impact.

Who should attend?

Senior leaders from large complex organisations who are looking to unlock the power of storytelling and become a more influential and impactful leader. Join us for an interactive storytelling session with a select cohort of your peers, delivered by experts with years of experience working with C-suites of Fortune 500 and FTSE 250 organisations.

This event has closed for registration. Please sign-up to our newsletter at the bottom of the page or follow us on LinkedIn for news of future events.

Storytelling Bootcamp – Reimagining Sales

Virtual introductory workshop – Friday 6th October

2pm-4pm BST

(9am-11am ET, 8am-10am CT)

Storytelling is recognised as a non-negotiable skill leaders and sales teams must develop to move from a traditional transactional sales mindset to a strategic narrative outcome-focused mindset. With customers becoming increasingly risk averse and in a state of FOMU (fear of messing up), the ability to shape the story and solution of your product to address their challenges and business outcomes becomes a critical competitive advantage.

Why storytelling?

Imagine captivating your audience – clients, prospects and your sales team – with compelling narratives that resonate deeply. Picture how this will activate the trust, belief and motivation to act, inspiring your team and creating the motivation and capability to adopt new ways of thinking and acting, giving your leads the confidence to invest and your clients the belief to commit to a strong long-term partnership.

What you’ll experience

This introductory session will focus on the development of storytelling skills. We’ll also provide guidance on utilising a story-driven approach to accelerate sales and digital transformation, activating your team to embrace change and apply the discretionary effort necessary to implement it.

Emotional intelligence in sales: Understand the psychology behind storytelling and how it taps into the emotional core of decision-making. Explore techniques to empathise, connect, and influence through the power of your own story.

Leading and motivating your team: Empower your sales team with effective leadership through storytelling. Learn to communicate your vision, values, and strategies in a way that inspires enthusiasm, camaraderie, and extraordinary performance.

Delivering story-driven outcomes in complex organisations: How are other high-performance organisations utilising the nine key drivers of activation to accelerate performance? Get insights based on research and evidence from over 200 global organisations, Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies.

Who should attend?

Sales leaders from complex organisations who are ready to transform their approach from transactional to transformational. Join us for an exclusive and immersive storytelling experience with a select cohort of your peers. Mark your calendar for 6th October, and prepare to embark on a journey that will elevate your sales strategy.

The date for this event has passed – please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn for updates on future events.

Webinar: Why activating your people is critical for successful M&A

60% of M&A executives list integrating people and culture as one of the most common reasons that deals are unsuccessful (Mergermarket).  With most studies deeming that 70-90% of M&A deals fail to deliver their stated objectives, de-risking your strategy by addressing this challenge is a critical element to build into your M&A playbook.

In this webinar we draw on 20 years of experience working with complex organisations during these defining moment events, supporting post-merger integration and the ongoing business journey to ensure investment value is realised for shareholders, and crucial talent is retained and galvanised to deliver the M&A vision long term.

Mark Bevan joins us, Partner at Global PMI Partners, acquisition and post-merger specialists with a track record of over 500 operational due diligence, acquisition integration, divestment, carve out and growth projects.

During the session, with insights from landmark deals and recent events, our panel of experts covered:

  • Why people and culture issues are so challenging to successful M&A, and how addressing existing organisational narratives is a critical unlock for success
  • How unifying organisational identity, and creating cultural alignment, through storytelling activates and accelerates the M&A strategy, protects required BAU activity and sustains momentum for the transformation
  • The core activities you should be building into your M&A playbook – with evidence of their impact on driving commercial objectives

Panellists:

  • Robert Tennant, Head of Client Strategy at The Storytellers
  • Mark Bevan, Partner at Global PMI Partners
  • Flora Clarke, Senior Consultant at The Storytellers
  • Marcus Hayes, Co-founder and Director at The Storytellers

Complete the form to watch the recording of the webinar now.

You can also contact members of our team if you have any questions:

Blane Sweeney: blane.sweeney@thestorytellers.com

Kirsty Spencer: kirsty.spencer@thestorytellers.com

‘The Future of Energy’ with Tom Kent – CEO of Nebraska Public Power District

There has never been a more heightened focus on the future of global energy, and its impact on people at a local level.  The pressure on leaders in the industry to develop and deliver transformation that will benefit people, communities, businesses and economies is critical.

In our ‘Stories from the C-suite’ series, we talk to leaders who we believe are expert storytellers and explore their approach to turning vision into reality. In this episode, we explored the challenges of leading significant transformation within a hugely influential organisation with Tom Kent, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nebraska Public Power District. 

