Read on if you'd like to find out more about working with story in connection with leadership, team building, ethics and values, communications and mergers, amongst other issues.
Our background and experience:
Way back in 1995, Sue Hollingsworth MBA and Ashley Ramsden were part of the very first consultancy in the UK working with story, called Storytelling in Organisations. Back then we described our work as “exploring the transformational power of story to address some of the key issues at the heart of business today”. Back then, the idea of working with stories in business was very unorthodox. However, large companies, mostly in the private sector, were already enthusiastically exploring the role of story in team building, leadership, mergers and innovation amongst other areas.
Nowadays, there is a wealth of literature available to read about working with story and organisations from the private, public and voluntary sector all have narrative as part of their communications mix. Since 2003, this part of our work has been led by Sue and we have built up a team of Associates who contribute to larger projects, including Ashley.
Some of our clients and what makes us different
Our client list includes some of the largest global and public organisations, such as Shell, BP and PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as government organisations such as Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and Charities like The Prince's Trust here in the UK. Nowadays there is a choice of organisations who work with story in many ways, so why do clients continue to work with us and what makes us different? The answer to this can be summed up in two words: imagination and creativity. We help organisations tap into these vital and abundant resource with stories about leadership, transformation and values, as well as the hidden things – for story encourages the safe discussion of even dangerous issues. Provocative, unusual and compelling, we aim to harness our clients creativity and reshape the way in which they work. To do this we use traditional stories, spontaneous stories and particularly true life stories. All our work is individually tailored to a particular organisation. We work in an experiential way that engages people from all backgrounds and roles – people have even been known to say that they enjoy our work! You can read our story manifesto here
Key areas of expertise
Our key areas of expertise and experience are:
Biographies
Sue Hollingsworth MBA has many years experience in the private sector at Director level with a particular focus on innovation, marketing and new business development. She completed her MBA in 1990. In 1994 she retrained as a professional storyteller and alongside her performing and teaching work, was one of the founding partners in 1996 of the first consultancy dealing with story, “Storytelling in Organisations”. In 1999 she joined the Faculty of the International School of Storytelling and has continued to work with story in businesses of all kinds. She founded Storymatters Ltd in 2003, has taught at Oxford University Business School and the University of the Witersraand in South Africa and, together with Geoff Mead PhD is a founding member of the Centre for Narrative Leadership, the association for those who work with story in organisations. Her consultancy work has now been brought under the banner of The Whole Story Ltd, the trading subsidiary of the International School of Storytelling.
Contact us
If you would like to contact us for an initial conversation, in the first instance please email sue@schoolofstorytelling.com