Foundation in True Storytelling® Program

The aim of the Foundation Course is to give you a deeper understanding of the 7 principles of True Storytelling® and the theory behind it. In the program, we focus on you as a person and how you can be your best possible self. We work to develop “your” story that can help provide you with a deeper understanding of the “authentic you” which serves to motivate and sustain your inner strength, both privately and professionally.

You also learn a number of methods and tools that are linked to the various principles. These principles, when put into action, are proven to be effective in helping you plan, facilitate, and evaluate your private and professional life.

Through the course, you work on your own case study or a challenge you have recognized as a impediment to advancement. If the course participants are within a particular organization, it will focus on a common task, while combining with the participants personal stories. E.g. bringing two departments together by creating a new culture, allowing the facilitation and implementation a new strategy.

Module 1

Module  1 –  Bring your own personal case and/or the case of your organization. Focus will be on learning the True Storytelling methodology and together-telling. The first two principles in True Storytelling will be introduced.

Principle 1: Truth. What is true and ethical for you and your organization. We focus on issues like: “What is the existing story now,?” “Do we need to change?” and “What is a more true and sustainable story?” We reflect on which values exist and which need further development toward achieving a successful future strategy and how the meaning of each affects them all.   

Principle 2: Make room.  Learn the benefit of understanding and respecting the stories already there by developing an awareness of how these stories can give the new story value and strategic energy 

Between the modules you will be provided with material to work on at home to further develop your understanding of the principles.

Module 2

Principle 3: Plot.  Focus is on how to create a new story or plot that breaks with the old one and can help the people involved prioritize and maintain motivation. It is not aimed at developing just another traditional corporate narrative, but a story that provides room for the smaller stories of the people around you and those with whom you work. You learn how to use storyboards in working with your own life or the life of a new strategy.                 

Principle 4: Time and space. The module focuses on the importance of awareness of time and space. What is the optimal timing for your unique story to be put into action, and what is the right place? These are both critical components for the effective use of the 7 principle True Storytelling® methodology. 

Module 3

Principle 5: Helping it along. We can create a perfect new story or strategy for our life or the organization’s future, but the reality of life includes obstacles. It can be challenging to change our own habits, or the people involved may have a different approach. Principle 5 – “Helping it along” is about how to overcome resistance by re-storying and the importance of being open to experiment.                           

Principle 6 – Staging. In the module, focus will be on how to you can help your story by staging it correctly. Staging is how you appear in the room, stage meetings, workshops, and how the room is strategically set up to provide the most benefit to your future story. 

Module 4

Principle 7: Reflection. The final principle is Reflection. In this critical Module; focus is on how the simultaneous implementation of the 7 principles are continually fine tuned through the development of your case or future project and continue after you have achieved a successful change management process. Putting True Storytelling® methodology into action in your private and professional life requires both continuous reflection and adjustment, dynamically looping back through the principles of your case or project. Reflecting also focuses on how to implement values, identifying the moral compass for your own life, which can help you navigate conduct and decision making in times of high complexity.

Staging the course

True Storytelling Institute® has conducted programs in many different venues – as a hike in nature, a virtual hybrid, and in-person as a more traditional format. Creativity and inspiration combined with a new skills and renewed motivation and energy are the goals, focusing on what is essential for you, your team, organization, and community.