Category: Culture

A new brand of leadership to future-proof your strategy

Posted on by Marie-Shireen Hadid

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Virtual event

Tuesday 27th August 4pm BST, 11am EDT, 10am CDT

In today’s fast-evolving business landscape, leaders need to steer their organisation towards a resilient and sustainable future. This webinar will explore how to use storytelling to create the conditions and capability for leaders to develop high-functioning and resilient cultures, moving beyond strategic planning to enable action and support people to accelerate strategic initiatives.

We will be joined by Jennifer Onofray, former Divisional Director – Americas, Spirax Sarco Engineering, currently CEO and Founder championing female and non-binary entrepreneurs through Nestwork network. Jennifer will be joined by Marie-Shireen Hadid, Lead Consultant and Hannah Moyo, Head of Consulting at The Storytellers, part of Accenture to share their expertise and practical insights gained whilst partnering on leadership development programmes:​

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Storytelling and leadership narrative:​

  • Discover how storytelling is a powerful tool to activate and align your organisation behind a unified strategy. Learn techniques to craft compelling narratives that resonate with your team and stakeholders, driving engagement and commitment​

Responsible leadership culture:​

  • Meeting the challenges of today and anticipating those of tomorrow requires a new brand of leadership—with compassion, equity, sustainability. Equipping next-gen leaders is an investment in our future​​

Building resilience, motivation, and productivity amidst uncertainty:​

  • Discover how to support your team through transitions and ensure sustained performance​

Why Attend?:​

  • Gain actionable insights from industry experts​
  • Learn best practices for creating a robust and responsible leadership culture​
  • Network with like-minded professionals committed to driving strategic success​
  • Enhance your leadership toolkit with innovative approaches to storytelling, inclusion, sustainability, and resilience​

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Don’t miss this opportunity to transform your leadership approach and future-proof your organization. Register using the form on the page and secure your spot today!

Creating a movement and change resilient culture through storytelling

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

 

Watch the webinar recording at the bottom of this page

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

We explored

  • 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

Watch the webinar now

 

Activating the power of human connection behind your EVP investments

Posted on by Hannah Moyo

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.

Putting ourselves in sales leaders’ shoes

Posted on by Matt Renton

Selling is full of ugly jargon. Thinking of customers as ‘prospects’ and ‘leads’, and using expressions like pipelines, deal-flows, MQLs and customer acquisition costs gives selling and sales people a bad name.

So we’re telling the stories that are Reimagining Sales and enabling sales teams around the world to do the same. We help them to move away from the clichés and the staid products/benefits approach, shifting to the concept of potential outcomes for their customers, based on an understanding of their needs, objectives, and pain points.

Sales teams need to understand the journey customers are on and demonstrate how they empathise with their situation. It’s time to ‘PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES’. 

At The Storytellers we think deeply about business strategies for clients and marry that with distinctive, creative story-driven approaches.   We’ve explored the story that is common to sales leaders and their teams – it’s a peek into our smart thinking around outcome-based selling, coming together with an engaging idea to motivate audiences both rationally and emotionally.

Don’t wait for the other shoe to drop. Have a read and reimagine the power of your sales.

 

Chapter One: As successful salespeople, we are great storytellers who built our careers on trust

 

Where does it hurt

Chapter Two: But our clients needs have evolved, and they are paralysed by FOMU

 

Chapter Three: We can create mutually rewarding partnerships

 

Get unstuck

Chapter Four: By sharing our knowledge and insights, focusing on client outcomes

 

Bespoke solutions that last

Chapter Five: And deeply understanding our clients’ stories

 

Lift off

Chapter Six: We will put ourselves in our clients’ shoes, generate deep sales and exceed our targets

 

 

What’s your story – how can we help you inspire your organisation with it?

 

Download the free ebook: Nine drivers to accelerate your strategy

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

Understand how high-performance organisations activate their people to accelerate change and overcome strategic challenges.

 

There’s a reason why 70% of strategic change initiatives fail to realise their original objectives. It’s the human side of strategy and change that time and again is the determining factor.

Working with organisations to activate their people to deliver significant change strategies over the last 20 years, we’ve identified the nine key drivers which accelerate activation, engage colleagues in strategic challenges and unlock discretionary effort and ingenuity.

These range from overcoming the fear, confusion and apathy often associated with change, through a clear and compelling narrative, to ensuring leaders are aligned and championing the strategy, avoiding conflicting points of view and diversion of focus and effort. All nine are explored in this ebook. 

How this ebook will help:

  • Clear, summarised and easily digestible list of the nine factors that need to be in place for strategy to be effectively activated
  • Outlines the common situations when strategy activation is critical
  • Provides a framework that can be used to assess and establish what you need to prioritise to activate your people in the journey you are on 

Complete the short form to immediately download your copy

Watch on-demand: Two inspirational days of masterclasses and discussion

Posted on by Kirsty Spencer

To celebrate 20 years pioneering the transformative power of storytelling to execute strategy, accelerate change and unlock extraordinary performance, we hosted a series of bite-sized masterclasses from master storytellers sharing the art and science of storytelling – these are now available to watch on demand.

