Category: Events

Storytelling Bootcamp – Reimagining Sales

Posted on by Stanley Louw

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.

There are limited spots available. Register your interest now.

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

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

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

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

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

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

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

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

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

Webinar: The human side of strategy activation to create extraordinary performance

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

Navigating the storm webinar series

Session five

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

The ability to define, align around and execute the right strategy is a critical capability for organisations around the world. The speed at which strategy turns into meaningful action becomes a key competitive advantage. Yet many leaders miss their biggest opportunity to activate their strategy at pace. Their people.

In this webinar we shared how to rapidly connect people to strategy and turn understanding into action.

Panellists:

  • Hannah Moyo, Head of Consultancy at The Storytellers
  • Robert Tennant, Head of Client Strategy at The Storytellers
  • Marcus Iles, Chief Storytelling Officer at The Storytellers

We covered:

  • How effective executive narrative consultation can quickly align leadership teams and develop the influential storytelling capability essential for creating commitment to the strategic vision
  • Why emotional connection is the key determining factor in changing mindsets and behaviours – and essential for rapid activation
  • The techniques proven to quickly connect with diverse employee populations, and provide them with the means to deliver and sustain their role in the strategy

Watch our panel of business transformation, storytelling and performance activation experts, who draw on their experience working with C-suites of FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 organisations. Sharing the tactics and impact of a story-driven approach to drive strategy activation and derisk transformation investment, this was a stimulating discussion addressing your and other leaders’ current challenges. 

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: How leaders can galvanise their teams through recession

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

Navigating the storm webinar series

Session three

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

Given the challenging circumstances most organisations are facing, the ability of leaders to navigate change and lead through uncertainty is now a critical capability. Leaders who can inspire mindset shifts, enable rapid behavioural change and bring focus and purpose see considerable performance benefits.  In fact, the human side of change and strategy activation is arguably the most critical factor determining success or failure. 

Storytelling is recognised as a key leadership skill.  However, the true potential of story is not limited to powerful communication techniques.  In this webinar, we shared how organisations can equip and enable leaders to lead effectively through uncertainty using storytelling, drawn from 20 years working with C-suites of Fortune 500, FTSE 250 and major global organisations.

Panellists are:

  • Alison Esse, Co-founder and Director at The Storytellers
  • Theni Paramaguru, Senior Consultant at The Storytellers
  • Robert Tennant, Head of Client Strategy at The Storytellers

We covered:

  • The key characteristics that define the influential leadership needed to ensure resilience in uncertain times
  • How these can be developed throughout entire leader and middle management populations in complex organisations
  • How storytelling will unify your people and galvanise them to drive performance 

You will come away from watching this session with actionable insights on how to use a story-driven approach to build leadership capability and drive strategy activation. 

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

Webinar: ‘The Future of Work’ with Peter Cheese – Chief Executive of the CIPD

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

Enter your details to watch this episode of our Stories from the C-suite series.

We’re entering into a new era of work – driven by technological, social, economic, environmental and geopolitical change. How leaders shape their business to ensure that their people, organisation and wider society can thrive in the face of continuing uncertainty has never been more 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, Alison Esse, Co-founder and Director of The Storytellers was joined by Peter Cheese, Chief Executive of The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and author of the 2021 book ‘The New World Of Work’ to explore the future of work.

Peter is a Fellow of the CIPD, a Fellow of AHRI (the Australian HR Institute) and the Academy of Social Sciences. He writes and speaks widely on the development of HR, the future of work, and the key issues of leadership, culture and organisation, people and skills.

During this webinar, we covered:

  • The forces shaping how organisations will be run over the next 10 years
  • How leaders navigate their organisation through continuing uncertainty 
  • The skills and mindset required of future leaders
  • The role of storytelling in humanising business change and transformation

For the years ahead, leaders must seek new ways to stay nimble if they are to seize new opportunities and future-proof their organisation. Watch this timely conversation packed with essential insights and key takeaways for current leaders or those looking to step up into a leadership role in the near future. 

 

Register to watch

 

Webinar: Accelerating change and de-risking transformation during turbulent times

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

Navigating the storm webinar series

Session one – Watch on demand

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

It is a rare company that does not face serious, possibly unprecedented challenges over the coming year.  As well as the immediate problems of inflation, energy crisis and supply chain disruptions, CEOs and senior leadership teams face huge uncertainty as to the depth and longevity of the forecast turbulence ahead.  A bold, positive response is called for and research now overwhelming shows that a story-driven approach is a highly successful enabler of effective strategy activation.

Watch the recording of this webinar, where we share our experience and learnings across 200 major organisations on how C-suite executives can use the power and influence of storytelling to rapidly align leaders, inspire their people, accelerate change and de-risk transformation.

Panellists:

  • Robert Tennant, Head of Client Strategy at The Storytellers
  • Hannah Moyo, Head of Consulting at The Storytellers
  • Marcus Hayes, Co-founder and Director at The Storytellers

We cover:

  • Why the human element of any transformation strategy is critical
  • How storytelling uniquely accelerates change by creating emotional connection to the vision and driving behaviour change
  • How to align and equip leaders to navigate their teams through planned and unpredictable change

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