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Re-inventing ourselves – Stepping up to become the heroes in our own lives

In this highly engaging, interactive session, each participant will be given the opportunity to identify and re-frame outmoded life scripts they have been holding onto and, through Dr Gary’s expertise and facilitation, take a stand towards greater leadership as they step into a new position of being the hero in their own life. The session will be scenario-based, giving us all an opportunity to work together as a creative ensemble to help shift old patterns and shape new ones as we all take on the Verbal, Vocal & Visual qualities of our most revered mentors and role models

A Story Can Make The Difference

Storytelling is at the heart of the human experience and it influences change at an individual as well as at an organisational level. In this workshop participants will explore the power of storytelling to: – encourage personal growth, self-confidence, and self-esteem – strengthen teams, build relationships and meaningful connections – improve communication – develop positive problem solving, risk-taking and collaboration – encourage creativity and flexibility We will use stories that are true, improvised, traditional and metaphorical. The workshop will be an interactive space where old stories are celebrated and new stories will unfold.

A way of Council – nobody is invisible; every voice matters.

The practice of Council – simply – is a circle, a centre, a way to begin, one person speaking at a time, everyone else listening and a way to close. It is a formal, structured process that includes passing a “talking piece” (an object used to identify the speaker) in response to a prompt from the facilitator. By fostering attentive listening, authentic expression, and creative spontaneity, Council practice builds positive relationships between participants and neutralises hierarchical dynamics fostered by inequality of status, race, economic stature or other social factors. Council allows participants to communicate in ways that lead to a heightened sense of common purpose. Council offers effective means of discovering the deeper, often unexpressed needs of individuals and organisations.

Agile user stories: how to work iteratively in a plan-driven world

There is a natural tension between those with a world view that says “work to a plan” and those that prefer an emergent approach. This session will draw upon the presenters many years as an agile coach; providing a toolkit of techniques to help participants deliver projects/initiatives in their workplace in a manner that balances the need for a plan but leaves room for the emergent. Central to agile is the concept of a user story; this technique will be teased out to illicit leanings that are transferable into any situation where a set of one party’s requirements must be delivered by another party.

Cartoons – 3 Second Stories

It takes about 3 seconds to read a cartoon. Those 3 seconds can be enough to tease your thoughts, question attitudes and the status quo – rethink the story. In this workshop we will investigate how this 3 Second Story works. In the first half of the workshop we will dissect some cartoon and comic strip examples and experiment with the techniques they reveal. In the second half we will play around with ideas for using our 3 Second Story principles in new ways to continue to sow ideas for change – and fun in readers’ heads.

Creating Moments of Meeting at Work: Using Narrative Coaching to Make the Most of Any Conversation

This session will immerse you in narrative coaching so you can experience for yourself how it can be used to support culture change. In particular, we will look at how to scale coaching through embedding this mindset in the critical conversations people have with each other in organizations. We will draw on Daniel Stern’s work on “moments of meeting” to explore how to get to the crux of the matter in any conversation in a brief period of time. This is essential in being able to bring about meaningful change. We will close with a look at integrative development theory as a resource for helping these changes stick.

Cultural Change: One List at a Time

This interactive workshop explores the possibilities that emerge from developing lists of strengths, hopes, questions, issues, words, images and metaphors. Creative use of an everyday tool such as list building can provide a platform for cultural change that is sustainable, strengths-based and celebratory of ‘the expertise that is in the room’ rather than building reliance on imported cosmologies of expertise that are often not culturally relevant or respectful and can overlook existing strengths. Listing is a simple highly accessible tool that has ready-made applications in counselling and therapy but also in community building and organisational change strategies.

Elevate Your Voice & Propel Your Story

A voice and body awareness tune-up Raising vocal levels in song (don’t have to be a singer) Making clear bold statements and then lassoing some of the thoughts that get in the way An intro to repair work on beliefs that get in the way of announcing our story to the world

Embedding storytelling into a business culture

To change a culture you need to change the stories being told. This session will show you a range of techniques companies are using to embed storytelling so that their strategy comes to life, their values are more than just words on a page and their leaders support their opinions with real life examples. We will explore in more depth a case study from US company PIRCH (a bathroom and kitchen appliance business that people compare to Tiffanies and Apple Stores) that feature in Putting Stories to Work.

Make Meaning, Craft Your Stories

A crafted, well told story is part gift, part message. In this workshop participants will learn how to find, craft and tell stories from their life experience. You will learn story structure, how to look for story worthy memories and the crafting process that turns the clay of life into story. Participants will develop a list of possible story memories, choose one to develop, work in small groups to practice, and depending on numbers, a few or all participants will tell and receive feedback.

