Category: Connection

Webinar: ‘Talking Talent’ with Alistair Cox – CEO, Hays plc

Posted on by Alison Esse

The pandemic, lockdowns and working from home have changed the way we work in unprecedented ways. In this episode of our ‘Stories from the C-Suite’ webinar series, we speak to Alistair Cox, CEO of Hays plc about the world of work in a COVID environment. A trained aeronautical engineer with an MBA from Stanford and background spanning consultancy, strategic planning and extensive time spent working in Asia; Alistair’s approach to recruitment is forward-thinking, unique and globally-minded. Forces of change are sweeping across the recruitment industry, and we wanted to know how Alistair is navigating this tumultuous, but also very exciting landscape, and what the future of recruitment looks like to him. 

In our ‘Stories from the C-Suite’ series, we talk to CEOs who we believe are expert storytellers about the challenges of leading through change and what the next stage in the journey is for them. 

We explored topics such as: 

  • The impact of the pandemic on the recruitment industry
  • How technology is shaping the future of work
  • What an optimal workplace culture looks like in a world of remote working and constant change 

The challenges created by the pandemic are showing no sign of slowing down. As it becomes clear that this crisis is changing how people live, work and spend their free time, successful business leaders will adjust to these seismic societal shifts by staying nimble, flexible and creatively future-proofing their organisations.

Watch this highly relevant conversation now by entering your details.

Webinar: ‘Facing The Crisis’ with Andy Briggs – CEO, Phoenix Group

Posted on by Marcus Hayes

Catch-up on the recording from our ‘Stories from the C-Suite’ episode with Andy Briggs, CEO of Phoenix Group. Andy came to Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business, as a new CEO at the start of 2020. In a year of explosive change with unprecedented challenges coming from customers, the pandemic itself, digital disruption and a changing competitor landscape, Andy managed to keep the business strong and resilient. We wanted to know how, as a new CEO, he was able to navigate his company through the toughest of times. 

In our ‘Stories from the C-Suite’ series, we talk to CEOs who we believe are expert storytellers about the challenges of leading through change and what the next stage in the journey is for them.

The insightful conversation between The Storytellers and Andy explored topics such as: 

  • Maintaining a trajectory of growth and resilience during a major crisis 
  • The role of businesses such as Phoenix Group in creating a more sustainable future 
  • What effective leadership looks like in an age of constant change

The challenges created by the pandemic are showing no sign of slowing down. As it becomes clear that this crisis is changing how people live, work and spend their free time, successful business leaders will adjust to these seismic societal shifts by staying nimble, flexible and creatively future-proofing their organisations. This was a highly relevant conversation packed with insights – watch it now by entering your details.  

Webinar: ‘Talking Banking’ with Steven Cooper – CEO, C. Hoare & Co.

Posted on by Alison Esse

Watch the next episode in our ‘Stories from the C-suite’ webinar series, where we talked to Steven Cooper, CEO of the private bank C. Hoare & Co. His trajectory from a big banking behemoth with Barclays, to a smaller, private client bank gives him a unique insight into the evolution of banking. During our conversation, we explored how he has adapted to these different banking environments with their distinctive cultures. Simply fill in the details on this page to get access to the recording.

The challenges created by the pandemic are showing no sign of slowing down, and crises tend to accelerate change and innovation. As it becomes clear that this is changing how people live, work and spend their free time, successful business leaders will adjust to these seismic societal shifts by staying nimble, flexible and creatively future-proofing their organisations. 

In our ‘Stories from the C-suite’ series, we talk to CEOs who we believe are expert storytellers about the challenges of leading through change and what the next stage in the journey is for them. In this episode, Steven shared his insights into balancing a need to modernise to respond to customers ever-changing demands, while retaining a bespoke and unique banking experience rooted in a rich legacy of 350 years.

We covered topics such as:

  • The key to longevity, resilience and strength in banking to overcome major crises, including the pandemic 
  • The future of banking in the wake of COVID-19
  • What’s next as Steven’s next chapter at Aldemore, a new breed of challenger bank, begins in 2021

Watch this highly relevant conversation now by entering your details.

