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    WebinarSystemic Collaboration 2009 60 min

    Creating Your Leadership Story

    Do you or your clients: Want practical, results-oriented support in dealing with tough professional and leadership issues? Have the experience of “déjà vu all over again”—find yourself in very different situations with different content but feel that you’ve been there before? Feel that on some deeper level you repeat patterns of behavior you have engaged in earlier—patterns that often produce less than optimal results? Have questions about yourself that you have considered for years and have never been able to answer, for example “Why do I always feel that same sinking feeling at the end of big projects, even successful ones?” Feel stuck in your current position or in a career transition and want to move forward energetically? Hesitate to make parts of yourself visible—hesitate to make your feelings known, to let go of control, to take control, to enter totally new territory, to be aggressive, or to follow other leaders? Feel that something is holding you back, but you’re not sure what it is? Want to deepen your practice and enhance your leadership in very powerful ways? Feel very successful and desire to move to the next level of professional excellence? In this webinar, Steve Ober will describe a new approach to executive and professional coaching which provides a powerful way to uncover answers to these kinds of questions and decide what you want to do about them. Group members will look briefly a their own stories to establish relevance. Steve will review the basic premises, background, and steps associated with story work. He will also review example stories and his findings from doing this work thus far. The group will discuss key questions they have about the approach and about how they can apply it in their own leadership and professional practice.

    Presenter

    SO

    Steven Ober

    •What is Leadership Story Work? •How it can help a leader grow in life changing ways. •The steps in coaching a leader or professional regarding their story •The kinds of stories leaders tell •How a leader can create a new story moving forward •What story work can teach us about leadership and life •How a leader can make and sustain significant changes made through story work.

    Key Takeaways

    • 1.A novel coaching approach uses personal narratives, or 'story work,' to address professional challenges.
    • 2.Recurring professional situations and behavioral patterns can be understood by examining your personal story.
    • 3.Story work provides a method for answering long-standing questions about your own leadership behaviors.
    • 4.Understanding your personal narrative helps you overcome career stagnation and move forward energetically.
    • 5.Making more of your authentic self visible is a key outcome of engaging in story work.
    • 6.The process involves reviewing the premises, background, and steps associated with analyzing your leadership story.

    Understanding Your Leadership Story for Professional Growth

    Many leaders and professionals find themselves stuck in repeating patterns of behavior that produce less than optimal results. This experience of "déjà vu all over again" across different situations can hinder growth and create career stagnation. This session with Steven Ober introduces a powerful coaching methodology, "story work," designed to uncover the deeper reasons for these recurring challenges.

    The Challenge of Recurring Professional Patterns

    Do you find yourself hesitating to take control, or to let it go? Do you feel that something is holding you back, but you're not sure what it is? These feelings, along with repeating unhelpful behaviors, often stem from unexamined personal narratives. Even successful leaders can feel a sense of unease or find themselves unable to advance to the next level of professional excellence. These are the very issues that understanding your leadership story can address.

    A New Coaching Approach: The Power of Story Work

    Story work is a novel approach to executive and professional coaching that provides a powerful way to uncover answers to long-standing professional and leadership questions. By examining your personal and professional journey as a narrative, you can:

    • Identify and interpret recurring patterns and their impact.
    • Understand the root causes of behaviors that hold you back.
    • Move forward energetically from a stalled career position or transition.
    • Learn to make your authentic self more visible as a leader.

    Core Principles and Steps

    The webinar outlines the basic premises, background, and steps associated with story work. Steven Ober reviews example stories and findings from his work to illustrate the process. The goal is to provide a framework for self-reflection that fosters deep personal insights, leading to sustainable behavioral shifts and enhanced leadership impact.

    How to Apply Story Work to Your Leadership Practice

    Leaders can begin applying these principles by reflecting on specific instances where they felt a sense of repeat patterns or unexpected results. By engaging in structured self-inquiry, you can deconstruct pivotal career moments and identify the core beliefs contributing to your reactions. For those in coaching or HR roles, these principles can be integrated to help clients uncover deeper motivations and construct more empowering narratives for their professional journey.