Owning your story: building compelling connections

Researcher/ Storyteller Brené Brown found during her years of study into vulnerability that it’s the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change. Many businesses still steer away from vulnerability, fearing their imperfection. But those who embrace their stories (warts and all) often discover deeper connections with their audience and also with their staff. In this session we’ll get curious about your story (as an artist/ freelancer/ company etc) and investigate how effectively you’re sharing it with stakeholders, clients, and staff. Using storytelling tools, we’ll review your vision and mine for key stories. By the end of this session you’ll be empowered to build a new foundation for your brand experience and marketing strategy.

Provenance: Stories of professional practice

The word Provenance means the place of origin or earliest known history of something. The presenters have been developing Provenance as a process for reflecting on professional practice. Provenance creates a starting point for practitioner inquiry, creating a framework for interrogating one’s own practice and/or soliciting other practitioners’ professional stories to build meaning about how a given practice is understood and undertaken. As individual narratives are shared collective knowledge is gained. In this session the presenters will briefly share the story of Provenance. Participants will have the opportunity to experience the Provenance process.

Removing Fear & Engaging Your Stakeholders

Fear plays a lot in our lives, and what most people fear is change. The uncertainty, the assumed negative results and the anxiety of not being heard poison both the process and end deliverable of that change. Getting buy-in from stakeholders is easier by making them part of a bigger narrative. In this workshop, we will understand what fear is and how it isn’t a bad thing. Using project management techniques, improvisational games and storytelling, attendees will use skills to help deliver programs encompassing the different learning and influencing types of process and creative.

Reverse Roles!

Effective interpersonal and inter-group engagement can be compromised during cultural change, just when we need it most. Positions may be held to rigidly, there’s pressure to get somewhere fast, and insecurity about the future or unresolved hurts can undermine a willingness to trust each other. The use of role reversal can bring life to these situations. Drawn from the psychodrama method, role reversal is a way of entering into the experience of others. It generates fresh perspectives, bringing sometimes surprising insights. Participants can expect to experience role reversal and reflect together on what informs it and makes it successful.

Sharing Stories. Mapping Visions. Making Change.

Storytelling is a whole body-heart-mind-soul experience and working with stories invites us to learn about and understand our world holistically. This workshop is an offering of some of the ways which I have worked with story to help facilitate learning new perspectives, experiencing new ways of doing things and evolving change. Using a Story Circle framework, I will guide you through a range of activities which move between personal reflection to group sharing. The workshop content will be guided by your areas of expertise and interest so that you can adapt these storytelling tools to be relevant in your own personal and working contexts. This workshop aims to be a combination of exciting ideas, deep listening, relaxing reflection and practical strategies for making change through storytelling.

The singer or the song

The “singer or the Song” will focus on work done to improve implementation of change. “Cultural change” implies lasting change by a community. In the workshop we will explore examples of effective communication that lead to sustainable change through participation, respect and commitment. We will go beyond formal organisational structures to discover how we can best use the stories ( the implicit knowledge within a community shared through “stories”) to inform sustainable change. It is assumed you have captured your stories (there will be other sessions that focus on this step). Based on real life process that was proven to improve acceptance and adoption of “stories” with massive savings in time and money you will gain understanding of some simple principles and practices that you can adopt to ensure that your “stories” do have a chance to impact on Cultural Change.

Theatre leading organisational culture change

This session asks ‘Can theatre play a role in inspiring culture change within organisations?’. A team from Melbourne Playback Theatre Company will reflect on how they worked with an iconic Australian airline to design and deliver experiential training days as part of a culture change program for over 4500 employees in 2012 and 2013. They’ll explore the role of theatre as a change-agent and community-builder with a specific focus on the playback theatre form developed by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas. And through a mixture of show and tell, they will share how Melbourne Playback use storytelling, applied improvisation, role-play and actor training techniques in corporate learning and development.

Transforming our personal culture through the power of story

Learning to tell imaginative stories that relate to our own experience is a potent activity. In this highly interactive session, participants will be encouraged to examine their inner culture, their personal culture—‘how your self relates to your Self’ in the words of Otto Scharmer. Entering the realm of creative feeling and working with image, metaphor and story is a potent way to heal and nourish our selves by letting them communicate easily with our Selves. We will investigate our personal culture and current challenges through metaphor and create an individual transformation story to take home with us.

Unlocking Immunity to Change

In spite of our best efforts and intentions to change either individually, as a team or an organisation, we frequently fall short of our improvement goals or have trouble sustaining our achievements. Often we have one foot on the brake and one foot on the accelerator at the same time. This model blends both personal and professional aspects of change by addressing big assumptions and underlying causes that get in the way of progress. It addresses and unpacks our individual, community, and workplace assumptions and provides a method of changing culture through storytelling at a deep and sustainable level.