Webinar: ‘Putting people first in a crisis’ with Alex Perry, CEO – Bupa Insurance UK

Posted on by Robert Tennant

Recently, we hosted a fascinating webinar with Alex Perry, CEO of Bupa Insurance UK. This highly relevant conversation covered everything from healthcare insurance in these challenging times, to Bupa’s journey through the global pandemic and beyond. You can catch up with the recording by filling in your details on this page.

In our ‘Stories from the C-suite’ series, we talk to CEOs who we believe are expert storytellers about the challenges of leading through change and what the next stage in the journey is for them. Alex had much to say about leading through crisis and how his team has remained united and aligned throughout this time.

Healthcare that is personal, tailored to the individual and family-centric has never been needed more than during the global pandemic of the last six months. And physical and mental health are at the top of both our personal priority lists and those of organisations. In fact, working remotely has shown us just how inextricably linked our home and work lives are, and how integral wellbeing is to our performance at work. Health insurers and providers have had to react, change and innovate faster than ever before to help customers access care when they’ve needed it most. So what we wanted to know was, how do you make this happen across a business of 3,000 people?

We covered questions such as:

  • How did you equip your business with the shock of the pandemic?
  • What does the future of healthcare insurance look like?
  • Will your story evolve as the business and its strategy develops?

To hear Alex’s fascinating insights on these big topics, enter your details to watch the recording today.

‘Winning hearts and minds’: talking to Pano Christou, CEO of Pret A Manger

Posted on by Robert Tennant

In the most recent episode in our ‘Stories from the C-suite’ webinar series, we talked to Pano Christou, CEO of Pret A Manger. Pret has been through a lot in the past six months – like many businesses that rely on high-street footfall, it has been severely impacted by COVID-19 and lockdown, having to shut all of its stores back in March. 

Listening to Pano, however, there was no hint at defeat. And as the challenges created by COVID show no sign of slowing down, Pano is ready to face the pandemic head-on. Pret is adjusting to the seismic shifts of the pandemic by staying nimble, flexible and creatively reinventing its brand. This resilience may stem from Pano’s own personal story: he has worked at Pret since the age of 22, slowly working his way up from the shop floor. 

Our conversation with Pano was packed full of fascinating stories. We have identified five key insights from the webinar: 

  1. COVID was the catalyst for three years’ worth of changes that took place in just six months: if anyone had told Pano that Pret would experience three years’ worth of effort in one year, he said he wouldn’t have believed them. However, for Pret, this agility and fast-paced response to the pandemic is one positive out of an immensely challenging situation.
  2. The lifeblood of Pret is its culture of innovation: in the change narrative Pret co-created with us, one objective was to ‘rediscover the sparkle of Pret’. The transformation, which was accelerated by COVID, aims to ensure that this sparkle remains integral to everything Pret does. An example of this is its latest coffee subscription initiative. 
  3. “Leaders need to inhale stress and exhale serenity.” Pano was firm that he has never been a command and control leader. Rather, he believes people should be given the opportunity to flourish. Completing the Pret story before COVID has helped with this, as the leadership team were aligned on the direction of travel and are able to communicate this to their people. For example, Pano holds a weekly broadcast to Pret branches across the country to keep teams informed and engaged in a difficult time. 
  4. The Pret story is a red thread running through the organisation: the Pret story has served as an anchor, continuing to influence decision-making throughout the business. For example, even though there was a desperate need to reduce costs during lockdown, Pret has not reduced portion sizes. The fundamentals of Pret won’t change, as Pano told us: “when you are driving change through a business you don’t forget where you’ve come from.”
  5. “Hearts and minds.” Engaging the emotional side of people is key to Pano’s leadership. As a big believer in purpose, he wants his teams and colleagues to enjoy an emotional connection to the brand they are part of. And how does he cultivate this connection? By communicating through human stories and making people feel part of the journey Pret is on. He told us that co-creating Pret’s story meant pulling people from every part of the organisation to co-create the narrative – something they hadn’t done in the 37 years since Pret was founded. It resonated so deeply with teams that when the story was shared, many people were in tears. 

Ultimately, Pano sees COVID as an opportunity for Pret. With the Pret story empowering teams to own the part they play, there is a sense of alignment and also optimism for the journey ahead. As working from home continues, Pret is seizing the opportunity to reach out to new areas. Pano finished on a positive note as he described how he sees the future: the business will now be “following the people”, and no longer just the skyscrapers.

