Purpose & Storytelling Workshops

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In a world where more and more people are making purchasing decisions based on emotions, ethics and values - your purpose needs to be clear and your story needs to be told.

When your business is driven by a higher purpose, you will form a stronger connection with your customers, your stakeholders – and your staff.

Connecting to your why helps distinguish your brand message, build relationships and ultimately improve profitability.

According to Gallup, 87% of employees are disengaged at work. And we all know that when people are disengaged they don’t perform as well. It’s why company and team building exercises are so important.

But my workshops are so much more than that. In this time of remote working and online communication, I help connect your people to a purpose beyond profit, sales goals and targets. I help them come together as a cohesive unit with everyone communicating clearly and reaching their potential.

“I’ve recommended Carolyn to a number of my clients now. She is a master at teaching leaders how to articulate and communicate purpose through storytelling. Her models and processes are well tested and result in solid outcomes. I would recommend her services to any company or school who wants to create a purpose-driven, story-centric culture.” Paul McGill, Investor/Consultant

Keeping your remote and in-house teams connected – and ensuring everyone is on the same page – leads to better results.

An engaged workforce is a happy, healthy, productive workforce.

Who are the workshops for?

The workshops are customised and designed to suit the needs of your team or business. They can be a half-day, full-day or two-day program. It completely depends on your business.

They are ideal for teams and company’s that:

are looking to grow and develop their marketing message with a stronger focus on purpose and brand storytelling
have lost their focus as a team and need to bring everyone together, to engage staff in the process
are shifting focus into a new field or industry and are looking to make a smooth transition
have been impacted by the pandemic and are rethinking their structure and who they are as a business
are siloed with different divisions and teams operating separately.

They can be used as:

How they work - and why they are different to the usual corporate team building activities

My first step is to assess your business and determine what you want to achieve. I will analyse where you are now and what your specific issues are – and help determine how purpose and storytelling can help you solve them.

I work with you to decide which people need to be involved – whether it’s high level management, middle management, all employees or a specific team.

My workshops can be a standalone program, or integrated into existing internal programs already in place such as Leadership Development programs. They can be in person or virtual.

I work with the tools and frameworks I have successfully used for nearly a decade to connect your staff to your overall purpose and then teach a methodology for each person to connect to this purpose through personal storytelling.

Articulate

I work with your team to help you co-create and articulate a purpose statement. We answer the big question of why you exist beyond profit and KPI’s and explore the positive impact you wish to make.

Plan

Once we know what you stand for, we’ll explore how to best take action on your new purpose statement. We’ll agree on a simple plan to make it stick and agree on the changes that need to be implemented to bring it to life in your daily work.

Communicate

Finally, we’ll each work on a personal story to make the purpose meaningful and actionable following a proven story structure. We’ll develop a process to collect stories and continuously improve each person’s writing, communication and story mastery.

Many companies articulate their purpose - you may think you have already done this well.

But what became of it?

Did it just become a sentence on a website, or a poster in the staff room? Do your people actually know it? Is the purpose truly meaningful to them? Do they know how to bring it to their daily work? If the answer is NO to any of these questions, I can help.

The Results

After you and your team have completed these workshops, you will have a clear and motivating purpose statement to serve as an anchor for your team or company to move forward in a common direction.

It will outline why your organisation exists, what your overall goal is and how you plan to achieve it.

Not only that – all of your people will know how to tell your purpose story. Throughout the workshop process, your staff will have rediscovered their connection to your business. They will have reconnected with each other and affirmed their reasons for turning up to work each day.

They will be more engaged in their role – and therefore more productive.

And the effect will be long lasting as we develop the best plan to embed the purpose in your company so everyone keeps coming back to it.

Purpose brought to life through the power of story leads to deeper connection, greater cohesion and a stronger community.

Let's build a connection

If you’re wondering whether your company could benefit from a Purpose and Storytelling Workshop, try the Purpose Health-Check first.

It will give you an idea of where you and your staff sit in terms of their connection to your purpose.

Download the health-check and discuss it at your next team meeting. It will be a bit of fun and a useful indicator of how important purpose is for your people.

Or better yet, if you’d like to discuss my workshops further, book a conversation.