Mike McEvoy – Theatre leading organisational culture change
Workshop Title:
Theatre leading organisational culture change
Workshop Description:
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.
If people got the best of the session what would they leave with?
Insights into theatre as a culture change tool. Energy and inspiration for active ways to engage people.
How is this session connected to the conference theme?
The case study explored in the session is an example of how we influenced cultural change one story at a time.
About the Workshop Presenter:
Mike McEvoy has worked as a facilitator and actor with Melbourne Playback Theatre Company for 10 years, and was one of the company’s artistic directors 2011-2016. In that time he has helped deliver over 350 performances, workshops and training sessions for a range of organisations across the community, corporate and education sectors. Mike also works as a freelance actor, theatre-maker and teaching artist and is an ensemble member with Rawcus, an award-winning company of performers with and without a disability. One of his latest collaborations is a creative podcast called Strive, exploring human ambition from multiple angles.
Angela Hume – Hear the story, resolve the complaint
Workshop Title:
Hear the story, resolve the complaint.
Workshop Description:
Do you feel scared or anxious when you have to deal with an escalated issue? Perhaps you procrastinate or attempt to transfer complaints to another department? This workshop will teach you a simple and empowering way to confidently manage disputes. Our customer’s stories become muddled and difficult to hear when we are in conflict. Taking the time to truly listen and understand their story is the most gentle and effective way to resolve their complaint without comprising ourselves. We all have customers, are you hearing yours?
If people got the best of the session what would they leave with?
The courage to leap into a dispute and the confidence to resolve it effectively.
How is this session connected to the conference theme?
In a highly charged conflict situation, many customers have difficulty articulating what has happened and often the people dealing with them make assumptions about how to best to ‘fix the problem’, without hearing their story. Taking the time to really understand what has happened, empowers the listener to take action that will give the complainant closure and confidence that the issue is truly resolved.
About the Workshop Presenter:
I’m passionate about resolving even the most impossible customer complaints and finding the best solution for everyone involved by taking the time to understand what has occurred. Improvised theatre training has given me the confidence to tell a good story and many years of customer experience management and consulting has honed my ability to hear other people’s stories. I’ve had the pleasure of working in local government, online fashion, financial services, not for profit and healthcare. I’m the proud Mother of one terribly behaved but charming toddler and I’ve also had an unremarkable career as an amateur stand up comedian on the Sydney club scene. I completed my MBA at La Trobe University in 2010. I’m looking forward to meeting you all at the 2016 Story Conference.
Tina Christensen – A way of Council
Workshop Title:
A way of Council – nobody is invisible; every voice matters
Workshop Description:
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.
If people got the best of the session what would they leave with?
Wondering and curious what else could show up in a Council, with an altered knowing of self and others. A distinction and appreciation of structured communication space and what it makes available.
How is this session connected to the conference theme?
Today we share the story about ‘something’ but rarely share the story of self; ie. what matrix of experiences have shaped me to this point? What voluntarily is shared in a Council gives context, builds empathy, reveals truth in a non-threatening way. The process can develop intimacy where there was none and be a keystone for building trust among a group. The unspoken question in an organisation, any group that comes together is how true are you? Can I trust you to be true? Answer this and the mechanics of cultural change can shift from occurring as a dictatorship to the truth of the matter. This is a living model of how one story at a time can influence cultural change.
About the Workshop Presenter:
Tina Christensen is the creative director of Labyrinth Lane. It is a handmade sanctuary in the city where stillness, creativity and nature organically flourish. Here professional, personal and community development groups meet to nurture, dream and learn more about themselves around the labyrinth – itself an ancient tool for reflection and clarity, around the fire bowl, in the workshop spaces. Labyrinth Lane is home to Council in Australia, Tina working in partnership with her LA based teacher Kate Lipkis is nurturing a Council community in Australia. In addition to the Lane, Tina runs a creative arts psychotherapy practice and is deeply interested in ceremony and rites of passage. A highlight of her 2016 was 8 weeks spent walking the Camino pilgrimage path as a rite of passage journey.
Simon Kneebone – Cartoons – 3 Second Stories
Workshop Title:
Cartoons – 3 Second Stories
Workshop Description:
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.
If people got the best of the session what would they leave with?
That the 3 Second Story principle is a valuable addition to any tool box for change. It has many applications beyond cartoons.
How is this session connected to the conference theme?
Cartoons by their design require a reader to interpret the ideas they present and reassess their own attitudes to an issue. They are provocative. Evolving attitudes is, I believe, an essential driver of cultural change.
About the Workshop Presenter:
I have been a freelance cartoonist for over 30 years, working for a wide range of not-for-profit and government organisations. I have used cartoons and graphics to convey information, messages and ideas quickly and efficiently. I am interested in how cartoons and graphics can evolve and continue to spark fresh ideas about their world in readers’ heads.