To catch-up and find out more about Pano’s story, have a listen to the webinar in full by clicking here. And don’t forget to sign up to our next webinar with Alex Perry, CEO of Bupa Insurance UK on 10th November, 13:00 GMT here.

Ebook: Hosting a powerful and memorable virtual event

Posted on by Imogen Wallersteiner

The nature of history is that major crises, like wars and rebellions, have sparked movements of change and seminal innovations. For example, at the end of WW2, the EU was set up with the aim of ending frequent and violent wars. Women finally gained the vote. The assembly of the world’s first electronic general-purpose digital computer was completed. As we begin to learn to live with the pandemic, it’s time for us to reflect on the innovations happening around us – particularly our societal shift in embracing the virtual world and unlocking its possibilities. 

Virtual events have never been so necessary. In this time of social distancing, working remotely and heightened uncertainty, organisational connectivity is essential. Humans are social animals. Interacting as a group or a ‘tribe’ is a fundamental need we have for our sense of wellbeing, and to enable us to make sense of the world and what is going on around us. So events that bring people together – even if online – provide an opportunity to build a sense of community – a space for leaders to open themselves up to those around them and hear their colleagues’ voices. 

At The Storytellers, we have put on virtual gatherings and experiences for our clients for many years now. We have long blended physical and virtual environments in corporate events, and inspired and engaged people on an emotional level through storytelling and narrative. 

Across our work with over 180 major organisations, we have discovered what makes a powerful and memorable virtual event. In this piece, we have identified what underpins our story-driven events, and have gathered together our top tips for putting on inspiring and engaging virtual and hybrid experiences. 

There are three key traits which make up any inspiring and memorable story-driven event. Discover them by downloading our white paper in full by completing the form on this page, and reach out to us if you need guidance and support in connecting your organisation through a virtual event. 

The story of innovation

Posted on by Joe Mackay

Lockdown has accelerated business trends by two decades in two months, with great gains in agility, remote collaboration and work-life integration. But as we emerge from crisis into prolonged reality, what are the costs to long-term creativity – and how do we overcome them? 

The 2010s was a decade which catapulted innovation from baggy noun into spatial and cultural blueprint. Offices became labs in which open space, hot-desks and even wayfinding was orchestrated to help the spark of inspiration tear through employee populations like, well, a virus. So essential was this spontaneous physicality considered that the Francis Crick Institute – a project of ground-breaking scientific collaboration and a steady stream of discovery – designed its cutting-edge facility specifically to ensure different ‘tribes’ could bump into each other and cross-pollinate their research. Such careful curation, engineered by the world’s most pioneering technologists, is a tribute to the distinctly low-fi stakes at play in the business of newness. 

Because the truth is this: world changing ideas have always been an informal affair; a product of time and place verses system of production. We think of the Viennese coffee houses of Freud, pre-revolutionary Paris, and studio 54 New York. We think of Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, side by side, day after day, year after year, bouncing around the stories of war that would become behavioural economics. 

As we crash out of the 2010s into a pandemic reality which sees us bunker down and keep our distance, we have lost the opportunity of chance encounters and unstructured exchange that has always been the fuel of invention. As the inevitable economic pain sets in, and business across the board is forced to focus on efficiencies, concern is mounting over the loss of innovation in a time that will need its leaps of progress more than ever.  

A culture of storytelling  

Lockdown may limit chance encounters, but it doesn’t have to limit spontaneity. The question, for leaders, is not how to innovate, but how to orchestrate. The unit of innovation is storytelling; diversity is its fuel; unstructured exchange is its playground. To ensure story can collide with story,  and space has been made to catch its spark, a storytelling culture must be nurtured that may feel distinctly at odds with the tightly-knit, outcomes-focused blocks of time that many have adopted as a matter of survival during the last weeks. The informal innovation economy needs dialogue, observation, and trust; a willingness to share personal experience and insight that may not be a straight line to productive output. 

Leaders at every level have an essential role to play in building these relationships, role modelling this practice and sanctioning this time as a critical business activity. 

