Storytelling in Organisations

Wonder Workshop

“There can be few talents more important to managerial success than knowing how to tell a good story.”

Michael Hattersley, Harvard Management Updates.

Storytelling is the most influential of all the arts. We all remember a good story, and a good storyteller. Whether around a braai or in a boardroom, telling stories teaches people both personally and professionally to grow, lead, inspire, communicate, connect, build confidence,

encourage teamwork, and more. Not the Bored Room! hosts a series of intensive

and experiential one-day (basic storytelling skills), two-day (intermediary) and three-day

(advanced) Storytelling in Organisations Wonder Workshops, where participants gain

hugely in confidence, feel one metaphoric foot taller, and become a lot more powerful and influential. The overall aim is to enhance the personal power of participants as influential leaders, with the following key objectives to give individuals and businesses an invaluable opportunity to:

Understand the potential and dynamics of storytelling in the workplace. Overview theories, models, case studies and accounts related to the success

of storytelling in leadership and other aspects of organisations. Know how to apply the appropriate methods, personal style and delivery

mechanisms for maximum effects on audiences. Learn key dramatic skills in the art and craft of storytelling, including vocal

training and the use of body and space, to be a highly engaging, entertaining and impactful storyteller.

Differentiate between different kinds of stories and recognise how to choose and use stories for their maximum effect.

Get actively involved, participate in exercises, tell stories, hear stories from their peers and the professionals, discuss, learn, grow and have some serious fun!

STORYTELLING IS: A universal form of communication that engages people in inter-actions which are at once informative, meaningful and inspirational. An enlivening process – a conversational art – which in contrast to more traditional, conventional forms of corporate communication, courageously harnesses the energy of people towards constructive development in their working lives. An infinitely powerful process that has been very effectively applied in organisations to achieve a range of objectives including leadership effectiveness, strategic alignment, sales and marketing success, enhanced learning, strengthening corporate culture and identity, intimate team building and sustained change and transformation. There are indeed stories of the balance sheet, of heroes and conquests, villains and failures, of operations and strategy – it is difficult to identify any aspect of working life that can not be considerably enriched through storytelling.

A key differentiator of leadership success. Howard Gardner’s original empirical research on multiple intelligences in leaders across a range of fields revealed firstly, that great leaders are most often consummate storytellers and secondly, they embody the stories they choose to tell.

The role of Storytelling in Organisations is neither a ‘tall-tale’

nor ‘short-story’, but a tale as old as time

The convenience, speed and reach of electronic communications have decimated the art of courageous conversation at the workplace. Yet a memo, electronic or otherwise, has seldom, if ever, mobilised people to action. It is not surprising then that poor communication is the organisational issue invariably identified by managers and workers alike as the most dysfunctional aspect of working life. In response, the beginning of the 21st century sees a global trend towards the recovery of storytelling as a fundamental organisational activity. There are few, if any, business matters not potentially influenced through the use of storytelling, and so through invoking the power of storytelling, people in any position or level of formal authority can take a significant lead in influencing the thoughts, feelings and actions of others.

In 1995, well-known American economist Deirdre McCloskey demonstrated that 28% of the gross domestic product in the USA is accounted for by persuasion (McCloskey and Klamer, The American Economic Review, Vol 82, 2, p 195). And in 2005, Larry Prusak estimated that two thirds of persuasion can be accounted for by storytelling (Seely Brown

et al, Storytelling in Organisations: Why Storytelling is Transforming 21st Century Organisations and Management, Butterworth-

Heinemann, 2005). This would equate with an amount in 1999 valued at a staggering US$1.8 trillion!

Those are the facts, but the real fact of the matter is that for believability, authenticity and recall, stories are very different and far better than facts, speeches, digital communication, tired PowerPoint presentations or so-called motivational speakers that are the norm in organisations - which usually have a deadening effect on audiences and few, if any lasting effects.

So if you desire to sway events to the satisfaction of yourself, your team or your company, send some smoke signals the way

of Not The Bored Room! You won’t be disappointed in the result.

Wonder Workshop Take-Aways

Participants receive: A comprehensive handout, providing an overview of all the important concepts, and some of the key background

reading, both academic and popular, on Storytelling in Organisations. This handout is based on the MBA course

pack distributed to Wits Business School students who elect to complete the Storytelling in Organisations elective

as part of their formal studies.

