Tag: business storytelling

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

How CEOs can activate performance in a world of pessimism

Posted on by Marcus Iles

We live in a reactive world. We’re thrown from naysay to doomsday with every news headline. Just as soon as we’d begun recovering from a global pandemic, we were told the war on talent would cripple us. When we looked above the parapet again, we found disrupted supply chains, spiralling labour costs, interest rate rises, a cost of living crisis and the grim reality of a recession. But there is a way forward. As a leader, you know that people thrive on finding solutions in adversity – as long as there is a compelling vision, driven by a purpose everyone can get behind.

Today’s CEO needs a story that will activate

You may well have your strategic response for your organisation in place already. But, in these turbulent times, a strategy isn’t enough. Today’s CEO needs a story that will activate: A clear, simple yet inspiring story of the journey your business will take over the next 12-18 months in order to survive the recession, and minimise the human impact of the downturn. The success of your organisation will depend on whether people, both internally and externally, believe your story. Start with your employees. Allow them to contribute to the journey the business is on; maximise their efficiency and productivity; empower them to take action; encourage them all to pull in the same direction. 

To activate your strategy, your people must be emotionally connected to it

Understanding strategy on a rational level – even if that strategy is compelling and well communicated – is not enough to change behaviours on its own. To make a difference, people need to understand their role in your journey, and the role the journey will play in their personal success. They need a personal, emotional connection that will influence their attitude and actions. They need to actively participate in building and owning their part in the story, continuously contributing ideas for best practice which will improve productivity.

Every day.

Indefinitely. 

A purposeful, unified Story can activate your organisation 

People remember stories. Storytelling is the original and most effective way to communicate and learn. Compelling stories capture the heart and mind. They bring clarity and meaning to complex messages. Stories motivate, spark the imagination and inspire solutions. They provoke action and stimulate change. Stories help us make sense of what we do and why we do it. Stories create an emotional connection. 

By transforming your strategy, vision and values into a compelling business story brought to life in a human way which everyone can understand and relate to, you can activate extraordinary potential in the face of unprecedented pessimism.  Using a practical set of creative, flexible tools and methodologies, your leaders can be equipped to engage others in the story, inspire their teams and stimulate conversations that will lead to change and performance improvement. It is just as important to keep your journey alive by feeding it with success stories that illustrate progress and best practice, recognising the heroes of the organisation and sustaining engagement.

Harnessing the power of storytelling has worked for some of the greatest leaders and organisations in the world, some of which have faced unprecedented challenges in recent months. The result is commitment, energy and active involvement in the execution of strategic change by connecting the whole organisation to the journey the business is on. 

“…as senior leaders who have greater visibility of our strategy, it’s so easy to forget that our people don’t always have access to the same information. There is tremendous power in providing one cohesive story that shows the path to an exciting future.”

Jeff Phipps, Managing Director & General Manager, ADP UK & Ireland

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

Webinar: Making your EVP a reality, not just a promise

Posted on by Stephanie Faysal

Date: 15 September 2022
Time:  4:00pm BST (11:00 EST, 10:00 CST)

Digital transformation, hybrid working and ‘The great resignation’ have led businesses to renew their strategic focus turning towards the platform on which organisations can build their employer brand and experience – the Employee Value proposition (EVP).

93 per cent of the organisations we are currently engaging with are revisiting their EVP. What we’re seeing is an EVP evolution, where having a distinctive and authentic EVP has never been more critical.

Join our panel of experts in this webinar, as they explore how leaders can harness the power of storytelling to create and elevate a standout EVP that helps organisations improve employee experience and attract the talent they need. 

Panellists are:

  • Marcus Iles, Chief Storytelling Officer at The Storytellers
  • Alison Esse, Co-founder and Director at The Storytellers
  • Hannah Moyo, Head of Consulting at The Storytellers

We’ll cover:

  • Why a standout EVP is now more important than ever.
  • How storytelling can strengthen and build belief in a company’s EVP – from candidates to employees and leaders.
  • How to align a leadership team behind the strategic, operational and behavioural priorities that underpin the EVP.

Enter your details to register for 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

Jon White: jon.white@thestorytellers.com

Jessica Lonsdale: jessica.lonsdale@thestorytellers.com