Seedling Series: Storytelling for Systems Change

Learn how to craft ethical, complexity conscious stories that show how change actually happens.

Stories offer a lens through which we make sense of the world around us. For hundreds of years, they’ve also been used as a tool for shaping and re-shaping complex systems. Yet today, linear storylines that explore single solutions for overcoming problems have become the norm. If we know that the work of advancing systems change is nonlinear and requires diverse groups of people to collaborate over time to advance shared goals, the question becomes: How can we tell ethical stories that show how change actually happens?

This 2-hour session will focus on ethical, systems-based principles and practices for telling more nuanced stories of social change—a crucial element of the work of narrative change. Both systems and MEL practitioners who want to incorporate story in their work will find value in the session. You do not need to be a storyteller by trade to attend.

This short course is offered in collaboration between Jessica Conrad and School of System Change as part of the Seedling Series: short courses supporting changemakers to embrace complexity through discovering the diversity of systemic approaches and practitioners.

Is this course for me?

Seedling Series courses are for changemakers who want to learn to embrace complexity through discovering the diversity of systemic approaches and pracitioners that exist in the field.

This short course is for you if you want to learn to:

• Hold power as a narrator with integrity
• Create the conditions for relationship building, mutual learning, and coherence among participant ‘storyholders’* throughout the storytelling process
• Weave multiple (sometimes even conflicting) perspectives
• Amplify nuance, rather than default to simple storylines
• Learn an ethical and effective structure for telling systems change stories

*Here, participant ‘storyholders’ are those whose lived experience you seek to share through your storytelling. The term was inspired by the report Storytelling for Systems Change: Listening to Understand from the Center for Public Impact.

To maximise your learning, spaces on this cohort are limited. We encourage you to enrol as soon as you can to secure your place.

Course date

This course will run on Thursday 3 October 2024.

Timing

The session will be held:

07:00-09:00 PDT

10:00-12:00 EDT

15:00-17:00 BST

16:00-18:00 CEST

19:30-21:30 IST

You can join from anywhere in the world, so long as you can attend the time listed above.

Check your time zone

The School of System Change is continually working to improve the financial accessibility of our courses. For this course we offer three rates, and ask that you select the one that fits your financial situation. It is our hope that those able to afford the higher fees help us cover costs and support others to access the discounted rates.

• Contribution Ticket: Regenerative - £45 GBP
• Contribution Ticket: Supporter - £30 GBP
• Contribution Ticket: Supported - £20 GBP

For School alumni, we are delighted to offer a 20% discount. This discount is available for changemakers who have completed one of our School courses (including Basecamp, Delta, Spark and Investors in Change series). Enter code SSAL202420 at checkout.

If cost is a barrier to participating, please reach out to [email protected].

VAT does not apply.

We seek to create safe and brave spaces for participants from different backgrounds and lived experience to engage in learning together. We acknowledge the power and responsibility we hold in our role as a convenor and learning provider, placing multiple ways of knowing and awareness of difference as fundamental design principles in our programmes.

Read more about our commitment and journey around equity and difference.

Accessibility

If you will need additional support for your wellbeing or access needs, then please let us know as soon as possible, so we can factor this into our session design. You can let us know when you enrol or email us at [email protected] - we are happy to arrange a call to discuss how we can support your learning.

Enrolment is first come, first served until we reach our maximum cohort size, so we encourage you to enrol as soon as you can. Enrolment closes on Thursday 3 October at 10:00 BST. If the short course is full before the enrolment deadline, we will start a waiting list of those interested.

Enrol

If you have any questions about this short course or the Seedling Series, get in touch with the School team at [email protected].

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