A comprehensive list of recommended readings, bibliography and quotations on Storytelling in Organisations.

Copies of the core stories told as exemplars during the Wonder Workshop.

A Storytelling in Organisations Wonder Workshop Certificate of Attendance, upon successful completion.

Big Chief Talking Bull’s personal experience of ineffective communicators in leadership, management and

specialist ranks, sparked his seminal, popular and highly-rated Storytelling in Organisations MBA

elective at Wits Business School. Initiated in 1998 and now in its 20th year of delivery, the academically well-

grounded elective is focused on developing the practical storytelling skills of participants. The Storytelling in

Organisations Wonder Workshop arises directly from this endeavour, offered as an in-house course to

practitioners in the field, be they corporate leaders and managers, sales and marketing and corporate

communications and other professional specialists, change agents, consultants, trainers or facilitators.

The Wonder Workshop offers participants an exciting opportunity to develop their personal power to influence

others through storytelling. From exploring the use of entertaining anecdotes, educative accounts, developmental

biographies and wise, universal myths, legends and fables, participants uncover the courage to create, restore

their innate imagination, intuition, innovation and inspiration, so as to strengthen their personal leadership

through example. It is designed to develop a leader’s authenticity, spontaneity and creativity through the power

of the spoken word through storytelling, and to inculcate appropriate attitudes for using storytelling fruitfully in

organisations.

Learning Process and Guarantee of Growth

The Storytelling in Organisations Wonder Workshop adopts a highly experiential, intense and

challenging learning process, which promises very dramatic results for a maximum of 24 participants. The storytelling learning process is radically unconventional, promoting emotional and spiritual development, where wisdom is valued more highly than cleverness, and where the intellect is disempowered. For enlightened participants with enquiring minds, pen hearts and strong wills, Not The Bored Room! promises an exciting fun-filled journey with a big difference – unlike most other formal learning experiences, this one is unlikely ever to be forgotten.

Upon successful completion, participants are able to: - Identify core storytelling for personal leadership concepts. - Recognise story structures and narrative techniques. - Identify and apply the characteristics of effective anecdotal storytelling, to craft their own

anecdotal stories according to underlying story structures and narrative conventions. - Identify and apply the key characteristics of effective biographical storytelling, to construct their

life stories (personal autobiographies) and experience the personal life stories of others. - Identify and apply the key characteristics of organisational biographical storytelling (histories of

companies, divisions and departments, products, etc). - Identify and apply allegorical stories (myths, legends, fables, fairy tales, parables and the like) to

leadership and other organisational dynamics. - Transform literal stories into allegorical stories, and apply this transformative process for

corporate communication purposes.

- Identify and apply the key dimensions of spontaneous Storytelling in Organisations. - Create their own spontaneous stories to apply their personal leadership in the moment. - Give spontaneous and rehearsed storytelling performances in a constructive and supportive

atmosphere. - Assess, reflect on and fine-tune their storytelling skills based on peer and expert reviews, as well

as observe the unique and idiosyncratic storytelling skills of others whilst providing constructive feedback to their colleagues.

- Co-create stories where diverse points of view must be accommodated. - Recognise the importance of storytelling to personal identity and branding, and self-effectiveness.

- Analyse and critically evaluate a number of case studies of Storytelling in Organisations, and the

personal leadership required as a key influence for success. - Confirm what they have learnt about storytelling skills for personal leadership, identify what still

remains for them to learn, and grapple with questions that remain unanswered. *Some time is naturally spent towards the beginning of the workshop establishing the personal expectations and needs of participants, and meeting these is to the extent possible accommodated in the learning process and content of the workshop.

THE SPECIFICS:

The Storytelling in Organisations Wonder Workshop is facilitated over one, two or three

consecutive working days. Each day begins at 08h30 and ends at 17h00, with

participants in the three day Wonder Workshop also required to undertake a limited amount of preparatory evening work, especially in preparing for their final storytelling performances, scheduled for the third day.