In hitting the reset button, organisations may find lockdown actually unlocks many old innovation blockers. Freed of old habits and assumptions, teams may break free of creative cliques and creative ruts. Curating new moments for conversation and collaboration, innovation – often owned by a handful of individuals – can be decentralised, giving individuals new licence to deploy their experience in new and inspiring ways. 

Build human connection 

Organisations that achieve this will be keeping good company. Unreasonable Fund, one of the world’s most innovative organisations, has built their globally-dispersed but tightly-knit culture on such ritualised story-exchanges in order to spark sustainable pipelines of new thinking and the productivity gains of deeply bonded team-mates. While lockdown will be taxing for everyone, businesses built on agile models of distinctly human connection will fare far better. 

This last point should not be under-estimated. In an age where lockdown is forcing us to rely on tools of artificial connection, we are collectively longing for moments of authenticity. Story has always been the original technology of human connection. As a world, as businesses, as humans, we need it more than ever.  

The power of connection: how to create a collaborative and resilient organisation

Posted on by Alison Esse

At The Storytellers, we believe that there has never been a more important time to unlock the power of connection. Our interest is not only why the power of connection is so vital, but also how it can be tapped into. 

Change – whether planned or unforeseen – can offer opportunities for collaboration, which in turn can help build a surge in energy and motivation. Connected organisations perform better, are more agile and resilient to future shocks.

Over 17 years and across our work with 180 companies, we’ve seen many examples of teams who have collaborated to achieve outcomes that were previously thought to be impossible. We have heard countless stories about what people are capable of achieving when they are tested and thrown into challenging circumstances. As humans, we have developed a remarkable ability to adapt. And when we collaborate, we are able to achieve outcomes that go beyond the capability of the individual.

We have found that is connection that acts as the key enabler and the driving force behind collaboration and collective intelligence. In today’s environment, with the radical shift towards remote-working, connection is being threatened like never before. What is at stake? Connection in all its forms: the relationship people and their leaders, a shared sense of purpose and collaborative working practices – to name but a few. 

We have identified the crucial steps leaders can take to mitigate these risks and unlock the power of connection. Now is the time to harness the opportunity of change and prepare for the future of work. 

Download our white paper in full by completing the form on this page, and reach out to us if you need guidance and support in connecting your organisation. 

Your story: a framework for progress and action

Posted on by Robert Tennant

Over the last few months, our team has been working hard to support Executive teams all over the world. These leaders are facing the momentous challenge of adapting to the immediate and ever-evolving situation. As this adaptation happens and organisations move from short-term crisis management to longer term planning, they are starting to consider how they must now transform to be ready to play their part in the “new normal”.

It’s very clear that Covid-19 will have profound and lasting economic, social and cultural impacts. We’re living in a moment in which businesses need to react quickly, act with empathy and fulfil their purpose in a way that helps society navigate a deeply troubling time. Doing so will also prepare organisations for re-emerging into a very different landscape.

The new stories of change

We’ve certainly heard an abundance of stories from our virtual interactions – acts of compassion, moments of innovation, the sudden removal of barriers and cultural walls. We’ve heard from leaders, amazed at how their people have united to achieve things that would have taken months or even years, in a matter of weeks.

For our clients who are in the process of co-creating a narrative to navigate through these changes, there are some significant realisations. There is now an increasing understanding that this situation is catalysing trends and drivers of change. Many of these trends were already significant drivers of change before Covid-19. The convergence of these trends means businesses will face the task of transformation, evolution, even redefinition, on a quite remarkable scale.

Seizing the opportunity

These transformations will, as ever, tend to focus on certain key areas of challenge or opportunity. Those that are truly meaningful will reconsider the very business model and nature of the business that has been successful to date. What will that business model look like in the face of this level of change?

Those leaders who are now starting to be proactive in preparing their people and organisations for profound, continuous change will emerge ready to tackle the enormous challenges ahead and then seize the opportunities that present themselves.

Leading a movement of change

One of the true tests of leadership in the coming months will be: who are the leaders who can successfully create a movement of change? Who are the leaders who will inspire people to look beyond current limits and define new opportunities? Who are the leaders who will generate unity and collective action in the face of challenge? Momentous change is on its way. These leaders won’t design the organisations of the future – but the teams of people who they inspire to believe and take action absolutely will. Focus on the story your organisation needs to write over the coming months and then turn it into a framework for progress and action.