Because every transition starts with a story
Our tailored group programmes and 1:1 coaching are designed to deliver insight and impact.
We enable leaders to consciously uncover unhelpful inner stories that influence their behaviour & replace them with stories that will support their transition.
This process does not happen on its own. It needs guidance, dedicated time and conscious attention. The challenges we have helped clients overcome include stepping up into partnership, taking on a more strategic role or tackling a shift in professional identity. Whether you, or your team, are going into your ‘last big role’; returning from parental leave; facing retirement; or taking a significant step up, our approach will support you to do it successfully.
How we do it . . .
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Our foundational 1-day Insight programme affords the participants the opportunity to explore their inner stories both the helpful and the unhelpful.
We go deep to uncover the mostly unconscious stories we are telling ourselves, to identify and challenge the ‘inner critic’ whilst strengthening the stories that have and will continue to serve us well. It starts with the foundations for creating successful stories, curiosity and insight before beginning to utilise some of the approaches necessary to change your narrative to support your successful transition. Dealing with the shifts in identity necessary to ensure positive impact in a new professional role.
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Our 2-day Agility Programme gives leaders a greater opportunity to gain deeper insight into their inner stories, as well as crafting and trying out new more helpful, powerful narratives. It is a chance to challenge their inner critic and to learn how to quieten that story and provide the brain with a new story that over time will replace the more unhelpful narratives that have been largely unconsciously repeating to themselves. They are supported to craft new narratives and experiment with them in a safe environment, designed to enable lasting change.
In addition, they are supported to create different messages required when talking to a range of audiences such as their team, shareholders, clients and media, as well as considering the impact these new stories or messages have on their reputation more broadly.
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Originally designed for our clients in the legal profession, the Becoming Programme is designed to support and equip new Partners with the mindset shifts required to flourish in their new role, bringing positive outcomes for the organisation and the individual.
The paradox of success is that once-successful strategies can cause the downfall of new leaders. We know stumbling blocks often arise as an issue connected to one’s sense of professional identity is perceived (incorrectly) as an issue of competency, holding the new leader back from flourishing in their new role.
We explore and resolve this through storytelling, psychology and coaching, utilising Lego SeriousPlay to deepen the learning. Elements of this tailored 1-day programme include: Exploring Inner Stories; Competency vs Identity; Unlearning as a Vital Meta-skill; Relearning & Rewiring: and Embedding New Behaviours.
We also design this programme for newly-qualified lawyers joining a new firm and for executives in other sectors, including tech, finance and hospitality. It can be run as a standalone programme or integrated into an established annual Leadership Programme.
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Our Team Narratives programme comes from the belief that every team creates and acts in line with its inner story. What aligns all the individuals within a team and creates the cohesiveness that transforms performance and allowing people to work together while being who they truly are is the inner story of that team. Once known it enables teams to strive and achieve ever higher performance.
The mistake that is often made is assuming that just because all the individuals are members of the team it does not automatically follow that everyone knows what the team and the team story is. In order to create shared meaning and purpose you need to start from a shared inner story. Therefore, our team programme starts by understanding what the current inner story is for this team, unconscious or otherwise. How that story may currently be different for different members of the team and how that is helping or hindering performance. Once the different inner stories are heard, explored and understood, the foundations for psychological safety will be set, enabling a freedom of expression within the group.
The facilitators will also provide insight from their perspective as to the team’s current inner story. With all the information raised to a more conscious, shared level from here we can begin to create the new shared team story. We will consider typical team stories and work to craft a new team inner story that will create cohesion, confidence and performance.
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Individual coaching: intensive support tailored to the most important transition challenges of your leaders. This one-to-one approach takes the key elements of our two-day programme and breaks it down into highly focused, tailored sessions either ahead of or alongside a transition. These sessions provide support, challenge and accountability to enable the individual to successfully navigate their personal transition resulting in an impactful, positive, sustainable change.
Group coaching; these sessions are for cohorts who have been through either our Insight, Agility or Team programmes to provide additional ongoing, support, challenge and accountability to embed new stories and habits.
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Masterclasses: Our tailored topic-driven masterclasses and virtual masterclasses explore what makes transitions successful and what can get in the way; before providing participants with practical evidence-based tools. Participants will leave equipped to experiment with proven strategies to ease their transition challenges.
Topics include: The Story of Your Inner Critic; The Voices at Your Table; The Storyline of Your Imposter Syndrome; Choosing the Headline You Want to Share; Communicating for Influence.
Keynote Speaking: It’s time to engage your audience with our expertise. The Story Lab philosophy captures the imagination to deliver inspirational insights and motivate leaders to activate new strategies and tools to achieve their goals. We speak at conferences, summits and organisational events.
‘Storytelling is the essential human activity. The harder the situation, the more essential it is’
Client feedback
“Professional, energetic and always bringing a creative flair, Leonie delivers exceptional results with seeming ease.”
— Fairyhouse Racecourse