HUMAN-CENTRIC COMMUNICATION

A half‑day workshop that trains leaders and teams to move from messy reality to a strategic but truthful story, then into an external narrative they can reuse confidently.

Workshop purpose and outcomes

The goal is to help executives reconcile the reality on the ground with the story they want to tell, and then frame that story for different stakeholders without losing credibility or authenticity. Participants leave with a repeatable framing model, one core narrative they have pressure‑tested, and a simple checklist for staying honest while being persuasive.

Core framing tool

Central to the workshop is a three‑step framing tool:

1. Reality frame – name the facts, tensions, and uncertainties, using a structure such as Challenge–Change–Impact to avoid spin.
2. Story frame – sharpen what leaders want people to feel, understand, and do, choosing a narrative arc that fits (e.g., “from X to Y,” “learning from failure,” “building the next chapter”).
3. External frame – translate the story into concise narrative blocks that can plug into town halls, board decks, media soundbites, and investor or employee updates.

Suggested agenda (3.5–4 hours)

Opening and mindset (30 min)

• Why framing matters: how narrative shapes trust, behavior, and decisions for organizations and stakeholders.
• Authenticity guardrails: red lines (no distortion of material facts, no over‑promising) and green lines (owning trade‑offs, naming unknowns).

Reality to story (60 min)

• Individual work: executives map a current strategic or sensitive situation using a Challenge–Change–Impact or similar reality template.
• Pair coaching: refine what to keep, what to drop, and what tension to foreground so the story stays honest but focused.

Story to external narrative (75 min)

• Teach a simple external narrative framework (e.g., 3 message pillars, proof points, and vivid examples) that can flex across audiences.
• Small‑group lab: each leader builds a “narrative skeleton” for one key audience (employees, customers, board, media) and stress‑tests it for clarity and believability.

Maintaining authenticity under pressure (45 min)

Work through edge cases: tough questions, bad news, or mixed results where framing can slip into spin.

Practice short live deliveries with feedback on congruence between message, tone, and body language.

Personal narrative playbook (30 min)

• Participants capture their framing template, one polished narrative, audience‑specific variants, and a pre‑communication checklist to use for future messages.
• Close with commitments on where and when they will deploy the new frame (upcoming town hall, board, media, or client meeting).

Desired Outcomes

After this training, you should be able to:

• Distill messy, contradictory inputs into a clear “reality frame” that names facts, tensions, and unknowns without spin.
• Convert that reality into a strategic “story frame” that defines what audiences should feel, understand, and do while staying credible.
• Translate the story into reusable “external frames” tailored for town halls, board updates, media, investors, and employee comms.
• Pressure‑test your narrative with tough questions and pre‑mortems, then refine it using a simple honesty checklist.
• Balance transparency and persuasion under time pressure, avoiding common credibility traps and over‑promising.
• Build a repeatable framing workflow you can apply to future launches, setbacks, restructures, or strategy shifts