    Leaders frequently encounter recurring professional challenges or behavioral patterns that hinder their full potential. This session, featuring insights from Steven Ober, explores a powerful coaching approach centered on 'story work' to help individuals uncover the root causes of these patterns, make sense of their experiences, and chart a more effective path forward. Understanding your leadership story remains crucial for navigating complex situations and fostering continuous personal and professional development.

    What you'll learn

    • A novel approach to executive and professional coaching that leverages personal narratives.
    • Methods to identify and interpret recurring professional patterns and their impact on leadership.
    • Techniques for self-reflection to answer long-standing questions about personal leadership behaviors.
    • Strategies to overcome being 'stuck' in current roles or career transitions.
    • How to make aspects of your authentic self visible to become a more integrated leader.
    • Practical steps and core principles of 'story work' as applied to leadership growth.

    Who this webinar is for

    • Leaders experiencing professional 'déjà vu' or repetitive, suboptimal outcomes.
    • Professionals seeking to understand underlying behavioral patterns holding them back.
    • Individuals looking to move forward energetically in their careers or during transitions.
    • Leaders who hesitate to express certain aspects of themselves or take decisive action.
    • Coaches and HR professionals interested in new approaches to leadership development.
    • Successful leaders aiming to achieve the next level of professional excellence.

    Why it matters now

    In today's dynamic professional landscape, self-awareness and adaptability are paramount for effective leadership. The ability to articulate and understand one's personal and professional narrative provides a foundation for authentic leadership and resilient decision-making. Leaders who can deconstruct their 'story' are better equipped to break negative cycles, embrace change, and inspire trust. This approach fosters deep personal insights that lead to sustainable behavioral shifts and enhanced leadership impact, making it timeless in its relevance.

    How leaders can apply this

    Leaders can start by reflecting on specific instances where they felt a sense of repeat patterns or unexpected results, even in successful projects. Consider what core beliefs or past experiences might be contributing to these reactions. Engage in structured self-inquiry, perhaps through journaling or guided reflection, to deconstruct pivotal career moments. Explore how openly sharing aspects of your authentic self might impact team dynamics and decision-making. For those in coaching roles, integrate 'story work' principles to help clients uncover deeper motivations and blockages, guiding them to construct more empowering narratives for their professional journey.

    About this session

    Key takeaways

    Watching this webinar gives you grounded, practical perspective on Growth. Expect ideas you can use in leadership conversations, not abstract theory, drawn from Steven Ober's direct experience.

    Who this is for

    CHROs, HR business partners, talent leaders, executive coaches, organizational development practitioners, and senior leaders who are responsible for systemic collaboration inside their organization.

    Why it matters now

    Workforce expectations, hybrid work patterns, and AI-driven change keep raising the bar on culture and leadership. Sessions like this help leaders make smarter, more evidence-informed decisions about Growth.

    How to apply it

    Use the ideas here to challenge a current assumption on your team, design a single concrete experiment in the next 30 days, and bring one finding back to your leadership group for discussion.

    Frequently asked questions

    Topics

    Growth

    Best Practice Institute

    Best Practice Institute is the research organization behind Most Loved Workplace® certification, the SPARK Model, the Love of Workplace Index™ (LOWI™), and The Workplace Report.

    The Workplace Report

    The Workplace Report is BPI's original workplace culture research and editorial briefing series for CEOs, CHROs, people leaders, talent leaders, and employer-brand teams. It turns BPI's 25 years of research, Most Loved Workplace® certification data, SPARK findings, and current workforce signals into practical analysis leaders can use.

    The report format includes executive summaries, research-backed articles, company examples, methodology notes, and practical implications for retention, hiring, culture, leadership, and employee experience. New research and analysis is published on an ongoing editorial cadence at /workplace-report.