Services

Please review the Portfolio for specific examples and Testimonials for recommendations of the services offered. Contact Michael Shermis (812-340-0479) to discuss specifics on how the following services can be applied to helping your organization. For Michael Shermis’ resumĂ©

 
 
Story Workshops:
Stories have immense power for use in change, leadership development, diversity, ethics, team building, coaching, and numerous other issues. They enable us to learn faster, remember better, and increase the likelihood of going from intention to action.

Story Sharing Workshops:

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A story-sharing workshop emphasizes how stories can teach us to be better leaders, trust our team more, or other ways to change behaviors in the context of a highly interactive, fun, engaging, and lively session. Along the way and/or at the end we’ll discuss the value of stories, what makes a good story, why we like stories, and how we can all use stories for many different purposes. The primary aim of the workshop is to share and internalize the wisdom from each other’s stories. The lessons learned can be of great benefit personally and professionally. This workshop can take anywhere from 90 minutes to a full day. Let us know if your organization needs to take action!

Story Development Workshops:
Story development workshops are both about process and product. The process of building a story as a collaborative exercise is a powerful way to engage people as they learn about how others in a group perceive problems and issues. It's a safe environment to air concerns through fictional characters. The process is interactive and can empower a staff to contribute to the overall direction of the organization.

At the same time, you will come away with a product, a story that you can share with people for various uses to communicate a new program or initiative, provide training in ethics, diversity, teamwork, etc., show the motivations of people in an industry someone is unfamiliar with, and so much more.

Recently, Story Insights held a workshop of how story can be used to address change by integrating key learning points into realistic story scenes. The following video clips explain the dimensions and value of stories as well as how some of the development processes work. The actual story that was developed is the last link.

The Value of Story
Hear the audience relate why stories are important and how they can be used in organizations (Starring Doug Bauder, Ralph Passman, Cathy Owings, Jane Clay, Jane Martin, Phil Stafford, and Ken Oguss)

How to Begin a Story
Challenges, frustrations and issues—how to grab a reader

The Arc of a Story
Develop a story with ups and downs

Humor and Resources
Make a story funny and give it resources used in context

Do Stories Work?
Stories are memorable

How a Story Can Be Used in an Organization
A way to use story in the business world (Starring Jim McKean)

Process and Product
Learning can happen at the developmental level, too (Starring Anna Lynch)

Story Development
How a scene is developed through creation of dialogue
Part 1 (Starring Daniel Grundmann)
Part 2 (Starring Mary Krupinski)
Part 3 (Starring James McNamara)
Part 4 (Starring T. Michael Ford)

The Story
The development output from this workshop was, surprise, a story. For those that attended, we think you'll be amazed (in a good way) that this pdf file is what came from the experience. (Writing Credit: Kim Goad)

Other sample stories are available upon request. Please let us know if you have questions!