What is owned and loved, works better than corporate messaging.
Top tips:
- Plan how many workshops it is sensible to run in terms of people’s commitment and your energy
- Involve as many people as practical from every level of the organisation and include your influencers and the cynics
- Listen out for the key words people use in the workshops when they’re talking about your organisation – they’ll help develop themes for your story
- Make sure people know they’re not writing the final draft of your narrative – that’s your job
- Gather stories from the session there and then – don’t miss the moment
We know that what is owned and loved works better than corporate messaging and that’s why a workshop approach is the most effective way of developing your narrative.
Decide how many workshops you’ll need to reach the right number of people and, ideally, mix up your groups so each includes a spread of senior managers and leaders, middle managers, frontline staff and councillors.
It may be the first time people have ever worked together in this way so you’ll get the added benefits of key people learning a bit more about each other.
Whether you’re delivering these workshops online or in the real world, some basic principles apply:
1: Clarify the purpose and the structure of the session ahead of the workshop and make sure everyone attending knows what they’ve signed up for.
2: Structure matters more online. If you’re using some of the models and exercises suggested in this toolkit, make sure people have the worksheets in advance.
3: Keep the timing tight. Story gathering can be done quickly and effectively if it’s structured well. Being creative can be tiring, so don’t make the workshop more than 90 minutes long. If you’re using Zoom or Teams allow between 20 and 30 minutes for the really hard work: the generating and drafting story exercise. Keep your breakout rooms to a maximum of four people.
4: Set out the ground rules for the session. It’s likely that this kind of session will be new to many of your participants, so be clear at the beginning about the working arrangements and the outcomes you’re looking for.
Be clear that:
- all ideas are valid, people need to listen well to each other and feel comfortable asking about anything that’s not clear
- it’s not about the detail of the writing – that can be done by comms experts
- everyone needs to be comfortable with the style of engagement and the kind of participation you want during the workshop, particularly online
5: Always do a warm-up or ice-breaker to model the behaviour and levels of engagement you want to see in the session. Use an exercise that starts the story sharing straight away. (For examples that take 10-15 minutes, see Chapter 9 – Resources to help you).
6: Gather the stories in the session – don’t miss the moment. Your participants will probably be really enthusiastic during the session but then don’t have the time to follow up once they’re done. So, ask people to fill in the worksheet during the workshop and take a photo of it and send it to you directly.
Ask a couple of participants to share their story, even if they do this briefly. Identify someone who can take notes and someone who can follow up after the workshop.
This does not need to be a long-winded process. Organising and running workshops, turning out a first draft, sharing it for comments, through to signing off a final version can be done in two to three months – if you stick to clear and agreed timetable.