Tom joined NPPD over 30 years ago as an engineer and has dedicated the majority of his career to the public power industry, holding many varied roles before becoming CEO of the entire organisation in 2020.

We covered:

  • Tom’s vision for the organisation, its role within the energy industry and the community it serves, and the challenges of activating the transformation strategy at pace
  • Leadership lessons gained through working his way up through the organisation, and how they can be applied to unify and engage management at all levels
  • How to connect a diverse employee and stakeholder population to the journey the organisation is on 
  • The role of storytelling in shifting the mindsets and behaviours needed for significant change

For the years ahead, leaders must seek new ways to stay nimble if they are to seize new opportunities and future-proof their organisation. Expect a timely conversation packed with essential insights and key takeaways for leaders. 

Enter your details to register for the webinar.

Webinar: Building organisational resilience and an innovation mindset

Navigating the storm webinar series

Session four

A leadership playbook for activating extraordinary performance in a world of volatility

In recent challenging times, such as the 2008 credit crunch and COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen and worked with organisations that seized opportunities to innovate and stayed focused on their purpose and ambition.  Those that did, bucked the negative trends experienced by the market in general and thrived.  

As organisations face the current hugely challenging global environment, this webinar reveals a proven storytelling methodology for creating the cultural resilience and innovation mindset that enables your people to activate a new level of performance. With examples and stories from complex businesses around the world, we share how people can be your unique differentiator and the key to future-proofing your organisation in difficult times.

Panellists:

  • Alison Esse, Co-founder and Director at The Storytellers
  • Flora Clarke, Senior Consultant at The Storytellers
  • Kirsty Spencer, Head of Marketing at The Storytellers

We covered:

  • How an authentic, purpose-driven story will provide clarity and focus, unify your organisation and build belief in the strategy
  • How to gain competitive advantage through storytelling techniques that encourage and uncover innovation, invaluable insights and commitment to drive change in every area of the organisation
  • What you need to do to maintain momentum, and create the psychological safety and resilience needed for leaders and their teams to remain focused in volatile times

We shared the methodology and techniques proven to drive performance, with tangible real-life examples you can use to build the resilience and innovation needed within your own culture.  

Enter your details to watch the webinar.

You can also contact any member of our Client Director team if you have any questions:

Lynn Archer: lynn.archer@thestorytellers.com

Blane Sweeney: blane.sweeney@thestorytellers.com

Webinar: The power of change through mindset and storytelling with Open Water and Pfizer

Navigating the storm webinar series

Session two

A leadership playbook for activating extraordinary performance in a world of volatility

 

In the current climate of uncertainty and external threats, organisations need to harness the power of change to navigate the storm.  With research showing that 70% of change initiatives fail due to people-related issues, empowering your people will enable you to rebuild your organisation’s culture, connect teams, unify behaviours, and ensure a cohesive mindset. Combining our expertise in mindset and behaviours, and the power of storytelling to accelerate change, in this recent webinar senior leaders at Pfizer, Open Water and The Storytellers shared insights on how to implement change for commercial success, particularly in a hyper VUCA environment. Our experience and expertise in delivering successful, far-reaching transformation programs within the leadership teams of large, complex global organisations, means we have identified the patterns that make change challenging and the solutions to overcome them.

Panellists:

  • Jim Porter – Director of Executive Communications at Pfizer
  • Ben Green – Senior Consultant at The Storytellers
  • Ben Shoshan – Managing Director and Senior Consultant at Open Water

During this webinar, we covered: 

  • The most common barriers to change and the strategies to break these down
  • Insights from one of the most significant organisational transformations within Pfizer, during the Covid-19 pandemic
  • How addressing values, mindset and behaviours, and utilising storytelling will unify your people and allow you to harness the power of change to drive sustainable and successful commercial outcomes
  • The power of change through mindset and storytelling – with essential insights and key takeaways

Change is inevitable, but how you approach it is within your control.  Leaders can and must create a culture that is able to adapt, innovate and embrace ongoing change – and in this webinar, we shared how to do exactly that.

Enter your details to watch the webinar.

You can also contact any member of our Client Director team if you have any questions:

Lynn Archer: lynn.archer@thestorytellers.com

Blane Sweeney: blane.sweeney@thestorytellers.com

Jessica Lonsdale: jessica.lonsdale@thestorytellers.com