Johanna de Ruyter and Stephen Meagher – Finding the Emotional Catalyst for Change
Workshop Title:
Finding the Emotional Catalyst for Change
Workshop Description:
A workshop introduction to the heart of personal story with Sydney Playback Theatre. In neither one’s personal life, nor the life of an organisation, is effective change ever wrought without acknowledging and working with the emotions that drive our behaviour and the acceptance of, or the resistance to, change. Drawing on a series or workshops devised for the Silverchain Palliative Care Service, we will take participants through the basics of improvised empathetic expression with playback theatre techniques using experiences shared by the group. We will demonstrate the structure necessary so that the story that needs to be told can be told.
If people got the best of the session what would they leave with?
A sense of the power that authentic empathetic listening and expression can have on the person or organisation that offers their story. A sense that creating a ritual space for expression allows emotion to emerge in a contained environment and become a catalyst for change.
How is this session connected to the conference theme?
This workshop offers an introduction to the basics of playback theatre, which we and other companies around the world have used to facilitate change in organisations and communities for the past 40 years. We have refined these techniques into adaptable workshop formats for use with many different organisations.
About the Workshop Presenter:
Playback Theatre Sydney is an internationally recognised ensemble of professional performing artists who have been serving audiences in Australia and abroad for the past 35 years. Playback Theatre was founded in New York in 1975 by Jonathan Fox & Jo Salas. Our mission is to present interactive, improvised performances that reflect the lives of each audience, giving fresh perspective to their experiences and inspiring them to new possibilities. It is a compelling blend of entertainment, surprise, reflection and connection as the improvising ensemble spontaneously brings the audience experiences to theatrical life. It’s both powerful and humorous – entertainment and discovery in one. Playback draws on fundamental human experiences and emotions by eliciting the audience’s own stories, and accessing the energetic spontaneity of the 6 piece performing ensemble to instantly create a theatrical reflection onstage – with drama, movement and music. The immediacy and the intimacy is exciting and revealing, bringing audiences into connection with our shared human experience.
Johanna and Steve have co collaborated on a range of skill based training for the Sydney School of Playback. Together they have applied Playback Theatre principles and practices to design story and improv based training for organisations such as – BENSOC Social Leadership program and Silverchain Palliative Care Service.
Deborah Lange – Truth Tales
Workshop Title:
Truth Tales
Workshop Description:
This is an invitation to come and play with voice, language, story, movement as we explore what happens when we speak “white lies” and what happens when we speak ‘truth tales” and become a new generation of Truth Tellers.
If people got the best of this session what would they leave with?
New ways to share stories of ourselves so we can speak our truth. New ways to share stories that make the unseen and undiscussable visible in our lives and organisations.
How is this session connected to the conference theme?
It is directly relevant. If we can tell ‘Truth Tales” in our organisation one story at a time in a way that is safe for us and safe for others we are changing the culture through our stories.
About the Workshop Presenter:
Deborah Lange, Mentor, Author, Lifelong Educator is dedicated to facilitating human potential and co-creating cultures where people thrive. Her passion has taken her to all corners of the globe to learn from both ancient and new wisdom. She had her body painted by the Himba people in Namibia; connected with nature with the bush men in the Kalahari; danced with street kids in Soweto to say “no” to sexual abuse; was inspired by world class violinists and artists in Slovenia; walked a song line in Australia with Indigenous people; whispered with horses in Colorado and so much more. She Speaks, Mentors and Facilitates on topics such as, Embodied Leadership, Leadership and Followship for Engagement in Organisational Culture, Integrating Logic and Intuition and Play Creates Cultures where people thrive. She holds a Masters Degree in Social Ecology, Business Degrees in Human Resource Development and Graduate Diplomas in Education, Learning, the Arts and Language.
Pre-Con with Russell Deal — The City of Lost Stories — In culture change, memory is everything
About the Half-Day Pre-Conference Workshop: Wednesday 23rd November 2016 from 9-12 noon
We constantly rebuild our cultures on the remnants of what has gone before. Who we are now, our identities, is built on narratives that have gone before but many memories fade and are forgotten. The past is readily overlooked until something cataclysmic occurs and the once forgotten is revealed. A sink hole appears overnight in a suburban Bendigo backyard unveiling an old capped mineshaft. A curious fossicker discovers some bones and an archeological dig is orchestrated.
Organisations evolve and often the origins are forgotten and perhaps the initial values and intent are morphed into something quite different. Does it matter? For some communities preserving history is important. But whose history? Is it just the stories of the rich and famous? The winners? And at a personal level what are the stories that have shaped our identities? What has been the legacy of trauma on who we are today? What if buried in our past are remnants of cultural and personality shaping events, that we may suppress or that reappear to haunt us when our defences are down.
