Putting stories to work: a practical guide to storytelling in organisations

Stories are a fundamental part of how we communicate. We don't always notice we're doing it, but we're constantly listening to stories, telling them, acting them out. Most of us do this instinctively - but what happens when we start doing it on purpose?

In this free, interactive session we’ll use lived examples and real life stories to look at how stories show us what is happening, bring us together, and change our way of seeing. You’ll leave the session knowing what story you want to tell and its purpose.

In 2025, funded by NHS England's People and Communities Division, A Better Way and Co-create worked with ten ICB Engagement and Involvement Leads to create INVOLVEMENT: A collection of stories about patient and public involvement in the NHS at a time of national reorganisation. The project showed us how powerful stories can be when they are used with purpose: to make sense of what is happening, to build solidarity, and to point towards something better.

At this session, you will hear directly from two of the NHS involvement leads who contributed to INVOLVEMENT, Colin Hurst and Andrea Kemp. Their stories open up three questions we will explore together:

• How can we use stories to understand what is happening around us?
• How can stories help us build connection and shared purpose with others?
• How can stories shape and reshape our perspective?

We will give you space and structure to think about the stories you want to tell in your own work - what you want them to do, and how to shape them.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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