Public Narrative &
Leadership Course
Leadership and community organising consultancy agency Dunn Street is launching our 2023 Public Narrative Workshops Series for Members of the Victorian Parliament.
Public leadership requires the communication of a clear and motivating narrative to the community, grounded in sharing personal stories.
Public Narrative - the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now is more than public speaking. It is a leadership framework that enables leaders of constituencies to articulate a story that draws on moments in their life that combine both strategic and emotional resources to move others to act towards a shared purpose.
Trained by Prof. Marshall Ganz at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, community organiser and Harvard teaching fellow Stephen Donnelly leads the Public Narrative course that is structured across 5 x 90 minute workshops and 4 individual 30 minute one-on-ones with participants to craft their narrative.
Who is this course for?
This course is for Members of Parliament, both new and returning that wish to learn to communicate their values and shared experiences to their community as well as learn the practice of leadership and public narrative as taught by Prof. Marshall Ganz.
What is the timeline and delivery of the course?
The course is divided into 5 x 90 minute workshops delivered each fortnight at 4:00pm on a Wednesday kicking off on March 15 and concluding on May 10.
In between each workshop, participants will sign up to a 30 minute coaching one-on-one to work on crafting their public narrative. Each workshop deep dives into specific aspects of the public narrative framework.
Course Outline
Workshop 1 - 15.03.23
"Introducing Public Narrative and the Story Of Self"
In the first session we introduce the practice of public narrative. Learn why public narrative is an essential leadership skill and understand the basics of how public narrative works: values, emotion, and story structure.
Participants will craft their first story of self that will require reflection on origin moments of challenge; choices when answering a call to leadership and outcomes from these choice points.
Workshop 2 - 29.03.23
"Story Of Us"
In this session we introduce the story of us and how we locate shared values and experiences to unite a community.
Participants will work as a group to consider the shared moments and experiences of challenges and how they united to overcome them, and from those reflections craft a story of us.
Workshop 3 - 12.04.23
"Story Of Now"
Introduce the final act in public narrative, the story of now and how we identify an urgent threat facing a constituency, locating hope and a strategic path that leads to shared action.
Participants will craft a story of now including a specific call to action
Workshop 4 - 26.04.23
"Linking Our Public Narrative"
Values and moral teachings are critical in leadership and it is also how we thread our public narrative - self, us and now.
In this session participants examine the values of their three stories and seek to link them with common threads throughout to form a complete public narrative..
Workshop 5 - 10.05.23
Celebration, Reflection and Evaluation
Critical in the work of leadership is to stop, reflect and celebrate our progress.
In our final session, participants will deliver their 5 minute completed public narrative story of self, us and now.
What is the teaching style?
The pedagogy of the program is based on the Ganz model of adult learning. Participants are introduced to new concepts by reading about it (we provide readings), hearing about it (we outline key concepts in the workshop), watching it (we show models of the concept), discussing it (we dive deeper to ensure participants understand the key teaching point), practising it (we have participants “get on the bike”) and then reflecting on it (to measure our key learnings).
This ensures that participants with different learning styles have the opportunity to absorb new information in an auditory, visual or kinesthetic way.
How do I sign up?
Places on the course are limited to 6 participants. To register your place on the 2023 Public Narrative & Leadership course, please complete the form below. Applications close on Wednesday 1 March.
What is the cost?
The course fee is $2,250 (plus GST) and can be paid through the parliamentary office training (learning portal) budget. Payment must be received prior to beginning the course.