This interactive workshop introduces a number of writing exercises, both playful and soulful, that have been used successfully to reclaim and rewrite our stories. They have been used with groups like the ‘Forgotten Australians’, and survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse but they can also be used in a wide variety of ways to interrogate the impact of cultural change on the lives of many people.
This interactive workshop is designed to invite participants to explore ways in which creative writing can un-tap stories that may have shaped our lived cultures.
Three unusual writing activities will be introduced: 6-Word Memoirs, Micro-Stories and Collaborative Story Writing, to demonstrate ways to safely recover narratives of our history and identity.
Participants will be invited to consider applying such written forms of story-telling to keep alive and reframe times of change in their lives.
About Russell Deal:
Russell is the Founder of St Luke’s Innovative Resources and now is the Director of his own freelance consultancy, ‘Metaphors Ink’. For over 25 years Russell has been the prolific creator of visual metaphors that invite people to enter into and enjoy story telling in novel and often life-changing ways. With an academic background in social work, psychology and education Russell has designed, written or published over 60 conversation-building ‘tools’ used extensively and enthusiastically by countless human service practitioners. Russell was awarded an OAM in 2014 for service to social work and the community. His highly interactive workshops are known for their humour and creativity.
Pre-Con with Bob Dick — Exploring below the Surface: Eliciting Stories for Cultural Change
About the Half-Day Pre-Conference Workshop: Wednesday 23rd November 2016 from 9-12 noon
You can incorporate story into many diagnostic processes. Doing so can open up the possibility of using the processes for cultural diagnosis and cultural change.
The learning objectives for this workshop are:
- learn specific and useful story-based techniques, especially for cultural diagnosis
- learn how to enrich data-gathering techniques by incorporating elements of story
- understand how and why story and similar indirect techniques are effective for cultural diagnosis and intervention.
This workshop is for: Consultants, facilitators, HR professionals, people in leadership roles — virtually anyone who wishes to add to their use of story and narrative techniques in their repertoire.
About Bob Dick:
Bob Dick is an independent scholar, an occasional academic, and a consultant in community and organisational change. He has been a practitioner and an academic for most of the past 45 years, enjoys both enormously, and continues to work in both fields. In both he uses concepts and processes from action research, action learning, action science, narrative, and community and organisation development to help people (including himself), organisations and communities to improve their work, learning and life.
You may have attended his workshops or engaged him as a facilitator or consultant or facilitator. If so, you’ll know that he often uses story in his work. He also builds story-based techniques into many of the diagnostic and change processes that he uses.
He resides in Brisbane’s leafy western suburbs with the love of his life, Camilla.
Pre-Con with Tom Verghese — How does your culture influence your story?
About the Half-Day Pre-Conference Workshop: Wednesday 23rd November 2016 from 9-12 noon
46 per cent of Australia’s population have at least one parent born overseas – this means that you are probably interacting with someone from a different cultural heritage on most days. This workshop will explore cross-cultural stories that will be provided by participants, and will examine the impact that cultural stories have on your values and behaviours. Learn how your own cultural stories can help improve your cultural intelligence and expand your ability to connect more effectively with people in culturally diverse Australia.
Learning Objectives are:
- An appreciation of culture and its impact on values and behaviours
- An opportunity to explore different cultural stories from around the world
- An understanding of how to interact more effectively with those from different cultural backgrounds
This workshop is for: Consultants, Trainers, facilitators and speakers. Anyone who works with a multicultural cohort.
About Tom Verghese:
Dr Tom Verghese is an internationally renowned consultant, presenter, executive cultural coach and founder of Cultural Synergies. Tom is the author of ‘The Invisible Elephant – Exploring Cultural Awareness 2nd edition’ and the co-author of ‘The Pillars of Growth – The Keys to Getting Exponential Growth in Your Business Today.
Tom holds a Diploma in Management, a Graduate Diploma and Masters in Education and Training and a Doctorate in Business Administration. Being of Indian origin, born and raised in multi-ethnic Malaysia, Tom’s area of speciality is cultural intelligence, assisting organisations to work effectively across cultures, distance and time zones. Tom has over 24 years of accumulated consulting experience and has worked across a diverse range of industries and businesses located around the world, alongside leaders from many different cultures. Some of the organisations Tom has work with include Sara Lee, Microsoft, ANZ Bank, Autoliv, Dell, Deutsche Bank, Walt Disney, Cadbury-Schweppes.
What’s the program looking like for this years Story Conference?
We’ve had a great response to our call for workshop proposals for this years story conference.
Given the current worlds challenges, speed of change and complexity, it’s appropriate that the theme for this year’s conference is focussed on “Influencing Cultural Change One Story at a Time”.
The conference this year will be a 2.5 day format with a half-day of pre-conference workshops starting on Wednesday 23rd November and finishing on Friday 25th November 2016.
See below for a listing of the workshop proposals … so far …..
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Title |
Description |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |