Power of Storytelling

The welcome (5 min)

Five minute section at the beginning of the event to allow for people to show up, get acclimated and settled in. During this time, the leads will welcome participants as they arrive. You can simply welcome individuals as they come in or you could make things a little more interactive.

While participants are coming in, share your screen to show a Sli.do word cloud.

Slido is a virtual tool that allows for polling and listening to audience members. To do this, create a free account and build a word cloud template, using the prompt question:

• Prompt - Reflect on the past two weeks.  What is the most dominant feeling that you have felt when you are at work?

This will allow people to see where others stand, provide for light connection and something for the facilitator to discuss as people are arriving.

Then transition into the Culture First Principles

• Really talk about how you are about to embody the value of having the courage to be vulnerable today

The connection (10 - 15 min)

Moving from the welcome, it is now time to allow people to connect and get to know one another a bit better. 

Cover today’s purpose and talk about why the theme you chose is important

• Choose a topic that you’d like to focus on during your conversation. It could be around psychological safety, vulnerability, belogning, career transition, imposter syndrome, etc. Have this topic focus specifically on the workplace.

• Have the group reflect on the topic. For instance if the topic is belonging, ask the group to reflect on their level of belonging at work right now. You could do this through the chat or have them change their zoom name to include a number. 

• If the topic were psychological safety, have them reflect - On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your feeling of psychological safety at work right now?

• Have the participants share. Suggest a popcorn style of sharing if the group is small enough or just have a few people share. Let others know they can pass or wait to share at the end if they would like.

The work

We now move in to the work round, which is the main crux of our event. This will be broken into three sections:

Section 1: (30 min)

1. Storytelling - Have someone share a story about their sense of belonging (or whatever topic you choose) at work. 

• Consider having this person planned ahead of time. 

• The story can be live or even pre-recorded. Story should be limited to 3-5 minutes. 

• This should be a story that occurred in the past. This shouldn’t be a current day challenge at work when it related to belonging. It should be a time in the past that they didn’t feel a sense of belonging. 

2. Group Discussion and Share - (20 minutes or less)

• Create breakout group of 3-5 (with one facilitator in each room)

• With a facilitator in each room, ask folks to discuss what came up for them. 

  • This is not a time to discuss or pass judgment on the lived experience of the person who shared. 

3. Ask questions such as: 

   1. 1. Have you ever felt that way? -  If the answer is yes, and the group wants to dig deeper, other questions can be discussed.

      2. What emotions came up for you in listening to that story?

      3. Have you ever felt or witnessed a similar situation?
         
         
         

Example: When listening to a story from one of your coworkers about their sense of safety or belonging, what emotions came up for you?  - "I was surprised at how many people had similar stories, and I felt moved by my coworker's vulnerability. I think it is important for us to have honest conversations about workplace safety so that we can improve our work culture."

Section 2: (15 min)

Come back to the main group to have them share and debrief. 

Connection and discussion are important in this work session. The goal is to foster both vulnerability and action.

The Action: (15 min)

Have the individuals reflect on their personal experience. One of our principles is to put learning into action. This is the time they digest what they experienced and determine how they can incorporate these learnings into their lives or more specifically their work lives. 

1. Ask the group to get a pen and piece of paper for some journaling. Ask them to free write for 2-3 minutes without stopping on the following prompts.

Journal prompt: 

• After having heard this, what action may this spark? What’s one thing I can do differently? What am I going to do as a result of this discussion?
  
  

2. Have the group share what came up for them through sharing with the group or even have them share what they are going to take action on in the chat. 

The Close (10 min)

For the close, bring everyone back into the center and breathe for two minutes. Remind folks that their breath is always there for them. 

Ask them - “Enter one word to best describe how you are feeling now”

At this point, you can ask if anybody wants to expand a bit and share high level takeaways or thoughts, hopefully you still have a few minutes to do this.

Then wrap up by thanking everyone attending and sharing about any upcoming events and how they can stay involved.