Changing Stories Membership coaching
Changing Stories — learn the foundational business skills necessary to tell art purpose-led, compelling stories and build your change-making community
In a unique approach to working with you to become a master storyteller, maximising your thought leadership and change-making success, we’ll work through a series of masterclasses to build foundational business communication and storytelling skills.
In the first seven weeks we work through the five Clarity Works masterclasses—Focus your Story Lens, Love your People, Unpack your Value, Marshal your Insights and Model your Proposition.
In the following weeks, we cover the masterclasses in Story At Work— Master Storytelling, Perfect your Pitch and Powerfully Present.
FOCUS YOUR STORY LENS
Focus Your Story Lens explores the most captivating lens for irresistible storytelling— your purpose and principles. Without a simple articulated purpose through which you can filter every message, and a set of identified principles—the immutable laws by which you operate—stories are random, rather than purpose-led, contextualised, and relevant for your audience.
LOVE YOUR PEOPLE
Love Your People takes your understanding of your people beyond simply knowing who they are. Through a deep examination of trust and truth, you build a deeper affinity and empathy for them. We work through the many ways in which you can examine the challenges, issues, or pain they experience, and the symptoms of those needs. In each lies the stories you can tell that will specifically and—with love—address them.
UNPACK YOUR VALUE
How much attention do you pay to the unique value you’ve accumulated, simply by being alive for decades? We all sit on a pinnacle of value and the stories that support it, but that doesn’t mean we can see or use it. Unpack your Value rewards you with the time and the tools to unravel and unpack it.
It is in the intersections of your experience and expertise that your uniqueness lies. Once identified, you can create or refine the most remarkable solution for those on whom you wish to have an impact, and from which you can tell your best stories.
MARSHALL YOUR INSIGHTS
When you gather a body of knowledge over a period of time, you also collect the insights (facts in context) that give credibility to your wisdom.Too often though, insights are expressed through data and statistics, almost instantly forgotten. Marshal Your Insights offers you the opportunity to gather your insights and learn how to wrap them in story. This is profound communication. It embeds their importance, boosts recall of the facts, and cements your authority and prescience in your field.
MODEL YOUR PROPOSITION
Model your Proposition presents a unique modelling framework as a means of identifying your principles and their supporting tenets of operation. From this, you can build a simple, one page value proposition of your offer. The process captures the challenges and problems your people experience. It also identifies the mistakes they make, creating a compendium of targeted, relevant stories you can tell to ameloriate each of their issues.
STORYTELLING MASTERY
Over the duration of the Storytelling Mastery masterclass we define the structure of, and content for purpose-driven storytelling, and the tools to unearth and archive relevant stories for your audience. It helps you to:
• Understand the intention for any one story
• Examine your personal value and expertise to unearth your best stories
• Ensure your storytelling is relevant and supportive of your people’s needs
• Demonstrate transactional storytelling.
Storytelling Mastery Part 1 deals with structure and context. We work through story context and collection, organising your stories, working through the classic story arc, and structural techniques such as vignettes, loops, and threads.
Storytelling Mastery Part 2 involves the craft of storytelling, how you use language, open your stories, and employ rythmn and cadence to captivate your listener.
POWERFULLY PRESENT
You’re a passionate change-maker. You need to speak, but do you shine from the stage? Powerfully Present takes you through what you need to become a persuasive presenter; one able to craft and present with elegance, humanity, and conviction so you capture attention, engage your audience, and boost recall of your messages.
You will work through:
• isolating the purpose for your talk
• getting forensic about the people you’re talking to
• identifing your intention for them—what do you want them to think, feel, and do
• unravelling your fundamental messages
• identifying your best insights
• uncovering the personal and curated stories that are the key to connecting to, and engaging with your audience
• the structure and language that differentiates a talk from a memorable presentation or keynote
• how to weave cadence into it so that it intrigues your listeners and holds their attention.
