B LAB EAST AFRICA CATCHES UP WITH DAPROIM AFRICA LIMITED CEO, CAROLINE WANJIKU KAMANJA.
The “Storytelling for Leadership” workshop was led by storyteller extraordinaire Ayla Schlosser, co-founder and CEO of Resonate. Normally the Storytelling workshop runs for two days and focuses on story of self, us, and community. However, with only 2 hours we focused on a demo session around Story of Self.
The whole idea/concept of storytelling is to enable the teller of the story, especially purpose driven individuals, to:
- harness the power of personal stories to communicate values and passion
- inspire the support of others as an individual, business endeavor, or community initiative.
I’m sure you are wondering, why focus on story telling instead of just stating facts? Isn’t that what investors, lenders, general public want to hear? Stories show who we are and what we value. We need stories to engage the head and the heart as opposed to facts that just engage the head. This is especially important if you are working around creating impact or a systemic change, like B Lab. Our work is often difficult to explain, takes time for it to take root, and therefore we must use the power of storytelling to drive action.
Having done a storytelling session as part of the Skoll Emerging Leaders Initiative and with Resonate, I am a firm believer that storytelling helps you to communicate your values and passion, inspire the support of others, and as a bonus gives the gift of remembering; we want people to remember our organization, our products and our faces.
So we at B Lab EA and the workshop attendees have our marching orders. Build our self and organization stories focusing on i) a longer narrative: 3-5 minutes ii) a shorter elevator pitch of 30 seconds to 1 minute.
If you want to work on your story, here are a few pointers from the Resonate team:
- Know your values
- Be clear on the challenge, choice and outcome you want to communicate
- Show, don’t tell
- Engage the five senses
- Practice! Practice! Practice!
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][ish_divider][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][ish_separator type=”thin-bold” align=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][ish_divider][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row bg_color=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][ish_image image=”3319″ size=”theme-fourth”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][ish_headline tag_size=”h3″ color=”color5″]ABOUT RESONATE[/ish_headline][vc_column_text]Resonate supports leadership in all forms in order to improve the social and economic status of women. Our core training program, Storytelling for Leadership, harnesses the power of personal stories to communicate values and passion, and inspire the support of others in a professional setting, in a business endeavor, or in a community initiative. If you are interested in learning more about how to build self, organization, community story, get in touch with Resonate at info@resonateworkshops.org[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][ish_image image=”3320″ size=”theme-fourth”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][ish_headline tag_size=”h3″ color=”color5″]ABOUT B LAB EAST AFRICA[/ish_headline][vc_column_text]Resonate supports leadership in all forms in order to improve the social and economic status of women. Our core training program, Storytelling for Leadership, harnesses the power of personal stories to communicate values and passion, and inspire the support of others in a professional setting, in a business endeavor, or in a community initiative. If you are interested in learning more about how to build self, organization, community story, get in touch with Resonate at info@resonateworkshops.org[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][ish_divider][/vc_column][/vc_row]
