Programmes to make your message stick
Does your message stick?
As a leader in your organisation you want to make it easier for people, including yourself, to do the right thing. A key issue is communication. In many cases it is less than effective. For instance, somewhere between 50 and 80% of any organisation’s people have no clue about its strategy. The message just doesn’t stick, confidence is eroded, feedback gets lost, results suffer.
You can be an inspiring communicator
Storytelling for business can turn you into an effective, inspiring communicator. You can use it both for general communication and for specific scenarios. Think of making your strategy stick, delivering a pitch or embedding values.
Let me give you an example of what can go wrong and how you can set it right.
Would you like me to ask some silly questions?
Some years ago the HR manager of a sizeable organisation asked me to give a talk about organisational change to their leadership. They had just had a two-day off-site. There they had discussed their vision for the organisation and the direction they wanted to go. I happily agreed to come along.
I began my talk by asking if they had been successful. Was there now a shared vision and direction? Yes, of course, what did I think? They had just been debating this for two days. "Don't ask silly questions Mark".
Sometimes you need a discussion
I ran a quick survey to find out if their self-assessment was correct. It wasn't. The results were all over the place. At first they blamed the tool, then me. That didn't work. After some discussion they acknowledged that the message they had been working on, hadn't stuck at all. They realised they would never be able to communicate it effectively.
This made them open up to a profound discussion. We were able to draw out a number of themes they wanted their people to talk about, such as:
- Dealing with diversity
- Creating a safe work environment
- Retaining people
The company
I want to have an impact
Ploughed Field is a one-man band: just me, Mark Janssen. Who you see, is who you get. I am a teacher, a business consultant and an organiser of 4x4 tours (4x4 Discovery Travel). Whatever role I take, the most important thing for me is to have an impact. To give meaning, joy, the feeling that you've learned something that lasts.
I deliver more than training
I am a business partner of Anecdote International, a pioneer in the field of storytelling for business. After I had completed an intensive training programme, they awarded me their accreditation and certified me to deliver the Storytelling for Leaders programme. Furthermore, a few months later I earned the accreditation for the Story-Powered Strategy programme.
Our partnership means I've got the best possible support to design and deliver programmes for storytelling for business. I have direct access to the experts of Anecdote and to the global network of their partners.
Storytelling for Leaders
Do you want to tell your message in a memorable way? The skill of storytelling in a business context could be the thing for you.
Storytelling for Leaders will teach you the ropes. You will learn to inspire with meaningful, authentic messages.
It consists of:
- 4 workshop sessions of 2 hours, on- or off-line
- A deliberate practice programme of 6 months to establish the habit of storytelling
- 3 group coaching sessions
Story-Powered Strategy
Developing your strategy is only a start. The big job is to get it into everyone's heads so that they can make the right decisions.
Story-Powered Strategy transforms your strategy into a compelling, memorable explanation of what you plan to do.
It consists of:
- Prepare for success
- Craft a memorable and actionable message
- Connect everyone with your strategy
- Embed it in your organisation
I offer two programmes:
The themes formed the basis of a memorable and easy to communicate vision and purpose.