PERFECT YOUR PITCH
Information overload and hyperconnectivity has made our attention our brains’ scarcest commodity. It doesn’t matter how impactful your work is, unless you can pitch clearly and compellingly, the right people won’t hear it.
In these masterclasses you will learn:
• the structure of effective pitching
• how to articulate why, what, how, and who to incorporate into your pitch
• how to identify your key messages and extract the stories that best illustrate them
• how to include an appropriate transactional call to action.
The Changing Stories community
Throughout you’re invited to take part of the Changing Stories community to seek help and share your stories.
Join us
If you are a thought leader, social enterprise or impact business founder who wants to tell powerful stories that can enlist support and build momentum to change the narrative from negative energy to positive action for your purpose, we’d love you to be part of out next intimate group of compelling storytellers.
Becoming an expert storyteller is a life changing experience. We look forward to your company in Changing Stories kicking off on June 3 2021 hear the stories you can tell to enrich, transform and even save lives.
For more information, and to see the models, download the prospectus or register your interest in the next program starting June 3 2021, here.
What others say
The Changing Stories program was such an eye opener for me! I came into it with a clear idea of what I was doing and why, yet Sandy helped me to further sharpen, grow and strengthen my message through storytelling. Her insights and ability to dig through waffle to find clarity is so refreshing and so powerful. I’m walking away knowing exactly who I need to talk to, what to communicate, and most importantly, with the confidence that I have something important to say. GRACE O’HARA, Founder Small Fires.
I took part in an online course, Changing Stories, delivered by Sandy McDonald, and not only really enjoyed it, but found it of great value – both personally and professionally.
Through excellently delivered videos, online group discussions and exercises, Sandy gave us an understanding of the science of storytelling and why story is so powerful as a means of communicating clearly and coherently to build trust, understanding, collaboration and, ultimately, to bring about change.
As a group we explored our ‘Why’, our purpose, and learnt to craft compelling stories to communicate our messages, values and experience. We learnt to mine our lives for the stories that have shaped us. My antennae are finely tuned to story: now I’m hearing stories everywhere. Since doing the course, I’ve been inspired to capture not only my stories but to note down others that resonate with me. Never has there been a better time to explore story as a means of achieving positive change. Highly recommended. CHARLOTTE FRANCIS, Grant writer
Story telling is the new black and as an educator/facilitator and social advocate I was acutely aware of my need to skill up in this area… and this was the ideal course to enable this. Sandy is a skilled teacher and of course – story teller- who effortlessly blended stories into a well structured workshop. I left the day with an architecture and as importantly, the confidence to take the next step. Highly recommended workshop. Thanks Sandy MARIA SIMONELLI, Telco
My eyes have been opened to the under-recognised power of story to influence and excite. It has changed the way I communicate through all means, whether this be in patient interactions, teaching, presentations, social media or grant applications. Story-power is a tool that can deeply enrich understanding and empower change; quite possibly my secret key to success! DR ADA CHEUNG, The University of Melbourne
Packed with valuable information, and skillfully lead with care and encouragement. Carol-Ann Allen, Melbourne Psychotherapy Services
Sandy is a natural born story teller and shares her wisdom and professional practice with us, born out of her own rich life experiences. In this way she demonstrates how to unlock the power of our own stories. JOSHUA NESTER, SEEK
Sandy provides a wealth of information and transmits it in such a caring, articulate way. Her methods are easily understood and able to be adopted easily into your story telling tales. Jo Kingwill
Sandy is great to work with and creates a wonderful environment that lets the stories flow out of you, even ones that you didn’t know were there. She then shows you how to harness these stories and apply them to a purpose. A really great day that makes you more aware of your own capabilities. It really solidified for me that I’m on the right track to do what I want to do. Thanks Sandy! KIMBERLY HENMAN, Victorian Farmers Federation
n also those for learning how to craft and communicate that message well, has empowered and validated my voice. The content is enriching and resourcing and the impact of that will unfold in my writing for some time to come. TALITHA FRASER, Administrative Assistant at Trinity College
Sandy McDonald
Sandy McDonald