Community – Narrative Strategy and Storytelling for Organisations

Storytelling for Change: Why Every Cause Needs a Villain

September 23, 2026September 23, 2026by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

Scapegoating in its original form is a purging: an offloading of the community’s sins onto something else, which is expelled along with the guilt. The practice of transferring sins is universal to human experience. Hence the word ‘scapegoat’ hasn’t fallen out of use in 600 years. The question is why? Why do we need someone or something to project our failures or guilt onto? Luckily for me and you, dear reader, there are researchers and scientists who have been asking the same question. What they have found indicates something uncomfortable about which problems we choose to fight, and the ones we think can’t be won. Before I get into the research, let’s look at two major issues affecting humanity right now.

Transforming Experiences into Qualitative Insights

September 9, 2026by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

At the end of a narrative co-design workshop I ran at the Educate Plus Building Futures conference this year, my last slide was a Miro board filled with Post-it notes with words. Every one of them had come from the delegates themselves, gathered across the whole conference through a storytelling challenge app. I explained that the storytelling challenge they had been working on throughout the conference was the source of these words.

From Survey to Community Intelligence: A New Approach to Conference Insight

July 9, 2026by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

Conferences are not selling satisfaction. They are building something harder to measure and more valuable: belonging, connection, intellectual momentum. Post-event surveys were designed for product testing and customer service. Their job is to measure satisfaction: did the event meet expectations, what would you score it, would you recommend it to a friend? An experience that makes someone fly interstate for three days, sit in a room with 300 people they mostly don't know, and leave feeling like their work matters.

The Real Story Is Being Told Without the Comms Team

June 18, 2026by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

If you are a member of the comms team in government or organisations, you have heard this many times. The decisions have been made, the policy set, the announcement is coming, and the strategic comms plan has been written. The first round of content has been deployed, and this is the first follow-up with the project team. And this is the feedback.

From Stories to Strategy: The Case for Collective Sense Making

June 11, 2026by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

Strategic narratives are revealed, not designed. Organisations are made up of people telling stories all day, every day. They are sharing stories of their business, customers, projects, teams and direction. There is much to be learned about an organisation in the language teams use to describe their work, and in the moments they share about…

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The Best Work Happens When Ideas Feel Safe Enough to Misbehave

May 7, 2026May 7, 2026by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

I have facilitated numerous workshops, strategy days, narrative sessions, and conference experiences. Regardless of the setting or participants, a consistent pattern emerges. Typically, the most senior, outspoken, or confident individuals are the first to contribute, filling the room with their perspectives. However, as the session transitions to deeper reflection, it is often a quieter participant who introduces a profound idea, causing everyone to pause and absorb the insight.

2025 Vision Unlocked: The Power of Strategic Storytelling

November 21, 2024December 6, 2024by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

As the year draws to a close, it’s the natural time to reflect, examine, and think about what we want for 2025. This process is critical—not just for business but for life itself. You can’t hit a goal you haven’t set or reach a destination if you don’t know where it is on the map. Life is a journey of stages, and the question becomes: Where do I want to be in this stage next year?

Empathy, Connection, and Storytelling: A Look Into My Influential Storytelling Workshop

October 8, 2024by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

When was the last time you heard a story that truly resonated with you? One that pulled you in, made you feel, and left a lasting impression? Crafting a powerful story is no accident—it's a skill that can be learned and refined. I focus on that in my 'Influential Storytelling' course, an online live training program I'm excited to be running in collaboration with the team at the Future Skills Academy.

Sticky Power: Become an Everyday Storyteller

February 6, 2024by stayintouchwiththelamb

In the world of storytelling, we glorify narratives of the extraordinary - epic adventures, heroic feats, and life-altering events that seem to lie outside our everyday existence. However, the true power of storytelling resides in the simplicity of the every day, in the stories of the relatable and familiar. These stories shape our perspectives, influence…

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Crafting Strategic Narratives: Empowering Authentic Communication Through Respectful Storytelling

August 29, 2023August 30, 2023by stayintouchwiththelamb

Strategic narratives are tools that communication professionals use to align key messages to the goals a group or organisation is working towards. Using authentic stories of individuals to bring those key messages to life ensures that all messages are relatable and illustrate the goals an organisation is working towards in ways that its audience will understand.