Wonder Workshop Outcomes:

ONE-DAY (Basic)

Cost: R28k

THREE-DAY WONDER WORKSHOP (Advanced Storytelling Skills)

Cost: R62k

The cost of a three-day Storytelling in Organisations

Wonder Workshop, which can accommodate a

minimum of 6 and maximum of 24 participants, is R62k including VAT. The cost of all three options

for the Wonder Workshops includes preparatory meetings, facilitation fees, workshop materials and participant takeaways. Venue and catering costs are for the account of the client organisation. The invoice is submitted to the client organisation on the final day of the workshop, payable on presentation.

TWO DAY (Intermediary)

Cost: R54k

MEET THE FACILITATORS FROM NOT THE BORED ROOM!

Big Chief Talking Bull a.k.a. Peter Christie ranks amongst the world’s most experienced business storytellers. He has been a strategic storyteller for almost

30 years, is a sought after speaker on Storytelling in Organisations, and has

published five books on the subject. 120 of the Big Chief’s short stories have appeared in The Star newspaper over the past five years, and he has lectured in

Storytelling in Organisations at many of South Africa’s leading business schools.

Bugz Binnie a.k.a. Binnie Christie is a young and accomplished theatre maker, director, stage manager, actress, and all-round dramaniac! A drama graduate from Wits University, her original plays You Take My Breath Away and She Said, She Said appeared at the Joburg Theatre and Olive Tree Theatre respectively, and the play Hearts Hotel, which she co-directed with James Cunningham, appeared at the 2016 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown together with ‘Just Antigone’ – a show she performed in.

“I truly believe that the session I attended for the last three days has, without a doubt, been the most valuable bit of management / leadership / etc. training that I have ever been involved with in my career. Very often when I have attended these types of programs in the past, I have lost interest by the second day and your sessions have only encouraged me to get more involved and to see things through. I think that this is because you have been so effective in getting the message across and in illustrating the subject rather than instructing on it.”

- William Wilson, Financial Manager, Firstrand Banking Group, 2002.

PREVIOUS CLIENTS INCLUDE Alexander Forbes, African Bank, Anglo American, Anglo Alpha, Anglo Platinum, AIC Conferences, AMC Conferences, Adcock Ingram, Air Products, Affiliated Medical Aid Administrators, Arcadia Children’s Home, Astra-Zeneca, Austen Safe, Barclays Bank, BMW, Cashbuild, Coca-Cola, Columbus Steel, Change Events, Dulux, Delta Motor Corporation, Dimension Data, Edcon, Educor, Ernst and Young, Emperors Palace Casino, Eskom, Eunice School, Firstrand, Fedgas, First National Bank, FirstRand, GIBS, Graduate Institute of Management and Technology, Grinaker-LTA, Hollard Insurance, Hyde Park High School, Insurance Institute SA, International Centre for Management Development, International School of Storytelling, IMM, IBM SA, Junior Achievement, Karrena Africa, Liberty Life, Logical Options, MB Glass, MM Longman, Ntsika Holdings, Nedbank, National Chemical Products, Nedcor, Nampak, Omnia, Peoples Bank, Promat Colleges, Plascon, PG Group, Rand College of Education, Rand Water, SA Breweries, SA Eagle, SA Reserve Bank, Sacred Heart College, SBIC Africa Soweto College of Education, Siemens, Standard Bank, Steinhoff, Sun International, Telkom, Total, UNISA, Unilever, Ubuntu School of Philosophy, Unitrans, Volkswagen SA, Wits University, Women’s Health Project, Wesbank, Worldsview and Wits Business School.

“I just want to offer a personal thank you, not only for the work you have done for IBM South Africa, but as well for the fascinating allegory. It’s obvious that you have cautious optimism

about the future of the company and you should feel justifiably proud of having made a significant contribution to our potential for a bright future. Perhaps we’ll have the opportunity to

work together again in the future, but I will always count you as my friends.”

- Dennis Hearon, Country General Manager, IBM SA, 1999.

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” - Seth Godin, Author and Marketer.

FOR MORE INFORMATION,

SEND A SMOKE SIGNAL OUR WAY

Not The Bored Room!

Strategic Storytelling Big Chief Talking Bull and Bugz Binnie

16 Little Manor 1 Manor Lane Strathavon Sandton 2196 (+2711) 883-7399 office / 073-236-0305 Big Chief mobile / 081-893-3633 Bugz Binnie mobile

bigchief@nottheboredroom.co.za bugzbinnie@gmail.com www.bigchieftalkingbull.co.za