 

Fill in the form to watch all sessions

 

Agenda

Agenda Tuesday 23rd May

 

View full session and speaker details here

 

 

  • 1pm BST – Opening keynote: organisations of the future will be story-driven
  • 2pm BST – Storytelling: the secret weapon for change
  • 3pm BST – Immersive experience: how to make your people the hero of your story
  • 4pm BST – The nine drivers to accelerate the activation of your strategy
  • 5pm BST – A strategic writer’s perspective – how to develop and activate your organisation’s story

 

Wednesday 24th May

 

View full session and speaker details here

 

 

  • 1pm BST – How creative concepts have the power to activate entire organisations
  • 2pm BST – Creating speeches that move mountains
  • 3pm BST – Increase your leadership influence and impact through storytelling
  • 4pm BST – Activating your organisation using story-driven nudge behaviours
  • 5pm BST – Closing reflection: stories that shape the 21st Century

 

Complete the short form to access all on-demand content

 

Why activating your people is critical for successful M&A

Posted on by Flora Clarke

Organisations pursue mergers or acquisitions for a variety of reasons: entry into new markets, plays for innovation or new talent, and customer-base expansion to name a few. In the current turbulent environment, we see that many deals are focused on productivity rather than pure financial objectives. With that core objective in mind, the ability to rapidly activate the optimisation strategy is critical to M&A value creation.

Whatever their nature, our research with Mergermarket confirms that mergers and acquisitions are notoriously difficult to execute effectively. One of the common reasons for failure is that leaders underestimate the importance of – and focus too little on — the people and culture factors in the equation. This is even more heightened when the purpose is to achieve operating synergies, which can be put at risk through underperformance and talent attrition because employees are unclear on the role they play, fearful of change and in turn become demotivated, quietly quit or loudly leave.

Featuring insights from senior M&A executives at major global blue chips around the world, our eBook shares findings gathered through a survey of 100 senior executives.

Featuring:

  • Why people and culture matter in M&A, and what happens when they are neglected
  • How to build cultural alignment and engagement
  • Why resetting the narrative is key and insight into the story-driven methodology The Storytellers has successfully employed to activate employees in post-merger integration strategies

Complete the short form to immediately download your copy

Future-proofing your organisation in 2022

Posted on by Chris Spencer

How leaders will grow resilience and relevancy through storytelling

Every day, we see firsthand the complex challenges that impact how people perform, and the opportunities leaders must seize to ensure their organisation remains relevant and resilient for years to come. 

In our experience, to ensure your business can adapt to any number of potential new scenarios, your people must be able to quickly make sense of the situation they face and feel empowered to take the right course of action to resolve it. 

In today’s non-linear world, rigid long-term plans can prove a burden or soon become irrelevant. Therefore, a strong compelling narrative will ensure everyone in your organisation understands their role and the purpose of what they do – even if the business goal or strategy has to quickly shift. This narrative can help you to establish the right culture to combat the aforementioned brittleness, as well as encouraging innovation and creativity so that your organisation can remain agile and maintain competitive advantage. It can also be used to help leaders build connection and belonging to help people to overcome their anxieties.

Featuring insights from members of The Storytellers team, our eBook on future-proofing your organisation considers how leaders can unleash the power of their organisation’s story to create belief and shift mindsets in the face of the many challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Explore how to:

  • Accelerate your ESG strategy
  • Embed hybrid working
  • Elevate your EVP
  • Sustain digital transformation
  • Lead with empathy

Complete the short form to immediately download your copy

Accelerating ESG strategy – what future story will your organisation create?

Posted on by Robert Tennant

There’s no escaping it – environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy is now a critical part of the boardroom agenda. Among the business leaders working with The Storytellers, we’ve noticed a clear shift in mindset and response too. 

Underlined by the growing climate crisis, and further highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, ESG has gained greater prominence because of how it’s seen by stakeholders and investors as a way to safeguard organisations against future risks to the global economy. It focuses on the areas of business that matter most to employees and, as highlighted in the latest EY Future Consumer Index, provides opportunities for businesses to create value and grow revenues by responding to the trend for sustainable consumption. 

Today, as business leaders around the world also come to terms with the practical implications of the outcomes of the COP26 summit – and the monumental task of decarbonising the global economy – there is a clear need for organisations to quickly turn their ESG strategy into meaningful action. Investors want clarity about the initiatives companies are undertaking, the reporting they are doing, and the returns they will generate. Brands around the world will increasingly be looked at and recognised for their leadership towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and employees are pursuing purpose at work. In short, taking no or limited action will simply become untenable. 

Ahead of us lies one of the biggest changes in mindset and strategy that the world has ever seen – but for businesses to deliver on this at the necessary pace and scale, they will also need to leverage the power of their people to make change happen. Leaders need a powerful narrative to begin to activate a movement within their organisations and around their brands. A narrative that connects people to the reasons for change and helps them to understand their role in achieving these bigger, better ESG outcomes for the benefit of everyone.

Talent and purpose

What ultimately brings us meaning and purpose is contributing to something larger than ourselves. Just like the climate change movement, the workplace is made up of thousands of stories of endeavour and achievement, but also disengagement and failures. Crucially, these stories shape our belief about the organisations we work for and the leaders who guide us. A strong narrative that articulates the collective purpose, the journey an organisation needs to take, and what success looks like, provides a vehicle through which we can play out our own personal ambition. Ultimately, top talent will want to be part of meaningful journeys that they truly connect with.

Turning strategy into action

To move their people from passively understanding the strategy to being compelled to act in service of it – leaders must identify ways to build ownership. People are more likely to take positive action if they feel they’ve helped to create it. Empowering teams and employees to identify ways in which they can contribute to a strategy unleashes great rewards.

Employee engagement and accelerated change

Whatever your views on a “disengagement crisis” one thing is clear –  employees that are inspired by their work are happier, more productive and are more likely to achieve remarkable things. With the scale of change ahead, this is the moment for leaders to challenge themselves – is engagement enough? Our experience shows that if leaders can find a mechanism to unite their people, inspire them and provide a clear plan, they can accelerate change and transform performance.

Brand perception and leadership legacy

Ultimately, leaders and organisations will be judged on this moment. Aside from taking action to benefit or mitigate the reputational risks to their brand, what was their wider response? What was the story of their organisation? How did they approach change and how successful were they in contributing to one of humankind’s greatest challenges?

If ever there was an opportunity to write a story for the ages – this is it.